I thought I’d share just an introduction to the study of
insects with y’all. This is for
both the entomology and etymology nerds out there!
First. Insects
are Animals. (Yep. Kingdom Animalia)
Second, insects are Arthropods—cousins of crabs and
crayfish, millipedes and spiders. (Phylum Arthropoda= “Jointed legs”)
Third, insects are part of the Subphylum Hexapoda
(“six-legs”)
Finally, insects make up the Class Insecta.
Within the insect class, there are 27 orders, though this is
sometimes disputed and changes all the time… silly taxonomists (no, not
taxidermists…)
As of now, these
are the orders I know:
Hymenoptera
(“membrane” “wing”)—Bees, ants, wasps
Lepidoptera (“scaly”
“wing”)—Moths & butterflies
Orthoptera
(“straight” “wing”)—Grasshoppers, crickets, katydids
Odonata
(“odonto”= tooth and “wing”)—Dragonflies and damselflies, which are pretty
tough predators with teeth on their mandibles
Ephemeroptera
(“ephemera”= for a short time and “wing”) –Mayflies (which live only one day as
adults)
Hemiptera (“Half”
“wing”)—True bugs, cicadas, leaf-hoppers, aphids—the original members of this
order had wings that were half membranous and half tough
Coleoptera
(“Sheath” “wing”)- Beetles, which have hard outer wings called elytra
Dermaptera
(“skin” “wing”)—Earwigs, which have a thick protective outer wing
Blattodea
(“blatta” = Greek for cockroach)—Cockroaches and Termites
Thysanoptera (“tassel/fringe”
“wing”)—Thrips, which have cool, feathery wings
Plecoptera
(“folded wing”)—Stoneflies, which have pleated hind wings that fold under the
forewings at rest
Neuroptera
(“neuron” “wing”)- Lacewings, which have amazingly complex wing venation
Mecoptera (“long”
“wing”) Scorpian flies—They also have long heads and some have long
scorpian-like tails
Psocoptera (“rubbed
or gnawed” “wing”)- Book lice and bark lice—yep, they gnaw on things like wood
and paper
Diptera (“two”
“wing”)- True flies, which have only 2 wings compared to all the other insects
with four wings or no wings
Phthiraptera
(“lice” “wingless”)—Parasitic/biting lice
Siphonaptera
(“tube” “wingless”)-Fleas
Thysanura
(“tassel/fringe” “tail”)-Silverfish, which have long filaments as tails
Mantodea
(“mantis” = Greek word for mantids)- Mantids
Phasmatodea (“phasm”
= “phantom”)—Walking sticks, leaf insects, etc., which are very cryptic in
their appearance and behaviors
Raphidioptera (“needle”
“wing”)—Snakeflies
Trichoptera
(“hair” “wing”)—Caddisflies
Megaloptera
(“large” “wing”)—Alderflies and dobsonflies
There are a few other lesser-known orders that I don’t know
much about:
Grylloblattodea =
insects found in cold, icy places
Embiidina=
webspinners
Zoraptera= tiny,
termite-like things found in decaying wood
Strepsiptera=
twisted wing parasites
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| Snakefly, Order Raphidioptera. Collected this summer on a hike up Flagstaff Mountain in Libby. |
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| Order Lepidoptera. From Butterfly Wonderland, a magical place in Scottsdale, AZ. I took students there for my flight intensive in January 2014. We were all mesmerized. |
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| Bumble bees and Bald-faced Hornets, Order Hymenoptera. Some of the first insects I collected this summer in Libby.
E.O. Wilson said,
"If you have seen one ant, one bird, one tree, you have not seen them all."
Howard Ensign Evans said,"Discovery is one of the greatest joys, and it is still there to be had in abundance. Discovery may be on several planes. It may be personal, one's discovery of a fact of nature previously unknown to him. It may be practical, a new way of putting information to use in some human discipline. It may be universal, a fact new to science... Since insects constitute the major class of our coinhabitants of planet earth, it is good to become better acquainted with them. They provide a very rich source indeed of the joys that accompany discovery." |
