Insect taxonomic Diversity - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Insect taxonomic Diversity

By Rhayn HornbackSlide2

Insect Order

Ephemeroptera

Odonata

BlattariaIsopteraDermatpteraOrthopteraPhasmidaHemiptera

Coleoptera

Lepidoptera

Diptera

Siphonoptera

Hymenoptera

Mantodea

PlecopteraSlide3

Ephemeroptera

Ephemeroptera includes only mayflies. The males have elongated fore legs, which are used

to grasp female in flight.

The mouthparts of adults reduced, unsclerotised. Their hind wings become smaller than fore wings. After they have formed fully functional wings they will proceed to moult. It’s unique amongst insects to have a winged, pre-adult stage.Slide4

Odonata

Both Dragonflies

and

Damselflies belong to Odonata. Characteristics that distinguish Odonata from other groups of insects are two pairs of transparent membranous wings with many small veins, minute antennae, extremely large eyes (that fill most of the head), an aquatic larval stage (nymph) with posterior tracheal gills, a long slender abdomen, and a prehensile labium, which are extendible jaws underneath the head. Damselfly’s wings rest vertically when they land.

Dragonfly’s wings rest horizontally when they land.Slide5

Blattaria

Cockroaches are the only species in

Blattaria.

Cockroaches date back to around 300 million years old. Fossil evidence suggests that the modern cockroach is much smaller than the original roach, the average cockroach today is only about an inch long. They have long antennae and a brain in their body rather than the head. This is why they can live up to two weeks with its head cut off. Neat, yet disturbing!Slide6

Isoptera

Isoptera includes termites only

. Termites are usually small or medium sized, whitish or

colorless insects, with short antennae. They have strong biting mouthparts with which to chew seeds, wood or leaves. Apart from the Hymenoptera (bees, ants and wasps), termites are the only insects that live in social groups. Slide7

Dermatptera

Dermatptera only include Earwigs

. Earwigs are sometimes confused with Staphylinid beetles, but can be distinguished from the latter by the presence of pincer-like cerci, which Staphylinid beetles lack.

•Heavily sclerotised pincer-like cerci. Females have straight cerci with a inward pointing tip and males have curved cerci•2 pairs of wings. The forewings are short and protectively hardened. The hind wings are membranous and folded in a fan-like way underneath the forewings when not in use. Some species are also wingless•Chewing (mandibulate) mouthparts Slide8

Orthoptera

Orthoptera includes including the grasshoppers, crickets, cave crickets, Jerusalem crickets, katydids, weta, lubber, Acrida, and locusts. Orthoptera means straight wings; ortho = straight, ptera = wings. These insects often have a pair of elongated and thickened forewings and a membranous hind pair.Slide9

Phasmida

The Phasmatodea are an order of insects, whose members are variously known as stick insects, walking sticks or stick-bugs, phasmids, ghost insects and leaf insects. Stick insects are among the best camouflaged of all creatures, with a body shape that mimics the branches of their home. Found predominantly in the tropics and subtropics—although several species live in temperate regions—stick insects thrive in forests and grasslands, where they feed on leaves. Mainly nocturnal creatures, they spend much of their day motionless, hidden under plants.

Many stick insects feign death to thwart predators, and some will shed the occasional limb to escape an enemy’s grasp. Others swipe at predators with their spine-covered legs, while one North American species, Anisomorpha buprestoides, emits a putrid-smelling fluid.Slide10

Hemiptera

Hemiptera is an order of insects most often known as the true bugs, comprising around 50,000–80,000 species of cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, shield bugs, and others. The insects in this order are extremely diverse in their size, shape and

color

. 2 pairs of wings, although some species may be wingless and others have only forewings. Wings are generally membranous but in some species the forewings may be hardened at the base• Piercing or sucking mouthparts appearing as a sharply pointed tube known as a proboscis or rostrum, which extends from the underside of the head.Compound eyes of various forms• Up to 3 ocelli present• Antennae vary and may be either short, or long and conspicuousThe young of hemipterans look like small adults.Slide11

Coleoptera

Coleoptera include beetles

and weevils. Coleoptera are the only order of insects that have elytra. This adaptation has enabled them to expand into many habitats such as leaf litter, logs and soil, that would otherwise damage the wings of less well protected insect groups. At first glance beetles may appear to have only 2 body segments because the elytra may cover most of the thorax and abdomen. However if you capture a beetle and turn it over you will be able to see the segments that are hidden by the elytra. Larval Characteristics: The larvae of beetles also come in a variety of shapes and sizes depending on where they live and what they eat. Larvae generally appear grub-like with a well-defined head capsule, which may be highly sclerotised. They have short antennae and usually have chewing mouthparts. The legs may be present or absent. Beetles have a complete life cycle and development may take anywhere from a few weeks to several years. Eggs are usually laid on or near the food source such as in the soil or on a host plant, depending on the species. The number of eggs laid will depend on the species and may range from one or two up to hundreds. After hatching the larvae develop through a series of growth stages known as instars (usually 3 to 5) before pupating into

adults. Slide12

Lepidoptera

This is one of the most well known and easily

recognizable

orders of insects and contains about 21 000 species in Australia. Moths and butterflies are grouped together in the order Lepidoptera, which means 'scaly wings‘. Moths and butterflies undergo a complete life cycle that includes four stages: egg, caterpillar (larvae), pupae and adult. •2 pairs of membranous wings that are covered in tiny scales which overlap like shingles on a roof. A few moths are wingless• Large compound eyes • One ocelli present above each eye • Antennae present. Antennae are long and slender in female moths and generally feathery in male moths. Butterflies have clubbed antennae• Mouthparts are formed into a sucking tube known as a haustellum

The larvae are typically known as caterpillars and have a sclerotised head with chewing (mandibulate) mouthparts, 3 pairs of thoracic legs and often short, unsegmented prolegs on the abdomen.

Is it a moth or a butterfly? Put simply, butterflies are just day-flying moths. Butterflies have clubbed antennae and the habit of holding their wings vertically when at rest whereas moths sit with their wings flat. Some day-flying moths are brightly

colored

and may be mistaken for butterfliesSlide13

Diptera

There are many different shapes of True Flies. They are soft-bodied insects, most are fairly small (less than 1.5 cm long) but a few can be larger (up to 4 cm!). Adult flies have only 1 pair of wings, unlike other insects. The second pair has evolved into small balancing organs that look like little clubs. Adult flies feed on liquids and have either thin sucking mouthparts (like Mosquitos) or sponging mouthparts, a tube with wider sponge at the end (like Flower Flies and House Flies). Most adult flies have large eyes, to help them see when they are flying. Many adult flies look like wasps or bees. Sometimes they look a lot like The larvae of True Flies all look like thick segmented worms, but they have many different shapes. They don't have jointed legs, unlike beetle larvae. Some have mouthparts and a distinct head, but most don't. The

pupa

stage of a True Fly is covered with tough skin. It may have some of its legs and body parts visible, or it may be hidden inside a larval skin, and just look like a brown capsule.Slide14

Siphonoptera

Fleas are the insects forming the order Siphonaptera. They are wingless, with mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood. Fleas are external parasites, living by hematophagy off the blood of mammals and birds. •Laterally compressed bodies

•Piercing-sucking mouthparts

•Enlarged hind legs adapted for jumping •Strong tarsal claws adapted for holding onto their hosts •Backward pointing hairs and bristles for ease of movement through the hair of a host •Small antennae which tuck away into special groves in the headFleas mate on their host animal and lay their eggs either onto the animal where they fall to the nest or directly in the nest. The small larvae hatch from the eggs and do not begin to feed on blood like that of their parents but consume the dead skin and other dirt and dust from the host animal. The larvae develop through 3 instars and when fully grown spin a silken cocoon and pupate in the nest of the host. The vibrations of a host often trigger the emergence of the adult flea from the

pupa

case, enabling it to immediately find a host and begin feeding. The complete life cycle may take from several weeks to many months depending on the speciesSlide15

Hymenoptera

Hymenopterans

, the "membrane-winged" insects, include bees, ants, and a large number of other insect taxa collectively referred to as wasps. The Hymenoptera include famous examples of social insects, such as honeybees and true ants; these insects have developed regimented social systems in which members are divided into worker, drone, and queen castes. Such social hymenoptera may live together in nests or hives of many thousands of individuals, all descended form a single queen. Not all hymenoptera are social, however; many live a solitary life, coming together only for a brief mating. Less well-known, but equally spectacular, are the various families of parasitoid wasps; parasitoids lay eggs in living hosts, often other insects, which hatch into larvae that feed on the host's tissues before emerging. Such treatment typically kills the host; parasitoids are attracting interest as natural controls on insect pests. Other wasps parasitize the eggs or larvae of other insects, such as the wasp below, which is shown emerging from the egg of a hemipteran that was parasitized.

DescriptionThe Hymenoptera are described as being a holometabolous (having a complete metamorphosis) group, with generally apodous (without legs) larvae, exarate (with the appendages free, not glued to the body) pupa and a cocoon. The adults or imagos have two pairs of membranous wings, often with greatly reduced venation, the hind wings are smaller than the fore wings which they connected to by a series of interlocking hooks. They generally have biting mouth parts sometimes also adapted for lapping and sucking. They are normally thin

wasted

to some extent and an ovipositor is always present in some form or other, often adapted for sawing and or piercing and stinging.Slide16

Mantodea

Mantodea

only include Praying

mantids. Praying mantids are often easily recognised due to their large size, which can range from 10 to 120 millimetres in body length and their characteristic way of standing with forelegs held together as if they were praying. All praying mantids have the following features: •Elongated body •Raptorial front legs with one or two rows of spines •2 pairs of wings, both of which are used in flight. Although some species have reduced wings and others are wingless• Forewings protectively hardened to cover the membranous hind wings when at rest •Very mobile triangular shaped head with distinctive ocelli

•Large compound eyes

•Short to medium sized filiform antennae

The males of most species are fully winged while many females have either reduced wings or no wings at all. The nymphs of praying mantids look like small adults but lack wings or have developing wing buds.

Some species of Neuroptera in the family Mantispidae, like the one pictured below can be mistaken for praying mantids as they also have raptorial front legs, however further examination reveals they do not have the hardened forewings present in Mantodea.

Mating in praying mantids is direct and in some species the female may attack and eat the male during or after mating. The female lays her eggs in a foamy substance that hardens into a distinctive case. Most people would have seen these cases attached to branches, tree trunks, logs and even paling fences and houses. This egg case known as an ootheca may contain up to 400 eggs depending on the species. Some female mantids stay with the eggs until they hatch while others leave as soon as the eggs are laid. The nymphs hatch resembling small adults and develop through a series of stages, moulting several times before reaching maturity. In cooler areas nymphs may take up to one year to reach maturity but in warmer climates there may be up to 2 generations in one year. Slide17

Plecoptera

The Plecoptera (stoneflies) are a small order of exopterygote insects of about 2000 species worldwide. The order has a long, but rather fragmented, fossil record extending back to the early Permian. These Permian fossils can be rather easily contained in the living suborders, Arctoperlaria and Antarctoperlaria. The modern families are clearly identifiable among specimens from the Baltic amber, which is of Miocene age (

38-54

million years ago) as well as a few other compression fossils. Stoneflies are easily recognized by a few simple characters. They have three segmented tarsi but their hind legs are not modified for jumping to the extent of Orthoptera such as crickets and grasshoppers. They have long filiform antennae at least half length of the body. The cerci are generally long as well, especially in the aquatic nymphs. The wings are almost always present but are sometimes very short. They are folded horizontally back over the body. These characters help distinguish them from Dermaptera and Embioptera which they superfically resemble and to which they are probably closely related.The immatures are variously called larvae, or nymphs or naiads, but are most frequently referred to as nymphs. All nymphs are aquatic, and resemble the adults in many respects. They also have three-segmented tarsi. The nymphs always have long cerci and never a third central tail or median caudal filament. Gills, if they have them, can occur on various parts of the thorax and abdomen and are composed only of filaments, not plates.Slide18

THE END!!!!!