1. Trap your own insects! What’s in your backyard?
4th grade Entomology Unit, Lesson 1 of 4
Christina Silliman and Catherine Dana
EnLiST Entomology Curriculum Designers
University of Illinois, Department of Entomology

2. Insect Orders
Beetles
Flies
True Bugs

3. Insect Orders
Ants, Bees, Wasps
Butterflies and moths
Praying Mantis

4. Insect Orders Dragonflies and Damselflies Grasshoppers and Crickets
Spiders

5. Insect traps Sticky traps Used in your house to catch and kill pests
Ants
Cockroaches
Termites
We don’t want to hurt our insects so we won’t use this kind of trap

6. Insect traps Panel Trap Catches flying insects
smelly scents are placed in the middle
Insects fly into the side of the trap and get stuck in the bucket
Panels are slippery
You can hang the trap at any height you want

7. Insect traps Pitfall trap Catches insects that walk on the ground
Top of the cup is at the same level as the ground
Funnel keeps insects from crawling out
Roof keeps rain and dirt out
Smelly scents can go in the cup

8. Insect traps Nest Box Trap
Catches flying insects that are attracted to smelly scents
These can be a box with a hole
The hole can also have a wire that will shut the door on the insect
What is one advantage and one disadvantage of this?
icwdm.org

9. Insect traps
“Pollinator Paradise”

10. Insect Sensory System: how do insects smell, taste, and see?
Antennae - smells
Smells are information the brain uses to decide which direction to fly
Close-up (SEM) of antennae
Notice all of the tiny hairs!
newyorkvsbedbugs.org

11. Insect Sensory System: how do insects smell, taste, and see?
Compound eyes - sight
Each eye is made of hundreds of little eyes which all send messages to the brain
Fly compound eye
harunyahya.com

12. Insect Sensory System: how do insects smell, taste, and see?
Hairs - touch
Notice all of the split ends! These branched hairs help it to pick up pollen from flowers
Close-up of honey bee hair

13. Insect Sensory System: how do insects smell, taste, and see?
mouthparts and “feet” - taste
Honey bee “foot” (tarsus)
Honey bee “tongue” (glossa)
arthropoda.wordpress.com

14. How insects find smells - Instinct
Insect antennnae are very sensitive to smells that are much too dilute for us to smell. They are even better than dogs and cats!
Once they detect a smell their brain uses this information to either stay where they are or to follow the smell. If it is a “good” smell (flowers for honey bees) they INSTINCTIVELY fly towards it, meaning their brains are organized so that they do not have to think about how to respond to this positive stimuli.
If it is the wrong (or a “bad”) smell they will not respond to it and will continue with what they are doing. X

15. Sketch and Build!
You have until the end of the class to finish your trap
You can make changes before we put out the traps in the spring

16. THE NEXT SLIDES ARE OPTIONAL AND DEAL WITH TRAP SET UP

18. Pitfall trap

19. Panel trap

20. Box trap