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Orders

What to know about the insect orders

•  Common names
•  Type of metamorphosis
•  Number of wings
•  Significant anatomical characteristics
•  Significant ecological characteristics
•  Examples of ecological/human significance

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Non-insect Hexapods
•  Hexapods (= 6 legged arthropod)

Non-insect Hexapods
•  Protura
–  Very small (0.6-1.5mm)
–  No eyes or ocelli
–  No wings
–  No antennae
–  In deep soils
–  Internal mouthparts
–  Detritivores

Non-insect Hexapods
•  Diplura
–  Small to medium (<7mm)
–  No eyes or ocelli
–  No wings
–  Long antennae
–  Cerci
–  In soils
–  Internal mouthparts
–  Predators/scavengers

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Non-insect Hexapods
•  Collembola

Non-insect Hexapods

Non-insect Hexapods
•  Collembola
–  *Springtails*
–  Very small (0.25-6mm)
–  Furcula
–  Tenaculum
–  Ocelli only
–  No wings
–  Antennae

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Collembola – Springtails
Several families with different body shapes


Furcula (the lever part

of the “spring tail”)
Latch of the furcula

Non-insect Hexapods
•  Collembola
–  *Snow fleas*
–  Very abundant
–  Internal mouthparts
–  Phytophagous
–  Scavengers

Male Collembola deposit clumps of sperm on soil and

females come along and collect them.

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Called snow fleas because they emerge before snow

melt and are visible on snow, jumping around in March

A mass of thousands of collembola in spring

Collembola are critical decomposers in most terrestrial

ecosystems.

Mt Collembola, Alberta, Canada Collembola on

English and
French stamps

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• INSECT ORDERS
•  Development of thorax and definitive insectan
body form

• INSECT ORDERS
–  Insects can be broken into two large
groups: those with wings and those
without wings.
–  Apterygota (= no wings)
–  Pterygota (= winged)

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Insect Orders
•  Archeognatha (Bristletails)
–  Medium sized (15mm)
–  No wings
–  Large compound eyes
–  Ocelli present
–  Archaic insects
–  Found on rocks in damp places
–  No metamorphosis
–  Feed on algae, lichens, and other plant
material
–  Nocturnal

Insect Orders
•  Thysanura (silverfish)

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Insect Orders
•  Thysanura (silverfish)
–  Medium size (12-19mm)
–  No wings
–  3 filaments on abdomen
–  Flattened body
–  Silvery scales
–  No metamorphosis
–  Common in homes
–  Feed on paper (bindings)

A silverfish-damaged photograph

• INSECT ORDERS
–  Insects can be broken into two large
groups: those with wings and those
without wings.
–  Apterygota (= no wings)
–  Pterygota (= winged)

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Insect Orders
•  EVOLUTION OF WINGS
–  Flying fish hypothesis
–  Flying squirrel hypothesis
–  Thermoregulation hypothesis
–  Sexual selection hypothesis

Insect Orders
•  Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)

Insect Orders
•  Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)
–  Small order (2000 species)
–  Greatest diversity in temperate climate
–  Two pairs of wings
–  Adult has no functional mouthparts
–  Incomplete metamorphosis

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Insect Orders
•  Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)
–  Immature mayflies (naiads) are aquatic
–  Majority of life spent in water (cool
streams)
–  Biological indicator species

Insect Orders
•  Ephemeroptera (Mayflies)
–  Synchronous molting to adulthood
–  Mating clouds of millions

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(left) Massive swarm of mayflies around street lights. (right) Map using data
from Doppler radar of Lake St. Clair MI, June 26 2001. Pink or red indicates a
detectable mass of insects.

Insect Orders
•  Odonata (Damselflies & Dragonflies)

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Insect Orders
•  Odonata (Damselflies & Dragonflies)

Odonata in Popular Culture

Fossil Dragonflies: 250 million years

Some fossil dragonflies were the size of sea gulls.

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Close up of
a dragonfly
head.

See the
tiny
antennae
and large
eyes. Does
this
predator
hunt by
smell or
sight?

Naiads are jet propelled

Dragonfly naiads pull water into
their rectum and then expel it
rapidly to produce a jet of water
that propels them forward in
quick jerks

The rear end of a

dragonfly naiad,
where the “jet
engine” is located

Naiads have an enlarged, hinged

labium (called a labial mask, see
upper right figure of naiad, seen
from below), which is shot out (see
above) to catch prey (see right)

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Insect Orders
•  Odonata (Damselflies & Dragonflies)

Insect Orders
•  Odonata (Damselflies & Dragonflies)

To transform to
adults, Odonata
naiads crawl out of
water, attach to
vegetation and then
emerge as adults,
which must sit for a
while to expand and
dry their wings
before they can fly.

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male

Male’s penis is
located up near
wings

Odonata have an
unusual mating
female
position and fly in
copula

Insect Orders
•  Odonata (Damselflies & Dragonflies)
–  Predators as adults and naiads
–  Incomplete metamorphosis
–  Two pairs of wings (with many veins)
–  Males are territorial
–  Fossil remains of odonates with wingspans
exceeding 2 feet!

Insect Orders
•  EVOLUTION OF WING FLEXION
–  Advantages?
–  Ephemeroptera & Odonata (Paleoptera)
–  All others from here on (Neoptera)

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Insect Orders
•  Dermaptera (Earwigs)

Insect Orders
•  Dermaptera (Earwigs)
–  1800 species
–  Live in moist soil
–  Feed on leaf litter
–  Nocturnal
–  1 or 2 pairs of wings
–  Gradual metamorphosis
–  2 families are parasites of bats and rodents
–  Chemical defenses

Insect Orders
•  Plecoptera (Stoneflies)

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Terrestrial adults,
but aquatic naiads;
ecology and
importance of order
are similar to that of
mayflies.

Stonefly naiads are similar to those of mayflies but can be told apart because
they have only 2, not 3 cerci. On right, see gills.

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Insect Orders
•  Plecoptera (Stoneflies)
–  Aquatic naiads spend much of their time on
rocks (under water in cool streams).
–  Naiads predatory or grazers
–  2000 species (most in temperate regions)
–  Incomplete metamorphosis
–  Adults live briefly
–  Winter stoneflies

Insect Orders
Phasmida (walking sticks, leaf insects)

Insect Orders
Phasmida (walking sticks, leaf insects)

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Insect Orders
Phasmida (walking sticks, leaf insects)
- World wide distribution
- 2500 species described
- Longest insects (up to 50 cm)
- Many are wingless (or with reduced wings)
- Feed predominantly on plants
- Gradual metamorphosis
- Regeneration
- Chemical defenses

Lord Howe Island

Walking Stick

This giant endemic

walking stick insect
was thought to have
gone extinct due to
predation by
introduced rats on its
only home, Lord
Howe Island

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But has been rediscovered

on a small rock near the
island (Ball’s Peak),
where a tiny patch of cliff
side habitat existed that
was inaccessible to rats. It
is now being bred in
captivity pending
eradication of rats on the
main island.

Insect Orders
•  Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets)

World's Largest Grasshopper


Wilkie, Saskatchewan

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Key Features for Orthoptera

1.  Leathery forewings

2.  Tegmina
3.  Jumping hind legs
4.  Strong ovipositor, often used to place
groups of eggs in soil

Tegmina:
hindwing parchment-like
(some wingless)

Strong jumping legs

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Grasshopper
ovipositor Cricket
(below),
showing
its long
ovipositor

Egg mass

Orthoptera have strong ovipositors they use to insert eggs into substrates.
Here, grasshoppers are inserting egg batches in the soil.

ORTHOPTERA
•  Crickets, Katydids, Grasshoppers
Key Features
4. Nearly all herbivores
5. Tend to be large insects
6. Some species may be cryptic or exhibit
warning coloration

Like nearly all Orthoptera, grasshoppers are herbivores, eating plants.

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Many Orthoptera use mimicry

A lichen mimic
A leaf mimic

Bright colors on
Orthoptera such as
these grasshoppers
are often a sign that
they are chemically
defended and taste
bad and/or are toxic.

Boldly patterned wasp mimic

Crickets

Field crickets are a common part of the animals we live with in eastern fields
and meadows, contributing their song to summer nights.

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Mole crickets are

specialized for
digging.

Katydids - see long legs and long antennae

Orthoptera

Key Features
7. Sexes communicate by singing

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SCRAPER (a peg) FILE (a series of ridges)

Crickets are the original washboard

musicians, making their music with a peg
drawn over a series of ridges when the
wings are moved in a sliding motion.

G. texensis
Pulse rate about 80 pulses/second at 25 C.
G. texensis calling song

G. rubens
Pulse rate about 56 pulses/second at 25 C.
G. rubens calling song

Calling songs
http://www.csun.edu/~dgray/songs.html copyright David A. Gray

Courtship songs of Texas field crickets

http://www.csun.edu/~dgray/songs.html copyright David A. Gray

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How do crickets hear each other’s songs?

Cross sectional diagram of tympanum

-the hearing organ, located on

the tibia of the first pair of legs

Tell the temperature by listening to

field crickets’ song.

O
F = chirps/15 seconds + 40

Key Features

8. A few species are important pests,

especially desert locusts that swarm
and Mormon crickets.

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Locust swarms

Desert locusts maintain populations in

stable habitats (yellow) and periodically
swarm into additional regions (green).
Swarm biology includes a change in
appearance (images on right)

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Morman cricket
outbreaks happen in
Utah and Nevada

ORTHOPTERA IN CULTURE

Statue in Salt Lake

celebrating the divine
deliverance (via sea gull
predation) of Morman
farmers from crop losses
threatened by an
outbreak of crickets.

Keeping crickets in
homes as caged pets
for their song has a
long tradition, in both
Europe and east Asia

Chinese Antique Nickel-Silver Cricket Greek Cricket Cage,

Cage circa. 1920's $295.00
 barley, circa. 200 AD

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Shanghai Cricket Club 1885

Visual Art-Japan

    
“Picture entitled
“The Cricket
Cage Peddlar",
by Kiyonaga, ca.
late 1700's,
(courtesy of The
Art Institute of
Chicago)

Insect Orders
•  Orthoptera (grasshoppers,
crickets)
–  Over 20,000 species
–  Saltatorial hindlegs
–  Two pairs of wings (sound production)
–  Primarily phytophagous
–  Gradual metamorphosis
–  Occasionally swarm

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•  Isoptera (termites)

Termites eat wood via gut protozoa. Structural damage

can be severe.

Insect Orders
•  Isoptera (termites)

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For our local species, mud tubes are a sign of infestation.

Termite effects on local ecosystems

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Chimney-like flues inside the

mound provide ventilation for
temperature control.

Insect Orders
•  Isoptera (termites)
–  Eusocial insects
•  Caste system
•  Reproductive division of labor
•  Brood care is cooperative

Insect Orders
•  Isoptera (termites)

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Insect Orders
•  Isoptera (termites)

Insect Orders
•  Isoptera (termites)

Insect Orders
•  Isoptera (termites)
–  2300 species (10% world’s biomass)
–  Evolved from a cockroach-like ancestor
–  Gradual metamorphosis
–  Winged reproductives (2 pairs)
–  Damage human-made wooden structures

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Insect Orders
•  Blattaria (cockroaches)

Insect Orders
•  Blattaria (cockroaches)
–  Old group (300mya)
–  4,500 species
–  Gradual metamorphosis
–  Only 30 species cohabit with humans
–  Greatest diversity in tropics
–  Most are nocturnal

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•  Mantodea (mantids)

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•  Mantodea (mantids)
–  2000 species
–  Raptorial forelegs
–  Very diverse in tropics (mimicry, etc.)
–  Predatory with excellent vision
–  Full head rotation
–  Gradual metamorphosis
–  Sexual cannibalism

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Insect Orders

•  Mantodea (mantids)

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Insect Orders
•  Anoplura (sucking lice)

Insect Orders
•  Anoplura (sucking lice)
–  Over 3000 species
–  All are very flat and wingless
–  Many body modifications
–  Host specific
–  Vectors of typhus
–  Gradual metamorphosis

Body lice can spread typhus.

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Body lice can spread typhus.

Body lice can spread typhus.

Insect Orders
Pediculus humanus

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Insect Orders

Insect Orders
Pthirus pubis

Insect Orders
•  Hemiptera (True bugs)

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Hemiptera have sucking mouthparts and gradual metamorphosis

Nymphs lack wings.

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Ground giant waterbugs are used in Thai

cooking.

Plant Bugs: Lace Bugs:

Miridae Tingidae

Lace bug damage

to foliage

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Geocoridae-Big Anthocoridae-
eyed bugs-predators Minute pirate bugs

Pentatomidae-
Predatory stink bug

Triatomidae kissing bugs-


Vector of Chagas disease in South America

Chagas disease

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Cimicidae-bed bugs-an old problem back in the dorms

Periodical cicada

Cicadas emerge in
swarms at long
intervals.

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Leafhoppers

Leafhoppers feed on plant

sap, and many species
transmit plant viruses.

Tree hoppers (Membracidae)-are thorn mimics

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Psyllids look like tiny cicadas

Nymphs are not

Adults are winged

Bemisia tabaci- a billion dollar insect

When this insect invaded

the US, billions of dollars
were lost in poinsettia,
melon and vegetable crops

Aphids

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Insect Orders
•  Hemiptera (True bugs)
–  Hemiptera (= half wing)
–  Over 50,000 species described (very
diverse)
–  Feed by piercing and sucking
–  Mouthparts modified into a proboscis (=
beak)
–  Phytophagous and carnivorous
–  Gradual metamorphosis

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