ENTOMOLOGY

Wing Structure
 WING COUPLING
• By coupling the wings, insect becomes
functionally two winged
• Such insects have devices for hooking fore
and hind wings together so both pairs move
synchronously
• Types:
1. Amplexiform
2. Hamulate
3. Frenate
• Male Frenate
• Female Frenate
 WING COUPLING
• Amplexiform: Simplest form of
wing coupling
• Linking structure is absent
• Coupling achieved by broad
overlapping of adjacent margins
• Butterflies
 WING COUPLING
Fore wing
• Hamulate: A row of small hooks
present on the costal margin of
hindwing, which is known as
Hamuli.
• These engage folded posterior
edge of Forewing
• Hymenoptera (Bees)

Hind wing
WING COUPLING
• Frenate: These are of two subtypes
• Fruit Sucking Moth
• Male Frenate
• Female Frenate Fore wing Fore wing

Hind wing Hind wing

 WING COUPLING
• Male Frenate: Hindwing bears near base of costal margin a
stout bristle called Frenulum, normally held by a curved
process, Retinaculum arising from subcostal vein found on the
under surface of forewing

• Female Frenate: Hindwing bears near base of costal margin a

group of stout bristles (Frenulum) which lies beneath extended
forewing and engages there in a retinaculum formed by a patch
of hairs near cubitus.
 LEGS
• Fore legs: Prothorax
• Mid legs: Mesothorax
• Hind legs: Metathorax
• Each leg has 6 major components:
(Proximal to distal end)
• Coxa, Trochanter, Femur, Tibia, Tarsus,
Pretarsus
• Tarsus divided into 1 to 5 pseudo segments
c/a Tarsomeres
• Pretarsus: Terminal end of tarsus
 LEGS
• Coxa: First or proximal leg segment, freely movable
• Trochanter: Second leg segment, usually small and single
segmented. It seems to be two segmented in dragonfly,
damselfly and wasp (Ichneumonid)
• Femur: Largest and stoutest part of leg, closely attached to
trochanter
• Tibia: Long and provided with downward projecting spines
which aid in climbing and footing
 LEGS
• Tarsus: Sub segment of tarsus is
called tarsomere. No. of tarsomeres
vary from one to five
• Pretarsus: Beyond the tarsus, several
structures present, collectively
called as Pretarsus.
• A Median pad b/w the claws usually
known as Arolium and a pair of pads
at their base are called Pulvilli
(Diptera)
 TYPES OF LEGS
Type Insect
Ambulatorial (Walking legs) Bugs

Cursorial (Running Legs) (Cylindrical Earwigs, Ants, Blattodea (Cockroach)

legs)
Scansorial (Clinging legs) Head Louse
Saltatorial (Jumping type) (Femur Grasshopper, Cricket, Flea Beetles
enlarged, strong muscles)
Stridulatorial (Sound producing) Male grasshopper or Cricket
Ambulatory Legs Cursorial Legs
Scansorial Legs Saltatorial Legs
Stridulatorial Legs
 TYPES OF LEGS
Type Insect
Fossorial (Digging type) Male cricket, Nymphs of cicada,
Grubs of scarabeids
Natatorial (Swimming legs) (Flat and Giant Water bug, Coleoptera
marginally fringed with hair)
Foragial (Pollen collecting type) Honey bee
Raptatorial (Grasping Leg) (Modified Mantis (Mantoidea, Hemiptera)
fore legs)
Sticking Leg Housefly
Fossorial Legs Natatorial Legs
Raptatorial Legs Foragial Legs
Sticking Legs Sponging Mouth of Housefly
 ABDOMEN
• Spiracles
• Respiration
• Each side of Abdomen
• Cerci
• Sensory Organs
• Aedagus
• Male Copulatory organ
• Ovipositor
• Egg laying structure, Stinger
(Modified ovipositor)
 Abdomen
• Dorsal abdominal segments are called Terga (sing. Tergum)
Ventral abdominal segments are called Sterna (sing. Sternum).
• Spiracles: Between terga and sternum of abdominal segments
(1-8)
• Abdominal segments (Uromeres): 11
• Reproductive structures:
• 9th segment in Males (Aedagus, Penis, Pair of claspers)
• 8th and 9th segment in Females (External genitalia copulatory
openings and ovipositor)
 Reduction in number of abdominal
segments in insects
• Spring Tail: 6 segments
• House Fly: 2 – 5 segments
visible, 6 – 9 segments
telescoped within others
• Ants, Bees, Wasps: 1st
abdominal segment fused with
metathorax and called
Propodeum
• 2nd segment forms narrow
petiole, rest of the abdomen is
called Gaster.
 Reduction in number of abdominal
segments in insects
• Queen termite: After mating,
abdomen becomes swollen due to
enlargement of ovaries. Abdomen
becomes bloated and hence
sclerites are isolated as small
islands.
• Obesity of abdomen of Queen
termite is called Phytogastry.
 Reduction in number of abdominal
segments in insects
• Cornicles: Aphids, Tubes project from
dorsum of fifth or sixth abdominal
segment. Permit escape of waxy fluid
which serves for protection against
predators
• Cerci: Most conspicuous appendages
associated normally with 11th
abdominal segment, sensory in
function, defense, prey capture,
Courtship and Unfolding wings
 Reduction in number of abdominal
segments in insects
• Long and many segmented:
Mayfly
• Long and unsegmented: Cricket
• Short and Many segmented:
Cockroach
• Short and unsegmented:
Grasshopper
• Sclerotized and forcep like:
Earwig
Basic Terms in Entomology
 Concepts in Entomology
• Damage Boundary: The lowest
level of injury where damage can
be measured.
• EIL: The lowest number of insects
that will cause economic damage.
• Economic Damage: The amount of
injury which will justify the cost
of artificial control measures.
 Concepts in Entomology
• Economic Threshold: Most widely used index for making
pest management decisions
• Indicates the number of insects (density/intensity) that
should trigger management action.
• Also c/a Action Threshold
• By setting ET at lower level, we are predicting that
once the population reaches ET, chances are good that
it will grow to exceed the EIL
• No action is taken below the ET
 Concepts in Entomology
• Types of Pest (Based
on GEP – General
Equilibrium Position)
• GEP: Average
population density of a
pest over a long period
of time unaffected by
temporary intervention
of pest control.
Types of Pest
Key Pest
Major Pest
Minor Pest
Regular Pest
Sporadic Pest
Potential Pest
 Key Pest
Most severe and
damaging Pest
• GEP lies well above the DB
and EIL
• E.g: Cotton Boll Worm, Cotton Boll
Worm
DBM, Gram Pod Borer

DBM
 Major Pest
GEP is close to EIL but
economical damage
avoided by timely
intervention

• Eg: Sucking pest of Sucking pest

Cotton and Rice

Cotton
 Minor Pest
GEP lies below EIL and DB
Thrips
Under favourable condition,
population may cross EIL and DB
for short interval
Single application of insecticides
enough to prevent damage.
Mites
Eg: Thrips, Mites, Sugarcane
Mealy Bug
• Regular Pest: Affect specific seasonal crops like cereals, pulses,
fruits passes through many generations during the crop period
• Sporadic Pest: Population is usually negligible but in certain year
under favourable conditions they appear as epidemic and cross
many times over EIL and DB
• Suitable cultural tactics
• White Grub, Hairy Caterpillar, Cut worm, Grasshopper
 Potential Pest
• These insects at present are not
causing any economic damage
• GEP lies below DB doesn’t
cross EIL even under favourable
conditions
• Spodoptera Litura on
Cotton/Soyabean Spodoptera Litura
• Armyworm on Wheat
Methods of Pest Control
• Cultural Method
• Legislative Method
• Mechanical Method
Tools of • Physical Method
IPM: • Biological Method
• Chemical Method
• Host Plant
Resistance
Cultural Method of Pest Control
1. Clean Cultivation: Paddy Gall Fly (breeds on grasses such
as Panicum sp, Cynodon dactylon), Pupae of moths, Root grub
etc.
2. Changes in system of cultivation:
• Banana: Perennial to annual crop reduced Banana Rhizome
Weevil
3. Crop Rotation:
• Lady Finger followed by Cotton, Cereals followed by
pulses, Cotton: Ragi, Maize, Rice
4. Mixed Cropping:
• Eg: Garden peas and Sun hemp
Banana
Clipping of rice seedlings
 Cultural Method of Pest Control
5. Growing Resistant varieties:
• Eg: GEB – 24, MTU – 5249 resistance to Paddy
(BPH), Surekha variety to Gall Midge, TKM – 6 and
Ratna for Stem borer
6. For certain pests: Adjust planting/sowing/harvesting times
• Trap Cropping: Chillies – Castor (Tobacco caterpillar), Citrus
– Tomato (Fruit sucking moths), Cotton – Marigold (American
Bollworm)
• Flooding the field: Cutworm, Armyworm, Termites, Root
Grubs etc.
• Draining the fields: Paddy case worm
• Alley ways
 Crop Rotation

Mixed Cropping
Alley ways Trap Cropping
Legislative Method of Pest Control
• Exotic Pests
• Potato Tuber Moth: Phthorimea opercullela
• Cotton Cushiony Scale: Icerya purchasi
• Woolly Apple Aphid: Eriosoma lanigerum
• San Jose Scale: Quadraspidiotus perniciocus
• Golden Cyst Nematode: Globodera rostochinensis
• Giant African Snail: Achatina fulica
• Serpentine Leaf Miner: Liriomyza trifoli
• Spiralling Whitefly: Alerodicus disperses
• Coconut Mite: Aceria guerroronis
Legislature of India
 Quarantine
• Latin word – Quarantum meaning 40 (Forty)
• GOI: 1914 – Destructive Insect and Pest Act of
1914
• Directorate of Plant Protection Quarantine and
Storage: Faridabad (1946)
• Operates under DIPA – 1914
• NBPGR: Quarantine of all germplasm under
exchange for research
• FRI, Dehradun: Forest Plants
• BSI, Kolkata: Ornamental Plants
 Quarantine
• Phytosanitary Certificate
• Insecticide Act, 1968: Regulate
import, manufacture, sale, transport,
distribution and use of insecticides
• GOI: Central Insecticide Board to
advise state and central govts. as per
this act.
• Insecticide Rules of 1971 framed
under ‘The Insecticides Act 1968’ had
come into force in 1971
Mechanical Method of Pest Control
• Reduction/Suppression of insect pest population by means
manual devices or labour
1. Hand pick or Collect with hand nets and killing insects
• Shaking of trees in early morning for root grub adults, collect
in tubs of kerosenized water, kill and bury
2. Preventive barriers/Screens
• Sieving and Winnowing: Pest of stored grains
• Trench around field for grasshopper & locusts
• Paper Bags/cloth/straw: against Fruitfly.
• Sticky bands around tree against Red tree ant (Oecophylla
samaragdina) and Mealy Bug nymphs
Trench around field for
grasshopper & locusts
Sticky bands Yellow coloured traps