WEEK 13: PHYLUM ARTHROPODA

SYSTEMATIC ZOOLOGY
FINALS (Lecture)​
BS BIO 2-Y1-1 | PROF. ARSENIA CASAUAY | 1ST SEM AY 2025-2026

●​ bulk of exoskeleton is made up of the cuticle,

WEEK 13: PHYLUM ARTHROPODA composed largely of the polysaccharide chitin in
association with the number of protein
These animals have a head, thorax, abdomen, and
three or more pairs of jointed legs. Chitin
●​ Strong
Classes include; ●​ Nonallergenic
●​ Arachnida – spiders ●​ Biodegradable Chitin can
●​ Solubilized
●​ Crustacea – lobsters ●​ Re-formed into fibers
●​ Insecta – insects
●​ Chilipoda – centipedes
PRODUCT
●​ Diplopoda – millipedes

●​ Produced as a clear film, it might be used to

Characteristics
manufacture a substitute for plastics wrap.
Which can be ;
●​ Epidermis produces a segmented, jointed, and ●​ Fabrics
hardened (sclerotized) chitinous exoskeleton, with ●​ Surgical sutures
intrinsic musculature between individual joints of ●​ Biodegradable capsules – release therapeutic
appendages. drugs
●​ Complete loss of motile cilia in adult and larval
stages.
●​ 85% of all animals species described CHITIN
●​ Dominate the fossil records
●​ Unusual in lacking cilia ●​ Derivaties bind readily to numerous inorganic and
●​ Bilateral symmetry organic compounds, including fats.
●​ SPECIALIZED FUNCTIONS AS ●​ Not digestible by vertebrates.
TAGMATIZATION Food additive
●​ ARTHROPODS ARE BASICALLY METAMETRIC ●​ Reduce caloric
●​ Cholesterol
●​ Removing toxic organic and inorganic compound
TWO MAJOR ARTHROPODS GROUPS form drinking water and during sewage treatment.
Chitin functions
●​ INSECTA
●​ Protection
●​ CRUSTACEA
●​ Support
Have 3 distinct tagamata: head, thorax and abdomen. ●​ Movement
●​ Providing a rigid skeletal
The Exoskeleton ●​ system

●​ Individuals of both group generally have a hard, ARTHROPODS PROCUTICLE

external, protective covering.
●​ Arthropod integument a ●​ Strengthened by various hardening elements
●​ dditional as a locomotory skeleton. ○​ Deposition of calcium carbonate
●​ Secreted by epidermal cells Outermost layer, the
epicuticle, is generally complex. Tanning Process
●​ Composed of lipoprotein layer ●​ Hardening also
●​ Cuticle – water impermeable, outer body surface ●​ Procuticle`s protein component
cannot serve for gas exchange. ●​ Also called sclerotization
●​ Waterproof cuticle – resistant to water loss ○​ formation of crosslinkages between
protein chain
 The articulation of a
Sclerotization
crustacean limb. The
procuticle is
●​ Forming the hinges and byssal threads of hardened
bivavles everywhere except at
the joints.
Procuticle
●​ Thickness
●​ Not hardened uniformly over the entire body
Procuticle is thin and flexible in certain direction,
forming joints
--- presence of

presence of appropriate musculature

●​ Jointed skeleton
●​ Pairs of muscles MOLTING
●​ Rigid levers
●​ OUTER PROTECTIVE COVERING — Seccreted
Arthropods joints --- over all regions of the body
wing joints and those involved in jumping ●​ HARDENING PROCESS — Encased in its
armor, except where the armor is pierced by
Substance called --- sensory hair and gland openings.
“animal rubber,” or resilin, stores enery and release it.
MAJOR REGIONS
●​ Foregut
The hemocoel ●​ Hindgut
●​ Lined with cuticle Increase in body size
Coelom
●​ Play no major role in the locomotion ●​ Must shed the cuticle
●​ Suit of rigid plates ●​ Includes the lining of the gut--- grow larger
●​ Greatly reduced
CRYPOTOCYANIN
●​ Blood circulatory system as in the mullusca.
●​ Spiders and other arachnids extend their legs
●​ Formation of the new exoskeleton
●​ Fluids and body cavities --- arthropod
●​ A molecule that apparently eveloved from
locomotion
hemocyanin
●​ A copper-based protein involved in oxygen
The cuticle of (a) crustaceans and (b) insects. The
transport.
cuticles of both groups of animals are secreted by
the underlying epidermis.
Ecdysis

●​ Removing the existing exoskeleton

●​ Greek word meaning “an escape” or “a
●​ slipping out of”

Soft-bodied crabs & molting arthropods ---- rely on

high internal blood pressure in the hemocoel to
maintain locomotry funtiobs

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 Potential Nerves and Muscles

●​ collapse of the body – terrestrial arthropods are

smaller that aquatic species
●​ Growth of tissue (biomass) is a continuous
process.
●​ The process of ecdysisand formation of the new
exoskeleton are under both neutral and hormonal
control

Ecdysteroid production is triggered by the brains`s

productions of other hormone, which activates the (a) Innervation of a typical arthropod muscle.
prothoracic glands. (b) Neuromuscular junction

Surgical removal of crustacean eyestalks result in Muscles --- strength of contraction depends upon
premature ECDYSIS. the rate at which nerve impulses are delivered to
the fibers.
One gland produces ecdysteriod hormones that
●​ single muscle fiber may be innervated by as
stimulate molting.
many as five different types of neuron.
●​ Neurons are inhibitory
Important fuctions of arthtopods; ●​ Rate of contraction is partly a property of the
individual muscle fiber
●​ Neurohormonalcontrol ●​ Single arthropod neuron may innervate a large
●​ Reproductive cycle number of muscle
●​ Body fluid osmotic concentration ●​ Muscle is entirely striated, most of
●​ Migration of light screening pigments in eye invertebrates possess primarily smooth
muscle
●​ Movement of pigment granules witihin
CHROMATOPHORE CELLS, leading to gradual Circulatory system
changes in body color
OPEN CIRCULATORY SYSTEM
Schematic diagram of a likely mechanism Oxygenated blood moving through a series of
regulating ecdysis in crustaceans. sinuses and finally being drawn back into the heart
through the ostia as the heart expands.
Closed circulatory system
Blood leaves the heart through the closed vessels,
it enters the heart directly form the hemocoel
through perforations called ostia in the heart wall.

Glands associated with molting are indicated by G1

and G2. (A) the hormones produced by G2 inhibits
ecdystreriodproduction by G1, and no molting
occurs. (B) gland G2 is inactive; the brain hormone
stimulates ecdystreoidproduction by G1, the animal
hosts.

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Distinct features; ostia heart with The inverted image formed at the back of a human
eye are sampled by many millions of closely packed
receptor cells in the retina
--- the rods and cone

Nerve impulses from the individual receptor cells

are then integrated and interpreted by the brain.

A compound eye works;There are many lenses

1.​ Focus of each lens cannot be varied

OPEN AND CLOSED CIRCULATORY SYTEM 2.​ Many fewer receptor cells to sample the image,
is upright rather than inverted.
ARTHROPOD VISUAL SYSTEM

Ommatidia;ommato –eye; uim-little

TWO FORMS
●​ OCELLI
●​ Composed of many individual units
●​ COMPOUND EYES
●​ The compound eyes of some insect species
contain many thousands of ommatidia
VISUAL SYSTEM ---- photosentitive pigment of the
●​ Convex eye is very wide
ocellus is a vitamin A derivative in combination with
a protein.

●​ Evolutionary origin for the compound eyes of

OCELLUS, is simply a small cup with a
myodocarpid ostracods
light-sensitive surface backed by lightabsorbing
pigment.
●​ The cup covered by a lens. Ommatiduim consists of;

Phtotoreceptor pigment 1.​ Fixed focus lens --- the cornea

2.​ Crystalline cone
-​ generating action potentials that are then carried 3.​ Retinular cells
by nerve fibers to be interpreted. 4.​ Shielding pigment
5.​ Neural cartridge
●​ OCELLI ARE GENERALLY NOT IMAGE
FORMING
Characteristics;
COMPOUND EYES ●​ Insect and crustaceans eyes are sensitive to the
polarization of light.
●​ CAN FORM IMAGES ●​ Polarized light
●​ COMPOUND EYES 2-3 cm in diameter ●​ Sensitivity to ultraviolet light
●​ Polychaete annelid and bivalve mollusk have ●​ Sensitive to light of infrared wavelengths
independently
Rhabdomeres
COMPOUND EYE OF A FLY, ●​ Light sensitive pigment
CONTAINING HUNDREDS ●​ Retinular cells contained within of thousand of
rhabdomeres
OF OMMATIDIA. NOTE THE
EYE`S COMPLEX SHAPE; NO Rhabdom
TWO OMMATIDIA ARE ●​ Within each ommatiduimfrom a discer
ORIENTED IN PRECISELY
THE SAME DIRECTION.

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 A superposition eye in the (a) dark adapted and (b)
Visual system
light adapted conditions.

●​ Apposition eye
-​ work best at high light intensities

●​ Superposition eye
-​ Superposition eyes are common among
insects and crustace

Sharpness of the image formed by a

compound eye;

SUBPHYLUM TRILOBITIMORPHA
1.​ Increased resolution
2.​ Decreased resolution
3.​ Decreased angle gives increased resolution ---Three lobed form---
4.​ Increased number gives increased resolving Two anterior-posterior furrows divide the body into
potential three regions. --- two lateral, one central
5.​ Complexity of the information center receiving
and processing the impluses sent form CLASS TRILOBITA

ARTHROPOD REPRODUCTION ●​ 400 species have been described from the fossil
record
Fertilization is internal, but some external ●​ Group has no living representative
GONOCHORISTIC ---- DIOECIOUS; separate sexes ●​ 5,000 genera
HERMAPHRODITIC ---- sedentary and parasitic ●​ All extinct by about 225 million year later
ASEXUAL REPRODUCTION --- free living species ●​ varying from burrowing trilobites to walking and
swimming forms
PARTHENOGENENIS – offspring from unfertilized ●​ Trilobite body was flattened dorsoventrally and
eggs divided into three section
●​ Males have never been found
●​ Both terrestrial and aquatic sp.– potential mate, Three section;
pheromone production and chemical sensing. ●​ Section I – Cephalon
SPERMATOPHORES ●​ Section II – Thorax
●​ Section III - Pygidium

●​ Section I and Section III — covered by a

continuous unjointed sheet of exoskeleton, a
carapace.
●​ A pair of compound eyes, each composed of
many ommatidia
●​ Three-lobed

●​ Adjacent to the mouth

●​ Ventral surface
●​ was a chitinous lip
●​ the labrum
●​ each body segment posterior to the mouth bore
a pair of two-branched,

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INNERMOST BRANCHED — LONG SETAE &
CLASS ARACHNIDA
FUNCTIONED IN WALKING
●​ BORE LONG FILAMENTS
●​ GILL FILAMANENTS --- Spider —
●​ SETAE USED FOR SWIMMING
●​ FILTERING FOOD General Characteristics
●​ DIGGING IN LOOSE SUBSTRATE. ●​ Undoubtedly marine
●​ 70,000 living arachnid species
IDENTICAL BIRAMOUS — ENTIRE BODY ●​ Few living aquatic species
LENGHT ●​ Derived from terrestrial forms

Including organisms are;

SUBPHYLUM CHELICERATA ●​ Spiders
●​ Mites
--- CLAW — ●​ Ticks
●​ Scropions
CHARACTERISTICS
●​ Absence of antennae Half of all arachnid species are spiders
●​ Two distinct portion; prosoma & opisthosoma 9,000 are mites and ticks
●​ No distinct head Spiders are major insect eaters and are
●​ First pair of appendages; the chelicerae increasingly used to control insect
●​ Prosoma are adapted for feeding
Features populations.
●​ Lack mandible
●​ PROSOMA
●​ Appendages found adjacent to the mouth of
●​ HEAD AND THORAX
many arthropods, used for chewing and grinding
●​ COVERED BY A CARAPACE
food during digestion.
●​ Zero to four pairs of eyes are found, four pairs
most common
SUPERCLASS MEROSTOMATA

--Only four living species are currently living CHELICERAE

●​ Anteriormost pair of appendages borne by the
Limulus Polyphemus ●​ prosoma
“horseshoe crab” ●​ Generally tear apart food prior to ingestions
●​ Not true crabs
●​ Burrow through surface layers of mud Pedipalps
●​ Ingesting smaller animals -​ Modified for grabbing Killing Reproducing
●​ Oxygenating the sediment in the process
MAXILLA – endite
MEROSTOMATA are MARINE -​ Aids in the mechanical preparation of food

Principle of vision Walking legs

●​ horseshoe crab eyes -​ Pedipalps are followed by four pair

Horseshoe crab blood OPISTHOSOMA or ABDOMEN

●​ Injectable endotoxins -​ Distinct from the prosoma, in some arachnids,
●​ Screen for gonorrhea including spiders.
●​ spinal meningitis
PEDICEL
Their embryos, deposited in vast numbers in shallow -​ Two division are connected by a narrow stalk
coastal waters each spring, provide critical fuel.

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BOOK LUNGS
Class PYCNOGONIDA
-​ Respiration in the more primitive arachnid forms
is by means of pair of modified, internalized book
PANTOPODA (THICK KNEES; all leg)
gills
-​
Characteristics
SPIRACLES
●​ Body not divided into distinct regions (tagamata)
-​ Flattened respiratory surfaces in the abdomen
●​ Unique proboscis at the antior end, with an
are connected to the outside by means of
opening at its tip
openings
●​ Variable numbers of walking legs among
-​ Can be closed between “breaths,” to limit water
species
loss.
●​ sea spiders lack specialized respiratory or
excretory systems.
TRACHEAE
●​ have a complete digestive system, sucking
-​ System of tubules
mouth that opens at the tip of an often greatly
-​ Brancing tubules that ultimately terminate directly
elongated proboscis.
on the tissue.
●​ Most of the body is prosoma
●​ Possibly they are basal arthropods, from which
-​ Gas exchange, occurs without use of the blood
all other arthropod groups evolved.
circulatory system.
●​ The digestive system extends well into the legs,
●​ as do the gonads.
-​ Some arachnid species have both book lungs
●​ pycnogonid species have four pairs of walking
and tracheae
legs posterior to the pair of chelicerae and pair
SPINNERETS
of palps, although some species have five or six
-​ Bear up to four pairs of small abdominal
pairs of walking legs.
appendages
●​ the head bears a posterior pair of ovigers, which
are used by both sexes to groom the other legs
-​ Appendages located; ventrally and posteriorly,
and the trunk and by males to carry the eggs
near the anus, and bear spigots connecting to
after
internal abdominal glands that secrete silk
proteins.
●​ 1,160 chelicerate species.
●​ Pycnogonids are known as sea spiders
●​ The largest individuals are the thicks, which can
●​ bear conspicuously long legs; the legs are
reach 5-6 mm.
typically about 3 times the length of the body
●​ Mites and ticks feed exclusively on fluids, which
and may be nearly 16 times longer than the
they can suck in through a muscular pharaynx,
body in some species.
and some produce silk.
●​ Some species are serve agricultural pests, and
pycnogonid species have four pairs of walking
vectors of plant viruses.
legs posterior to the pair of chelicerae and pair of
palps, although some species have five or six pairs
MEMBERS OF OTHER ARACHNID ORDERS,
of walking [Link] head bears a posterior pair of
INCLUDING THE PSEUDOSCORPIONS,
ovigers, which are used by both sexes to groom the
SOLFUGIDS, AND OPILIONES (DADDY LONG
other legs and the trunk and by males to carry the
LEGS)
eggs after they are fertilized.

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8
WEEK 14: HEXAPOD AND MYRIAPOD
SYSTEMATIC ZOOLOGY
FINALS (Lecture)​
BS BIO 2-Y1-1 | PROF. ARSENIA CASAUAY | 1ST SEM AY 2025-2026

ORDER PAUROPODA
WEEK 14: HEXAPOD AND MYRIAPOD
●​ These are extremely small ( less than 1.5 mm
long)
●​ terrestrial arthropods that live in leaf litter and
SUPERCLASS MYRIAPODA
soil in forests.
●​ Each individual has nine pairs of legs.
Over 13,000 species have been described,
●​ Most species are fast-moving and feed on
distributed among four orders.
fungi.
●​ Fewer than 500 species have been described.
ORDER CHILOPODA ●​ Five families.
●​ The centipedes.
●​ All approximately 3,000 species are Predators
●​ The first pair of trunk appendages are modified
into a pair of poison fangs
●​ Scutigera, the common household centipede SUPERCLASS HEXAPODA
●​ The smallest centipedes are about 4 mm long
●​ largest species, Scolopendra gigantea, reach Members of this group have been increasingly linked
lengths of nearly 30 cm. with crustaceans, as the Pancrustacea.
●​ There are 20 families.

CLASS ENTOGNATHA
ORDER DIPLOPODA Primitively wingless hexapods
●​ The millipedes. whose mouthpart appendages
●​ Nearly 10,000 species. are recessed within a special
●​ Each millipede segment typically bears a pair pouch on the head.
of poison glands that secrete a volatile and
irritating, or even deadly.
ORDER COLLEMBOLA
●​ secretions usually contain hydrogen cyanide.
●​ Springtails.
●​ Most species are scavengers, relatively few
●​ A group of small hexapods, no more than
are carnivores, and a few others are
several millimeters long, possessing a
vegetarians.
characteristic abdominal jumping organ.
●​ Approximately 120 families.
●​ Unlike any other hexapods, collembolids
possess only six abdominal segments.
●​ Springtails are common in various freshwater,
coastal, marine, and terrestrial habitats.
●​ Five families,4,000 described species.

ORDER SYMPHYLA
●​ Scutigerella, Symphella. (1–8 mm long)
●​ terrestrial arthropods live in damp habitats,
such as beneath rotting wood, or in moist soil
or leaf litter. ORDER PROTURA
●​ Individuals usually have 10 to 12 pairs of legs. ●​ A group of small (less than 2 mm), wingless,
●​ Most of the 160 species are vegetarians, and eyeless creatures
at least one species is an agricultural pest. ●​ living in leaf litter and decomposing vegetation.
●​ Two families. ●​ There are 250 species.
ORDER DIPLURA ORDER MANTOPHASMATODEA
●​ Small (less than 4 mm), white, wingless and ●​ This order was first erected in 2001—the first
eyeless new
●​ herbivores and predators ●​ insect order in nearly 100 years—to
●​ lacking Malpighian tubules. accommodate
●​ There are 650 species. ●​ certain fossilized insects, but living
representatives
●​ have now been found in South Africa.
●​ These predators (common name: gladiators!)
●​ resemble a cross between a stick insect, a
mantid,
●​ and a grasshopper.
●​ One family.
CLASS INSECTA (=ECTOGNATHA)
●​ At least 1 million species Order Ephemeroptera
●​ Insects are found in every known terrestrial ●​ Ephemera, Ephemerella —mayflies.
and freshwater habitat ●​ Over 2,000 species have been described
●​ they even occur in the Antarctic ●​ Adults are nonfeeding and short-lived
●​ living as ectoparasites on seals and seabirds. ●​ Fertilized eggs are deposited exclusively into
freshwater,
ORDER ARCHAEOGNATHA ○​ larvae (nymphs)
●​ Bristletails. ○​ 55 distinct stages (instars).
●​ These are the most primitive living insects ●​ Ephemeropterans are the only insects to have
●​ Mostly nocturnal species in this group wings before adulthood
●​ Abdominal flexing periodically propels ○​ Penultimate nymphalstage (the
●​ the animals into the air. “subimago”).
●​ Four families. ●​ Individuals of most species bear two pairs of
wings.
●​ these insects cannot fold the wings flat against
the body when at rest, believed to be a
primitive condition.
ORDER ZYGENTOMA ●​ There are 19 families.
●​ Silverfish.
●​ The approximately 300 species Order Odonata
●​ Silverfish are very fast runners. ●​ The damselflies (suborder Zygoptera) and
●​ Some live exclusively in nests of ants and dragonflies (suborder Anisoptera)
termites. ●​ about 5,200 described species.
●​ Five families. ●​ These insects are winged (two pairs)
●​ as with the Ephemeroptera, the wings cannot
be folded along the abdomen when the flies
are resting.
●​ The gilled nymphs develop in freshwater,
SUBCLASS PTERYGOTA where they are major predators and also key
●​ These are the winged ( pteron = G: wing) food resources for fish.
insects. ●​ The largest dragonflies look intimidating—they
●​ Although in many species the wings have are about 10 cm long—but they do not bite or
been secondarily lost, all members of this sting.
group are descended from winged ancestors. ●​ Adults eat only other insects.
●​ There are 27 orders. ●​ There are 25 families.

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Order Blattaria ●​ The approximately 2,100 described
●​ Periplaneta, Blatella, Blatta, Blaberus, ●​ six families.
Blatteria, Cryptocercus —cockroaches.
●​ Most of the over 4,000 species in this order are Order Grylloblattaria
tropical; a few species are house pests. ●​ The 17 species of wingless omnivores
●​ Although many species are omnivorous, others ●​ found only in cold environments, including
specialize on such diets as wood and live in glaciers and ice caves.
such unlikely habitats as deserts, caves, or ant ●​ One family.
nests.
●​ Some species (members of the primitive family Order Orthoptera
Cryptocercidae) ●​ Crickets, katydids, grasshoppers, locusts,
●​ Many species lack wings. monkey hoppers (referring to their agility in
●​ One wingless Australian species, trees and shrubs).
Macroparesthia rhinoceros, weighs 20 g ●​ This is a large group of some 20,000 species,
despite being only 6.5 cm long. some members of which grow to over 11 cm
●​ large cockroach species, Blaberus giganteus, long, with wingspans exceeding 22cm.
grows to over 6 cm in body length. ●​ Many species “stridulate,” producing a
●​ Five families. species-specific song by rubbing specialized
portions of their wings ( not the hind legs)
Order Mantodea together.
●​ Mantids, or “praying” mantids. ●​ Members of 1 genus
●​ All 2,000 species prey on other insects. ●​ Mecopoda, are commonly caged as long-lived
●​ The nymphs resemble small adults and pets in China and Japan.
●​ develop without a pronounced ●​ There are 61 families.
●​ metamorphosis.
●​ Adults generally possess two pairs of wings, Order Phasmida (= Phasmatoptera)
●​ although females may lack both pairs. Eight ●​ Carausius, Diapheromera —walking sticks
●​ families. (stick insects)
●​ Phyllium —walking leaves (leaf insects).
Order Isoptera ●​ The approximately 2,500 species are infamous
●​ Termites (“white ants”). for their ability to mimic almost perfectly the
●​ Evolved from primitive wood-eating stems and leaves of the plants on which they
cockroaches. feed.
●​ Like those cockroaches, termites house ●​ Most species can alter their body coloration
symbiotic protozoa or bacteria that digest with each molt to better match the color pattern
cellulose and release the nutrients to the insect of their surroundings.
host. ●​ The largest stick insects reach about 33 cm in
●​ Some termite species acquire their cellulose length.
by eating fungi, which they farm. ●​ Eleven families.
●​ A single termite colony may contain over 1
million individuals in belowground colonies or Order Dermaptera
in aboveground earthen colonies as large as a ●​ Earwigs.
house. ●​ Most earwigs (about 99% of the 2,000
●​ Termites are remarkably destructive of wooden ●​ described species)
structures (homes, trees) ●​ Free-living herbivores or carnivores, but about
●​ Extremely important in nutrient and energy 20 species are exclusively parasitic or
recycling, especially in tropical areas. commensal on bats and rodents.
●​ All species are eusocial ●​ Most species are tropical, and many lack
●​ individual termites fall into certain castes that wings. There are 11 families.
define their social rank and life’s work:
workers, males, soldiers, and queens.

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 ●​ All parasitize mammals, including such diverse
Order Embiidina animals as aardvarks, camels, monkeys,
●​ Embiids. llamas, seals, ungulates, and humans.
●​ This group contains about 2,000 species of Livestock infestations can be extremely
tropical or near tropical silk-spinning insects debilitating.
that live mostly in narrow galleries lined with ●​ Human head and body lice transmit typhus.
silk, in soil, in wood, or in leaf litter. ●​ There are 15 families.
●​ Males usually have wings, but the females are
always wingless. Order Mallophaga
●​ Embiids primarily eat decaying plant matter. ●​ Chewing lice, biting lice.
●​ Eight families. ●​ All are small (less than 5–6 mm)
●​ wingless parasites of birds and mammals.
Order Plecoptera ●​ About 2,500 species have been described.
●​ Stoneflies. ●​ There are 11 families.
●​ These insects (about 1,800 species) are
distributed worldwide, except for Antarctica. Order Thysanoptera
●​ The adult life span is typically short—just long ●​ Thrips.
enough for mating and egg laying; ●​ All 5,300 species are small (rarely larger than
●​ most of the life cycle is spent in immaturity, 5.0 mm, with some as small as 0.5 mm).
usually in freshwater. ●​ Some species are winged; some are not.
●​ Stonefly nymphs closely resemble those of ●​ Most species feed on various parts of plants
mayflies (order Ephemeroptera) and may transmit diseases among the plants
●​ only two tails instead of three and bear gills on on which they feed.
the thorax instead of on the abdomen. ●​ Five families.
●​ There are 15 families.
Order Hemiptera
Order Psocoptera ●​ The true bugs.
●​ Book lice, bark lice. ●​ Many of the 50,000 described species in this
●​ Despite the connotation of their common large group are major agricultural pests or
name, these insects are not parasites. transmitters of diseases
●​ Most feed on algae, mold, lichens, pollen, or ●​ many other species are beneficial.
dead insects. ●​ Most species feed on various portions of
●​ Individuals are small, usually 1–6 mm long. plants, but some prey on other arthropods, and
●​ Most of the nearly 2,600 species are found in a few are ectoparasites of vertebrates.
leaf litter, under bark, on leaves, under stones, ●​ This order also contains the only open-ocean
and in caves, particularly in the tropics. insects
●​ Some species are annoying to humans, ●​ five species in the genus Halobates .
thriving on stored foods in pantries and ●​ There are 74 families.
cupboards.
●​ There are 37 families. Order Homoptera
●​ This large order (some 35,000 species have
Order Anoplura been described to date)
●​ Sucking lice; crab lice (transmitted venereally ●​ includes the cicadas, aphids, mealy bugs,
among humans) spittle bugs, jumping plant lice, and leaf
●​ Pediculus —human body lice. hoppers.
●​ These 520 species of blood-sucking ●​ All species feed on plants and often require
ectoparasites are small, wingless insects that specific plant hosts.
never exceed about 4 mm in length. ●​ The group includes many agricultural pest
●​ The abdomen swells extensively to species.
accommodate a large volume of blood. ●​ There are 55 families

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Family Aphididae ●​ The larvae are aquatic and secrete silken
●​ Aphids. cocoons from the Malpighian tubules.
●​ Many of the 3,500 aphid species (“plant lice”) ●​ There are 21 families.
are severe agricultural pests and vectors of
serious plant diseases. Order Coleoptera
●​ The life cycle usually involves several asexual ●​ The beetles.
generations ●​ This is the largest of all insect orders, including
○​ Females hatch in the spring and deposit over 360,000 described species.
eggs, which develop parthenogenetically ●​ Nearly 70% of these species are contained
into more females within only seven families.
●​ The last generation of the summer develops ●​ Some families contain fewer than a dozen
into males and females; these mate and species, but most contain hundreds or
deposit fertilized eggs that overwinter (lay thousands, and a few contain more than
dormant) until the following spring. 30,000 species each.
●​ coleopterans include whirligig beetles,
Family Cicadidae ladybugs (ladybirds), click beetles (which click
●​ Cicadas. while jumping in the air), Japanese beetles,
●​ These large insects have two pairs of wings. and waterpenny beetles.
●​ The male usually has sound-producing organs ●​ Most beetles have two pairs of wings, with the
at the base of the abdomen, although some front pair serving only as a protective sheath
species produce sound using the wings. for the rear pair, which are used for flying.
●​ Eggs are deposited in trees; nymphs and ●​ Many species produce sounds in various
adults feed on tree sap. ways, including stridulation (rubbing various
specialized body parts together).
Family Cercopidae ●​ There are 153 families.
●​ Spittlebugs (= froghoppers).
●​ About 23,000 species have been described to Family Carabidae
date. ●​ This group of some 30,000 species includes
●​ Adults are herbivorous and usually require the colorful tiger beetles and the remarkable
particular host species. bombardier beetles, which explosively
●​ Females lay eggs in plant tissue, and the discharge a severe irritant as a potent defense
developing nymphs usually produce a measure.
conspicuous, foamy white mass, which ●​ Most species are carnivores, even as larvae;
protects them from predation and desiccation. the larvae digest their prey before ingestion
●​ Nymphs of other species instead secrete a and then slurp up the liquid food.
calcareous tubular house on the host plant.
●​ Some species stunt or otherwise damage pine Family Ptiliidae
trees and clover. ●​ This is a small group of about 430 species.
●​ Many feed on fungal spores.
Superorder Holometabola ●​ A few highly specialized species live only in
●​ The nine orders in this group include most ant colonies, feasting on the excretory
insect families and most insect species. products of ant larvae.
●​ All exhibit complete, dramatic metamorphosis.
Family Staphylinidae
Order Neuroptera ●​ Rove beetles
●​ Dobson flies, lacewings, ant lions, and snake ●​ The approximately 30,000 species in this
flies (so-named from the snake-like family live mostly among leaf litter.
movements and shape of the prothorax). ●​ Many species live in ant or termite nests and
●​ This is a small (about 5,100 species) feed on fungal spores and hyphae, but most
●​ diverse and widespread group of rather are carnivorous.
primitive holometabolousinsects.

5
Family Scarabaeidae Family Cerambycidae
●​ Dung beetles, scarab beetles. ●​ Timber beetles
●​ This group contains about 25,000 species. ●​ The larvae of these 35,000 species bore into
●​ Members of most species eat dung, although plant tissue, living or dead.
some feed on fungi, flowers, and grasses. ●​ Adults mostly feed on pollen and nectar
●​ Some species are serious pests on golf ●​ and are therefore often seen on flowers.
courses, ruining the greens.
●​ Larvae often destroy crops by eating the roots. Family Curculionidae
●​ The weevils
Family Buprestidae ●​ This large group of some 50,000 described
●​ Jewel beetles (= metallic beetles). species includes major agricultural pests (e.g.,
●​ Adults often have a distinct metallic coloration. rice weevils, cotton-boll weevils).
●​ The larvae often do serious damage to shrubs ●​ Most species feed on various parts of flowering
and trees, especially fruit trees. plants.
●​ About 15,000 species have been described.
Family Chrysomelidae
Family Lampyridae ●​ Leaf beetles
●​ Photinus, Photurus. ●​ This group contains about 35,000 species.
●​ Thefireflies. ●​ All adults and many larvae feed on plant
●​ The 2,000 species are characterized by leaves.
●​ specialized bioluminescent organs at the tip of ●​ The larvae of some species feed underground,
the abdomen that produce a light signal that on plant roots.
attracts mates. ●​ Many species are agricultural pests.
●​ The larvae are ground-dwelling predators of
other terrestrial invertebrates, including snails, Order Strepsiptera
●​ slugs, caterpillars, and earthworms. ●​ This group of holometabolousinsects contains
nearly 400 species.
Family Dermestidae ●​ The females all are wingless, often legless,
●​ These are small beetles (1–12 mm long) with a endoparasites of other insects, including bees,
wide range of tastes, wasps, thysanurans, and cockroaches.
●​ feeding on such diverse foods as pollen, ●​ Females spend their entire adult lives within
nectar, carpets, upholstery, grains, dead and the host’s body, often with only the head
decaying vertebrates, and dead insects. protruding between a pair of adjacent host
●​ Members of the genus Dermestes are routinely abdominal segments.
used to help clean vertebrate skeletons for ●​ Males are winged (although the front pair of
display or study. Other species destroy prized wings are greatly reduced in size) and
insect collections. free-living, and they soon locatea female and
●​ The larvae are especially damaging. fertilize her eggs.
●​ The group contains about 850 species. ●​ Hundreds or thousands of very active
six-legged larvae, less than 300 μm long,
Family Tenebrionidae escape from the parental host.
●​ This group includes some 18,000 species, ●​ The larvae then must locate and bore into the
many wingless, which feed mostly on plant larval stage of the host insect; larvae that
material. mature as males then leave the host and fly
●​ Several genera, including Tribolium and off, while those that mature as females remain
Tenebrio, commonly infest stored foods. forever within the host.
●​ Tribolium (the flour beetle), in particular, has ●​ Eight families.
been used widely in ecological studies of
population growth.

6
Order Mecoptera parasitize various insect pests, pollinate
●​ Scorpion flies, snow fleas. flowers, or destroy certain weeds; these
●​ These common forest insects feed on nectar dipterans thus are undeniably beneficial.
or eat other insects. ●​ There are 162 families
●​ The abdomen of males ends in an upward,
pointed curve, resembling a scorpion’s stinger; Family Chironomidae
nevertheless, the flies do not sting. ●​ Midges.
●​ Eight to nine families. ●​ Approximately
●​ The group contains about 500 species. ●​ 5,000 species of ubiquitous, nonbiting, flying
insects.
Order Siphonaptera ●​ A number of species are found in coastal
●​ Fleas, jiggers marine habitats. The larvae are generally
●​ Approximately 2,000 species of these aquatic.
wingless, holometabolous, biting, and
blood-sucking insects have been described. Family Tipulidae.
●​ Adults are parasitic—usually ectoparasitic—on ●​ Crane flies.
warm-blooded animals, ●​ With over 13,000described species, this is the
●​ usually mammals (especially rodents). largest dipteran family.
●​ The larvae are typically not parasitic and
pupate within silken cocoons. Family Chaoboridae.
●​ Fleas are excellent vehicles for transferring ●​ Phantom midges (e.g., Chaoborus ).
diseases among hosts. ●​ The larvae are aquatic and commonly prey on
●​ Fleas are vectors for bubonic plague (the black larval mosquitoes, serving as natural control
death). agents.
●​ Certain flea species are also obligate ●​ Only about 75 species have been described.
intermediate hosts for the common tapeworm
of dogs and cats. Family Culicidae
●​ Fleas lack compound eyes. ●​ Mosquitoes (e.g., Culex, Anopheles, Aedes ).
●​ There are 15 families. ●​ The female adult proboscis is modified for
piercing; females require a blood meal before
Order Diptera egg laying.
●​ The true flies ●​ Mosquitoes play major roles in transmitting
●​ 125,000 to 150,000 species contains such such devastating diseases as malaria, yellow
beloved insects as mosquitoes, gnats, black- fever, and filariasis.
and greenflies, no-seeums, botflies, fruit flies, ●​ The larvae are aquatic.
dung flies, and houseflies. ●​ About 3,000 species have been described.
●​ adult dipterans exhibit a posterior pair of
club-shaped reduced wings (halteres, used for Family Simuliidae
balancing during flight) and only one pair of ●​ ---Blackflies (buffalo gnats).
flying wings. ●​ Females are blood-sucking parasites that can
●​ can breed successfully in such unlikely places inflict a memorable bite.
as oil seeps, hot springs, and the seafloor. ●​ A swarm of adults can kill livestock and even
●​ The larvae show a terrific diversity of feeding humans.
patterns, including leaf-mining, predation, ●​ One species is essential in the transmission of
detritus feeding, and ecto- and endoparasitism. river blindness (Africa and Central America).
The larvae of many species lack legs and are ●​ The larvae develop in streams.
known as “maggots.” Many species transmit
diseases, such as malaria, typhoid, yellow Family Tabanidae.
fever, and dysentery, and many other species ●​ Deerflies, horseflies.
are important agricultural pests. On the other ●​ The females are bloodsuckers and often large
hand, many other dipteran species eat or bodied ones.

7
 ●​ The larvae are aquatic predators on various ●​ Although adults generally feed on nectar, the
other aquatic invertebrates. larvae are always parasitic on developmental
●​ Deerflies transmit anthrax. stages of other insects or on other insect
●​ More than 3,000 species have been described. parasites; as such, bee-fly larvae control many
insect pest populations, including locusts and
Family Tephritidae. tsetse flies.
●​ Fruit flies. Over 4,000 species are known.
●​ Larvae mostly feed on fruits, such as apples Order Trichoptera
and cherries, making the larvae major ●​ Caddisflies. About 7,000 species have been
agricultural pests. described to date. Adults resemble small
moths but feed exclusively on liquids.
Family Drosophilidae. ●​ Some species never get longer than about 2
●​ Vinegar flies. The best-known genus in this mm.
group of some 1,500 species is Drosophila, ●​ The larvae and pupae are generally aquatic
widely used in evolutionary, genetic, and (mostly in freshwater, although some species
developmental studies. develop in salt marshes), but the
developmental stages of some species are
Family Muscidae fully terrestrial.
●​ This group includes houseflies (Musca ●​ Larvae typically feed on algae, fungi, and
domestica), which transmit typhoid, anthrax, bacteria.
dysentery, and conjunctivitis; the cattle face fly ●​ Approximately 40 families.
( M. autumnalis ), which is commonly seen
clustering around the heads of cattle; and the Order Lepidoptera
tsetse fly ( Glossina, sometimes placed in a ●​ Moths and butterflies.
separate family, the Glossinidae), which ●​ This enormous group of insects contains
transmits sleeping sickness and other similar nearly 160,000 described species.
diseases caused by trypanosomes. ●​ The females of some species are wingless,
●​ Larvae generally feed on decaying animal and and many species are strictly nocturnal (active
plant matter or on feces. only at night).
●​ The larvae typically feed on plants (leaves,
Family Calliphoridae stems) or plant products(fruits, seeds), but
●​ Blowflies (the “housefly” of the western and some prey on other insects; one species
southwestern United States and the “green (Hyposmucoma molluscivora) eats terrestrial
bottle fly” of Southern Canada); screwworm. gastropods!
●​ Most larvae (maggots) develop on decaying ●​ There are 137 families (with some families
animals. containing fewer than a dozen species each).
●​ Some species preferentially deposit their eggs
on open sores of living animals, rather than on Family Noctuidae
the carcasses of dead ones. ●​ Cutworms, armyworms.
●​ This is the largest lepidopteran family, with
Family Oestridae about 25,000 described species.
●​ Botflies. Most of the 65 described species ●​ The larvae of many species are major
resemble bees. agricultural pests, feeding on plants and fruits.
●​ The larvae are endoparasitesof mammals,
including sheep, cattle, and other livestock. Family Cyclotornidae.
●​ Horse botflies (about 45 species) are ●​ This group of only five
sometimes placed in another family. ●​ Australian species is interesting despite its
●​ small size.
Family Bombylliidae ●​ The larvae are initially ectoparasitic on ants.
●​ Bee flies. Many of the approximately 4,000
species closely resemble bees or wasps.

8
 ●​ As the larvae get older, they drop off the host Family Sphingidae.
back at the nest, where they then provide the ●​ Sphinx moths. This group of some 850 species
ants with nectar and feed on the ants’ larvae. includes the well-studied tobacco hornworm
caterpillar Manduca sexta, a serious pest of
Family Pieridae. tobacco and tomato plants.
●​ The 2,000 butterfly species in this group often
show highly specific feeding preferences, and Order Hymenoptera
several species have been much studied by ●​ This group of some 130,000 holometabolous
ecologists interested in plant insect insect species includes the familiar ants, bees,
coevolution. and wasps. Many species form functionally
●​ Some species are pests, particularly those complex societies. Ninety-nine families.
feeding on legumes and crucifers.
Suborder Symphyta
Family Danaidae ●​ The sawflies.
●​ Danaus plexippus (the monarch butterfly). The ●​ The caterpillars (larvae) of all species feed on
caterpillars in this group of about 150 species terrestrial plant tissues and often specialize on
all feed on various milkweed species. particular plant species or groups.
●​ Monarch butterflies migrate about 3,500 km ●​ Adults of some species prey on other insects.
each fall (from northeastern ●​ Fourteen families.
●​ North America to Mexico), using a time
compensated sun compass. Suborder Apocrita
●​ Wasps, ants, and bees.
Family Pyralidae. ●​ Adults are often nectar feeders, although
●​ This major (about 20,000 species) group of members of some species suck the body
moths contains many agricultural pest species. juices from other arthropods.
●​ The larvae are usually legless and blind.
Family Bombycidae. ●​ Many of these white grubs and maggots feed
●​ This group of only about 100 Asiatic moth in or on the bodies of a host arthropod or its
species includes one of the most famous of all larvae; others develop within plant galls, fruits,
lepidopteran species, the well-known silkworm or seeds.
Bombyx mori. ●​ There are 75 families.
●​ The silkworm, in addition to its long standing
commercial importance, has played a major Family Ichneumonidae.
role in the development of molecular biology; ●​ These wasps are mostly parasitoids, living
the first messenger RNA molecules to be freely as adults but developing at the expense
isolated in large quantities from any eukaryote of an arthropod host, usually an insect but
were the mRNAs coding for the silk protein of sometimes a spider, bee, or pseudoscorpion;
B. mori. the larva feeds on the host and eventually kills
it.
Family Saturniidae. ●​ At least 15,000 species have been described
●​ Hyalophora cecropia —giant silk moths. to date, although perhaps three times as many
●​ This group of about 1,000 species includes the species await discovery.
largest of all moths, with wingspreads up to 25 ●​ Only about 5% of species are eusocial, and
cm. only a few species sting people.
●​ Some species are economic pests on various
trees, while others produce a commercially Family Formicidae.
valuable silk. ●​ Formica, Myrmica, Solenopsis —the ants.
●​ Females are well known for using pheromones ●​ Adults typically feed on fungi or nectar, or they
to attract mates from long distances. prey on other terrestrial arthropods. In tropical
rain forests, as many as 72 ant species have
been found living in a single tree.

9
 ●​ At least 9,500 ant species are known, each of
which forms complex social groups of dozens
to thousands of cooperating individuals per
colony.
●​ Most ant colonies include members of at least
three distinct castes: workers (wingless, sterile
females), males, and queens.
●​ Probably another 20,000 ant species remain to
be described, primarily from tropical rain
forests.
●​ At least some tropical frog species derive their
toxins from ingesting large quantities of ants.

Family Apidae
●​ Apis —honeybees; Bombus —bumblebees.
●​ This is one of 8 bee families, the entire group
encompassing perhaps 20,000 species.
●​ Not all bee species bear stingers.
●​ Only about 5% of the species, including the
honeybees, are eusocial.
●​ Unlike most other bees, the members of this
family do not dig burrows, but rather nest in
cells of wax or resin, sometimes
supplementing the structure with other
materials, such as bark, mud, or even
vertebrate feces.
●​ Bees are major flower pollinators, and many
flowers, including orchids, depend on bees for
●​ pollination; both adults and larvae subsist on
nectar and pollen.
●​ Honeybees pollinate about $10 billion worth of
crops in the United States each year.
●​ Recent unintended introductions of two
species of parasitic mite are decimating U.S.
honeybee populations, either by plugging up
the tracheae and suffocating the bees or by
feeding directly on the bees’ hemolymph; thus,
it has been illegal to import U. S. honeybees
into Canada since 1987.
●​ The so-called killer bees now working their
way northward from Central and South
America are unusually aggressive honeybees,
but they may produce more honey than most
other bees.
●​ Honeybees are well known for their complex
dances, through which workers communicate
the location of desirable flowers.

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