1. Welcome
to the
World of Insects

2. Importance of Insects to Agriculture
PESTS 4
– eat our foods
- damage our crops
spread plant, human, and animal diseases 5

3. Importance of Insects to Agriculture
PESTS
infest our homes
infest our animals and our bodies 6
sting us (venomous) 8 7

4. Importance of Insects to Agriculture
PESTS
- annoy us
- cause unsightly damage

5. Importance of insects to Agriculture
BENEFITS 11
– pollinate our plants
- degrade and recycle nutrients

6. - food for other animals
Importance of Insects
to Agriculture
BENEFITS
- feed on pest species 12
- food for other animals

7. Importance of insects to Agriculture
BENEFITS
used in research and medicine
provide natural products (e.g., honey, beeswax,
silk, dye, and
shellac) 13 14

8. DID YOU KNOW THAT SOME PEOPLE “TREASURE” THEM AS COLLECTIBLES??
MOST OF US RECOGNIZE
BEETLES AS MAJOR PESTS!!
DID YOU KNOW THAT SOME PEOPLE “TREASURE” THEM AS COLLECTIBLES??

10. How many insects are
there in the world?
- about one million insect
species have been described
- scientists estimate that there
may be as many as 10 million different
types of insects!!
- there are about 200 million insects
for every human on earth!!

11. How many insects are
there in the world?
insects comprise about
10% of the earth’s weight
insects represent about
80 to 85% of all life on earth

12. PEST FACT
The insect population of the world is
at least
1,000,000,000,000,000,000 .
Averaging the weight of each insect
as 2.5 mg, the weight of the earth's
insect population exceeds that of
human inhabitants by
a factor of 12.

13. Fortunately, most of these insects cause us no harm
- only about 10% of all insects cause
us the greatest amount of pain,
anguish, and economic loss
- because each one of you will come
into contact with many types of
organisms, it is important to properly
identify them to effectively manage
them

16. 22

17. 18

18. 19

19. 20

20. 21

21. 22

22. What makes an organism an INSECT??
[generally speaking]
- three body parts [head, thorax, and
abdomen]
- six legs
- one pair of antennae
- one pair of compound eyes
- an exoskeleton
- most adult insects have wings

24. at two biological functions:
INSECTS are experts
at two biological functions:
1) eating
2) reproducing
[unfortunately, they
do both of them
extremely well!]

25. How can we separate or classify INSECTS??
1) by the use of a written key
[generally uses body parts]
2) by the type of damage that they
cause [e.g., borer, gall former, leaf
feeder]
3) by the type of mouthparts that they
have or their manner of feeding
[e.g., chewing or piercing-sucking]

26. place a “general label” on the “problem” insect!!
These types of
classifications
help us to quickly
place a “general label”
on the “problem” insect!!

27. Types of Mouthparts [piercing-sucking]24

28. Types of Mouthparts
[chewing]

29. Types of wings and venation of wings28

30. Types of development

31. “WHITE ANTS”

32. 31

33. 32

34. 33

35. CAN YOU MATCH THESE PHYSICAL WONDERS?
Run 50 body lengths in 1 second
(cockroach)
= a six-foot person running
ca. 206 miles per hour

36. CAN YOU MATCH THESE PHYSICAL WONDERS?
Run 50 body lengths in 1 second
(cockroach)
2) Flap your arms (“wings”) 300 times
in 1 second (flying mosquito)
= about one million times
per hour

37. CAN YOU MATCH THESE PHYSICAL WONDERS?
Run 50 body lengths in 1 second
(cockroach)
2) Flap your arms (“wings”) 300 times
in 1 second (flying mosquito)
3) Jump 130 times your height (flea)
= a six-foot person jumping
780 feet

38. CAN YOU MATCH THESE PHYSICAL WONDERS?
Run 50 body lengths in 1 second
(cockroach)
2) Flap your arms (“wings”) 300 times
in 1 second (flying mosquito)
3) Jump 130 times your height (flea)
4) Lift times your weight (ant)
= a 200 lb person lifting
one to five tons!

39. CAN YOU MATCH THESE PHYSICAL WONDERS?
Run 50 body lengths in 1 second
(cockroach)
2) Flap your arms (“wings”) 300 times
in 1 second (flying mosquito)
3) Jump 130 times your height (flea)
4) Lift times your weight (ant)
5) Hear with your legs (cricket)

40. INSECTS THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!!
in the air
2) in the water
3) in the soil
4) in our homes
5) on our plants
6) on our animals
7) on our bodies!!