Entomology 401 Identifying Friends and Foes
Insect biodiversity accounts for a large proportion of all biodiversity on the planet, with over 1,000,000 insect species described.
Pests Any living organisms which are detrimental, troublesome, noxious, destructive, a nuisance to either plants or animals, human or human concerns, livestock, human structures, wild ecosystems, etc. Beneficials -Food production In the United States alone, pollination by bees accounts for over US$9 billion of economic revenue -Ecological services -Products: honey, shellac, dyes, silk E.g. Honey bee, silk worm Predators: Minute pirate bug, Assassin bug, Damsel bug, Green lacewing, Ladybug
Herbivores: Feeds upon living plant material Predator: An animal that feeds upon other animals (prey) that are either smaller or weaker than itself
Those with chewing mouthparts: simply chew up and swallow their victims Herbivores: grasshopper, green clover worm, army worm, etc. Predators: ladybugs, ground beetles, preying mantis, etc. Those with piercing sucking mouthparts: stick the mouthpart into prey and suck out the body content Herbivores: redbanded stink bug, aphids, white flies Predators: assassin bug, lacewing larvae, syrphid larvae
Chewing Pests
Coleoptera (head)
Cotton Boll Worm
Grasshopper
Boll Damage Adult Boll Weevil Feeding
Cabbage Looper
Tiger beetles ger-beetle.html
Hymenoptera : Formicidae
Ladybug
Dragon Fly
Piercing-Sucking & Rasping Pests
Hemiptera (piercing and sucking mouthparts)
Order Hemiptera
WhitefliesThrips Spider Mites
Lygus Bugs Stink Bugs
Damsel bug
Robber fly They have extremely sharp eyesight and can fly at high speed, catching other insects in mid air. They have stabbing mouthparts (proboscis) which inject a powerful neurotoxic venom and digestive juices into the victim, liquifying its innards, which the fly sucks afterwards.
Robber Fly
Assassin bug
Minute Pirate Bug Bigeyed Bug Nymph
Predatory stink bugs
Green Lacewing
Mantodea : Mantidae Gonatista sp Stagmomantis sp. Tenodera sp.
Mantodea (thorax) raptorial foreleg
Hymenoptera : Braconidae
Hymenopteran Parasitoids Platygastrid wasp
Parasitoid Eggs
Hymenoptera (biology/ecology)
Syrphid Fly