Lab I: A Review of Entomology "101"

This lab was designed to refresh our “entomology memory banks.”
The assignment was to sort alfalfa and soybean samples for unique individuals.

Alfalfa sample

Soybean Sample

Table 1: The common name, life stage(s), and crop(s) of the unique individuals found in Alfalfa (KEY: A = Adults, L = Larva, N = Nymph).

Table 2: The common name, life stage(s), and crop(s) of the unique individuals found in Soybean (KEY: A = Adults, L = Larvae, N = Nymphs) .

NOTE: the differences between the sizes of the samples and the number of "unique" individuals found in the samples. Fortunately, we did not have to do absolute counts but a presence/absence count.

Then sort the individuals by mouth part(s), antennae, and leg types.

Table 3: The mouth part, antennae, and leg type found in sample bag(s) by order.

The next part of the assignment is to select one of the individuals (alfalfa butterfly) and draw its mouth parts, antennae, and leg; label the different parts of these characteristics.

Most of these characters along with wing type can help place an individual in their correct order. If there was enough time, we were to organize the individuals by wing type.

Table 4: The description of the wing types found in the samples by order.

Experience "Rating":

This lab was pretty much what I expected- a review of basic insect structures. The samples that we sorted were similar to the ones that I collected during Insect Pest Management both in size and "unique" insects. HOWEVER, the finding of the red flour beetle (RFB) in the alfalfa sample makes me ask questions such as:

What the .... is that doing there (for those of you that don't know, I work with RFB and they are typically a stored product pest but they do fly & can be found in the "wild")?

Where exactly was this sample collected (so I can determine where the RFB could have came from)?

Cool Links that I think you will find informative and "fun":



"Lacewing Larva gets Lunch" a very cool video

http://answers.yahoo.com./question/index?qid=20080409122354AAypg5a a brief description of what the differences are between insects & arachnids

http://www.insectidentification.org/insect_mouth_parts.asp a remedial lesson in insect mouth parts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect an intense description of insects includes physiology & other "fun" stuff

References (used but not cited above):

Borror, D.J., Triplehorn, C.A., Johnson, N. F. 1989. An Introduction to the Study of Insects, 6th Edition. Thompson Learning Inc. United States of America.

Elzinga, R. J. 2000 Fundamentals of Entomology, 5th Edition. Prentice Hall. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey.

Salsbury, G.A., White, S.c. 2000. Insects in Kansas. Kansas Department of Agriculture.