16/05/2023

University of Ghana, Legon

College of Basic and Applied Science
School of Biological Science

thomas.buxton9
niiansahbuxton@gmail.com

ABCS 342: tbuxton@ug.edu.gh

GENERAL ENTOMOLOGY Dr. Thomas Buxton www.fb.com/thomasbuxton

Lecturer
(Applied Entomology and Chemical Ecology)

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What to expect COURSE GOALS

3 Credit: 2Hour lecture + Practical
To understand the relationship between insect
Review: (issues arising from previous morphology and physiology and their functional roles
Instructional procedures class) 10min in the ecosystem.
Lecture: 1 hr40min.
Overview of the lecture: 10min To understand the variety of relationships between
insects and other animals including humans.

1. Class assignment, IA, practical report writing

Grading/evaluation and Class participation To prepare students for the course in Applied
2. Exams at the end of the semester. Entomology in level 400

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LEARNING OUTCOMES
Things to Avoid
Students would have acquired theoretical and practical Academic dishonesty
knowledge of insect structure, function and physiology
that underpins their huge diversity. Absence from Lecture, Practical session
or Test
Students would have learnt the identification and
classification of insects to enable them recognise them. Non/Late submission of assignment

Students would have learnt the general features of all

insect groups and their role in the environment

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COURSE OVERVIEW
Week 1: Introduction to course
Week 2: Structure & function of the integument
LECTURE 1:
Week 3: Morphology of insects INTRODUCTION
Week 4: Development and metamorphosis Modes of Life
Week 5: Insect classification Management and value of reference collections TO THE STUDY OF INSECTS
Week 6: The Alimentary System
Week 7: Reproductive System
Week 8: The Respiratory and Excretory systems
Week 9: Circulatory and Nervous Systems
Week 10: Muscular, Endocrine/Exocrine Systems

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ENTOMOLOGY Biologists work with insects:

The study of insects. Ease of culturing in a
laboratory,
Entomologists are the people
who study insects, and observe, Rapid population turnover
collect, rear and experiment
Availability of many individuals
with insects.
Entomological Research covers the total range of The minimal ethical concerns
disciplines: evolution, ecology, behaviour, anatomy, regarding responsible
physiology, biochemistry and genetics. experimental use of insects, as
compared with vertebrates
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A popular misperception Why insects-They are very important

Their ecologies are incredibly variable.
Professional entomologists
emphasize killing or controlling Been able to occupy almost every niche in all
insects. ecosystems: Insects may live in water, on land,
or in soil, during part or all of their lives.

Numerous entomological Feeding specializations of different insect groups

studies document their
Their lifestyles may be solitary, gregarious, sub-social or
beneficial roles
highly social

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In the ecosystem, Insects: Health

Nutrient recycling, via leaf-litter and wood
degradation, dispersal of fungi, disposal of carrion and
dung, and soil turnover
Plant propagation, including pollination and seed
Vectors: Mosquitoes, Tsetse flies, Houseflies etc.
dispersal
Maintenance of plant community composition and Agriculture
structure, via phytophagy, including seed feeding

Food for insectivorous vertebrates, such as many

birds, mammals, reptiles and fish; Pests of crops and others.

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Pollinators Natural Enemies

Bees, Lepidopterans and other colepterans

Nutrition Predatory beetles and bugs or parasitic wasps that control pests

Honey, Akokono, termites, Black soldier flies etc.

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Raw Materials Useful models

Chemical compounds Eg. Chitin, a component of insect For understanding general
cuticle, and its derivatives act as anticoagulants, enhance biological processes eg. Drosophila
wound and burn healing, reduce serum cholesterol melanogaster,
.
have made it a
Silks from the cocoons of silk- model research organism. genetics
worm moths, Bombyx mori, and cytology
and related species have been
Ants and bees, have allowed us
used for fabric for centuries,
to understand the evolution
and two endemic South African
and maintenance of social
species may be increasing in
behaviours such as altruism
local value.
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Careers in Entomology General Classification of Insects

Research Scientist Phylum Arthropoda:
Rearing Insects for Food Which includes all animals with segmented legs,
segmented bodies and exoskeletons.
Consultant
The phylum Arthropoda includes: spiders, ticks, mites,
ENTOMOLOGIST centipedes, millipedes, shrimps, lobsters, and many
Apiculture and Sericulture other organisms
Agricultural Entomologist
Insects belong to the Class Hexapoda or Insecta
Forensic Scientist
Mostly confused with Arachnida
Medical Entomologist (spiders, ticks, mites, scorpions, and relatives).

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LECTURE 2:
STRUTURE AND FUNCTION
OF THE INTEGUMENT

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LECTURE OBJECTIVE EXOSKELETON

Insects like all arhropods have an
exoskeleton
This lecture deals with the description of The components that constitute
the the integumentary systems in the exoskeleton make an
insects, their chemical composition, and overwhelming contribution to
their role in insect physiology. the terrestrial success that
arthropods can claim.
The exoskeleton completely covers the insect and additionally
provides an armorlike protective suit as a skeleton

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Its most critical function is to serve as an interface The exoskeleton also plays an
between the insect and the environment, providing a important structural role in
barrier for the movement of water, ions, parasites, and determining the form of the insect
environmental chemicals including insecticides. body and making possible the dramatic
changes in form that accompany
This barrier is especially significant for small animals like metamorphosis.
insects that have a high surface-to-volume ratio and
The integument may comprise up to half the dry weight of
therefore present a relatively large amount of surface area
some insects, representing a major investment of raw
to the environment.
materials. However, because much of this is resorbed during
The nature of the exoskeleton has thus had profound molting and even periods of starvation, the integument could
implications for growth, respiration, locomotion also be viewed as a food reserve.

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The exoskeleton… STRUCTURE OF THE INTEGUMENT

Although it provides a number of advantages, The outer covering of insects is referred to both as an
it does pose a major problem for growth exoskeleton and an integument.
The term “exoskeleton” characterizes it based on its
Organisms with exoskeletons have to molt to function as the major external support for the integrity
give way for growth of the insect body.
For insects with rigid exoskeletons to Given that there are more than a million identified insect
undergo significant amounts of growth, a species and that the specific nature of the integument of
new, larger exoskeleton must first be each species has exquisitely evolved along with its ecological
synthesized and the older one discarded. habits, it is likely that there are also more than a million
different varieties of integument.

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Major divisions: 1. The basement membrane

A continuous sheet of mucopolysaccharide, as
much as 0.5μm in thickness, and separates the
epidermal cells from the body cavity.
The overlying, non-
Procuticle
living Cuticle that is
secreted by the
It appears to be initially secreted by plasmatocytes and
Integument
epidermis. may also be formed by the epidermal cells during wound
The living
epidermal cell
repair.
layer,
The basement membrane is penetrated by nerves and
The underlying basement
membrane trachea that reach into the epidermal cell layer above.

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2. The epidermis Epidermal cells….

Lies just above the basement membrane is Abound to each other apically by
the only living portion of the integument. adhering zonules and just below
them, zonular septate
It comprises a single layer of cells of ectodermal origin. desmosomes

Most of the cells are columnar, but those producing the Gap junctions are channels that span two cell membranes
and connect the cytoplasms of neigh- boring cells that serve
intersegmental membrane are considerably flattened.
as conduits for morphogens and other small messengers.
The gap junctions are encoded by a large family of tissue-specific
innexin genes. The basement membrane is attached to the epidermal
cells by hemidesmosomes.

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Wound healing…..
The integument is the primary barrier to With the gap filled by a plug of coagulated hemolymph
infection, and the epidermal cells and cellular debris, other epidermal cells migrate to
participate in wound healing when the the puncture site and infiltrate the plug, eventually
integument is breached. establishing an epidermal layer capable of secreting
Within less than an hour after injury, cuticle.
epidermal cells at the site of the wound
elongate with their tapering ends toward the
wound. They fuse, forming a multinucleate
syncytium that encircles the area.

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Epidermal cells…. Dermal glands….

Often multicellular, consisting of a
Modifications of these cells
secretory cell, a duct cell, and one or
produce structural features:
more support cells, depending on
dermal glands, sensory
their function.
receptors and their support
cells, and oenocytes. They secrete the cement that covers the
epicuticle and are widely distributed over the
The epidermal cells, along with some of the surface of the integument.
modified cells associated with them, secrete the
They may also produce more volatile defensive secretions
overlying, nonliving cuticle
and pheromones that are released into the environment.

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Sensory receptors… Oenocytes…

Are specialized epidermal cells that Are large polyploid cells associated
respond to environmental stimuli with the basement membrane.

Consist of structural and support Some of these oenocytes enlarge during the
cells that produce the outward form molting process and appear to be secretory,
of the receptor and the internal suggesting they are involved in the production
neural dendrites that respond to of cuticular lipids that are deposited in the
specific stimuli. epicuticle.
Other types of oenocytes may secrete ecdysteroid hormones.

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3. The cuticle Procuticle

Secreted by the Epidermis. Lies just above the epidermal cells
From 10 μm to 0.5 mm thick and consists
Consists of a thicker inner
primarily of chitin complexed with protein.
procuticle overlaid with
thin epicuticle As the molting cycle proceeds, at least two and
sometimes three regions of the procuticle can be
Procuticle differentiates identified.
into a thicker endocuticle The exocuticle: a region in which the proteins
covered by a thinner eventually become heavily cross-linked and insoluble.
exocuticle, The endocuticle (ranging from 10 to 200μm in
thickness), consisting of several lamellar layers.
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The cement layer The wax layer

Epicuticle Consists mostly of lipoprotein that Produced by the epidermal cells
The epicuticle ranges from 1 to 4 μm is secreted by different groups of and transported to the surface of
in thickness, dermal glands whose contents are the cuticle through the pore canals
Typically consists (from internal to discharged and mix on the surface. that permeate the procuticle.
external) of:
The composition and thickness of Cuticular waxes are mixtures of
Inner epicuticle
the layer varies from species to hydrocarbons with 25 to 31 carbon
Outer epicuticle species. atoms, alcohols of 24 to 34 carbon
sometimes called the cuticulin layer atoms, and esters of fatty acids.
Lipid or wax layer It may serve as a varnish to coat
Cement layer and protect the wax layer just One major role of the wax layer is
beneath it. in waterproofing.

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CHEMISTRY OF THE CUTICLE Cuticular Proteins

The insect cuticle is composed largely of Proteins can often constitute more than half
proteins, lipids, and chitin. the dry weight of the insect cuticle and are
The proteins and chitin interact to provide the synthesized mainly by epidermal cells.
mechanical function of the cuticle, conferring the They are primarily located within the procuticle,
strength and hardness that is necessary for it to but the epicuticle also contains several minor
serve as an exoskeleton. proteins that are relatively difficult to extract. The matrix of protein (short
chains) and chitin filaments (gray
Lipids provide protective and communicative roles, The stage-specific properties of insect cuticles are bands) that associate in the
procuticle. Water molecules are
located mostly on the outermost layers of the cuticle, largely derived from the distinct stage-specific shown as small circles. (From
Andersen, 2000).
and are secreted once the rest of the cuticle has been proteins that are synthesized and the manner in
produced. which they interact with the lipids that are present

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Chitin Cuticular Lipids

Produced by epidermal and midgut endodermal cells, chitin
The bulk of the lipids present in the cuticle are localized
is the other major component of the procuticle, varying
in the wax layer above the envelope where they prevent
from 10% to 45% of the total dry weight of the cuticle
desiccation and provide chemical cues for species
depending on species and stage.
recognition.
It is an acetylated polysaccharide similar
to cellulose. It is a polymer of N-acetyl-D- As the primary barrier to the penetration of environmental
glucosamine with a few additional chemicals, the nature of cuticular lipids must be
residues of unacetylated glucosamine and understood in order to design effective contact insecticides
is connected by unbranched β-1,4 that are able to cross this barrier. They exist in a solid state
linkages, which make the chitin chains within the cuticle, but at elevated temperatures they may
ribbon-like undergo a phase change.
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Other compounds Summary

Phenols, largely derived from tyrosine metabolism, have been
identified from arthropod cuticles. These are generally involved The Exosketeleton/Integument
Inner epicuticle
in the tanning reactions within the procuticle that stabilize the
Outer epicuticle
protein matrix. Epi cuticle
Lipid or wax layer
A number of enzymes related to cuticular tanning are also present, Cement layer
The overlying, non-living Cuticle that is
including various phenoloxidases. secreted by the epidermis.
Calcium deposits: In some insects, including the pupae of the dipteran
Musca autumnalis. Integument Exocuticle

Procuticle
Mn and Zn are also present at the cutting edges of the mandibles of The living epidermal cell layer,
herbivorous insects such as many locusts and caterpillars to increase their Endocuticle
hardness and reduce the abrasive wear. The underlying basement
membrane

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