Entomology

Entomology is an event in which competitors must be able to identify insects from 30 orders and 100 families. On most tests, questions about behavior, structure, human impact, and any characteristics of certain insects may be asked. This event is similar to the old Division B event, Don't Bug Me.

The 2014 Official Insect List is located on soinc.org.

What is an insect?
Before getting into the specifics of identifying insects you have to know what an insect is. An insect is an invertebrate with several distinguishing characteristics. These include: segmented bodies with paired, many jointed legs; 3 major body sections; 6 legs; and 2 antennae. After you have identified an organism as an insect you then must classify to its order and family. Note that color is not a good way to identify and differentiate insects.

Head
The head is the anterior oval-shaped body region that hold the antennae, eyes, and mouth parts.

Insects generally have two types of eyes, simple and compound eyes. Most have three simple eyes,also known as ocelli, located on the upper front part of the head. Several insects lack ocelli or only have two. Compound eyes are situated on the upper portion of an insects head and are composed of many facets. In some insects compound eyes occupy most of the head.

The antennae are usually located on the front of the head below the simple eyes. These are great for identification. Some of the types of antennae include aristate (are pouch-like with a bristle), capitate (ends in a club), clavate (saw-like), filiformis (threadlike), geniculate (elbowed), monoliform (beaded), pectinate (comb-like), plumose (feather-like shape), serrate (sawtooth shape), and setaceous (bristlelike). See for pictures.

The mouth parts of an insect are located on the ventral or anterior part of the head. The mouth part structures typically present are the labrum (upper lip), jaw-like mandibles, jaw-like maxillae, a labium (lower lip), and the hypopharynx which acts as a tongue. Mouth parts are generally sucking or chewing. Insects with chewing mouth parts have lateral moving mandibles and chew their food, while insects with sucking mouth parts have parts like a beak which is called the proboscis through which liquid is sucked.

Diagram of head:

Thorax
This is the middle section of the body and is divided into 3 segments called the prothorax, mesothorax, and metathorax. Each segment bears a pair of legs, and the mesothorax and metathorax usually bear a pair of wings if the insect is not wingless. Each of the thoracic segments bear 4 groups of sclerites, or platelike areas. These are the notum (dorsally), pleuron (there's one on each side), and sternum (ventrally). These segments are then divided into even smaller segments.

The wings are located dorsolaterally (they're near the top) on the mesothroax and/or the metathorax. The muscles that move wings are attached to the walls of the thorax most of the time. Insect wings vary in number, size, shape, texture, venation, and in position held at rest making them a great assist in identification. Most insect wings are membranous, though some are thickened or leathery. Some are covered in hair and others in scales. Most insects fold their wings over the abdomen at rest, but others hold them vertically over the body or hold them outstretched. Here's a picture of wing venation:

General Venation
See bottom of http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/course/ent425/tutorial/wings.html for more.

Abdomen
The abdomen typically consists of 11 segments, but the last segment is usually represented by appendages only. Many insects have fewer abdominal segments because of fusing of some insects. Each abdominal segment generally contains 2 sclerites (or hardened body wall plate), a dorsal tergum and ventral sternum. The terga usually extend down the sides of most segments and overlap the sterna. Most insects lack appendages on the abdomen other than at the posterior end. This appendages may be lacking or drawn into the body and hidden. When these terminal appendages are present, they usually consist of a pair of cerci, a median dorsal epiproct (appendage above anus), a pair of paraprocts (pair of lobes located below and on each side of anus), and genitalia. The anal opening is on the posterior end of the abdomen, right under the epiproct. The sexes in many groups can be identified by the genitalia at the end of the abdomen.

Insect Taxonomy

 * Kingdom: Animalia
 * Phylum: Arthropoda
 * Subphylum: Mandibulata
 * Superclass: Hexapoda
 * Class: Insecta

Binder Checklist
'''*NOTE* The 2013-2014 competition only allows for one double-sided, 8.5 x 11 inches page of information. However, previous years have allowed for a binder, so it may still be helpful to create one for studying purposes.'''

Here is a binder checklist that was useful in the past: Make sure you have the following information in your binder or known by memory: Definitely necessary:
 * Insect identification guide and sheets
 * Nymph identification sheets
 * Insect pictures (obviously)
 * Insect characteristics sheets
 * Human impact information
 * Basic insect information

Optional:
 * Entomology glossary (to be on the safe side)
 * Note Sheets (for quick finding if they have a section where you must answer questions about insects not already identified) for the following:
 * Vectors
 * Record-winning insects (largest, smallest, fastest fliers, most deadly, etc.)
 * Historical info. (safe side, horrible test making at state had at least five questions on this subject)
 * Invasive species

Resources
The following guides are highly recommended:
 * Audubon Field Guide to Insects and Spiders: official field guide of the Entomology event, on which taxonomic scheme and questions are based on, has nice colored pictures and good bug descriptions, good for general insect knowledge; -note- this field guide groups bugs into groups based on their basic appearance rather than their correct phylogenetic groups (not good since the insects in here must be ID'd according to family and order), is also rather outdated regarding dates and population statistics, but contains the most reliable information simply because the test will be based on it.
 * National Wildlife Federation Field Guide to Insects and Spiders & Related Species of North America: contains close-up color photographs with informative description, very up-to-date; -note- has more than 2,000 photos of over 940 species, which may be confusing. However, if you highlight only the necessary insects with the necessary families, the guide becomes much more clear.
 * Peterson Field Guides: Insects - shows differences between different insects, has all insects on insect list; -note- contains a lot of information on how to collect and preserve an insect, which may not be useful when preparing for this event.
 * Smithsonian Handbooks: Insects - really nice pictures, great for nymphs and larva identification; -note- thin and is best utilized as a supplement (the first two/three field guides are better suited for use during the event)

Good Links

 * http://soinc.org/events/dontbugmeC/index.htm
 * http://bugguide.net
 * http://www.soinc.org/entomology_b

Soon to come:
 * Insect Behavior

Dichotomous Keys
On the tests, you may be asked to create a simple dichotomous key for identification of various insects. To create, just remember some simple tips:

There should be one less number of steps than number of insects you're including in the key.

You want to start off by dividing the insects into groups. If they do not have the insects already identified for you, then quickly identify them. For example, if they give you a house fly, a mantid, a dragonfly, and a mosquito, you'll divide them like this:

1. Two pairs of wings...................................go to 2

1. One pair of wings.....................................go to 3

Keep them very basic at first, then eventually divide them into more specific groups.

For example, you could then divide the two groups into colors, or whatever is most convenient.

Keep dividing the groups until you end up with the final step(since there are four insects in this case, there will be three steps) leading to the final insect being identified.

Human Impact
A very important aspect of this event is learning about how insects impact humans, the environment, and the world. Usually the majority of tests are going to be on identification and human/environmental/economic impact. Some insects are very prominent pests, such as certain species of Coleptera, while others are highly beneficial, such as butterflies that pollinate.

Insects impact humans by being a source of food, by being important consumers, scavengers, and decomposers, by providing products such as honey, by being destroyers of crops, homes, etc, by being intergrated into human culture in religions, myths, languages, and literature, by being contributing organisms to study for scientific and technological advances, by having medical and therapeutic value, and so on.

Recommendations For Group Members
Both team members should have a strong background in Environmental Science (AP Level). The team should be prepared for both types of events (visual: power point/pictures, and live specimens); a lack of practice in either area can result in false identifications. The team should be able to use various types of microscopes. Partners should spend a portion of their preparation near various habitats (if available) such as marshes, swamps, forests, grassland, etc. to observe certain native species in a natural habitat (bring plenty of sunblock & insect repellent).