Where to look - Pests!

1
Where to look - Pests!

• Insects
• Nematodes
• Weeds
• Diseases
• Rodents and other small mammals

2
Basic classification

• Kingdom
• Phylum
• Class
• Order
• Family
• Genus
• Species
• Kings Play Chess On Fine Green Silk

3
Starting at the beginning

• 4 types of Phyla
• Arthropoda ( insects, spiders, mites, millipedes)
• Aschelminthes (roundworms)
• Platyhelminthes (Flatworms, flukes, tapeworms)
• Mollusca (snails, slugs, clams)
• Arthropoda Phyla is divided into classes
• Crustacea (Crayfish, sowbugs)
• Arachnida (spiders, ticks, mites)
• Insecta ( bugs, beetles, butterflies)

4
Classification cont.

• Insecta Class is divided into Orders
• Orthoptera (grasshoppers)
• Homoptera (aphids)
• Coleoptera (beetles)
• Lepidoptera (moths, butterflies)
• Diptera (flies)
• Dermoptera (earwigs)
• Hemiptera (true bugs)
• Hymenoptera (ants, bees)

5
Rules to fall into Classes and Orders

• Arachnida
• must have 2 body segments or parts
• must have 4 pairs of legs
• some mites are major plant pests
• Insects
• all have three body regions head, thorax,
  abdomen
• 3 pairs of legs
• 1 pair of antennae
• 0 to 2 pairs of wings

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Head Body Parts

• Antennae segmented, vary in form.
• Primarily the smell organ
• Mouthparts
• rasping-sucking
• chewing-lapping
• piercing-sucking
• sponging
• siphoning
• chewing

7
Body Parts

• Thorax made of 3 sections, each containing a
  pair of legs
• legs are jointed
• used for digging, feeling, swimming, and cleaning
• Wings - differ for each insect
• serve as an identification tool
• -ptera means with wings

8
Metamorphosis

• Development of the body after birth
• Gradual (or incomplete) - insects life cycle
  changes from egg through the nymph to adult
• nymph, similar to adult except for size and color
• aphids, leafhoppers, mole crickets
• Complete - 4 life stages
• egg, larvae, pupae, adult
• larvae looks nothing like adult
• pupae is a transformation stage
• caterpillars-moths, grubs-beetles, maggots-flies

9
Beneficial Insects

• Not all insects are bad for agriculture
• They help
• pollinate plants
• improve soil
• destroy harmful insects

10
Other types of pests

• Nematodes
• Weeds

Southern root-knot nematodes on pepper plant
roots.
This weed is leafy spurge.
11
Other types of pests

• Diseases
• Rodents and other animals

12
What is Entomology

• The branch of zoology that deals with the study
  of insects

13
Human Interaction

• There are only approximately 10,000 species of
  insects that are harmful to humans
• Deadly epidemics of the past have been caused by
  diseased organisms carried by insects
• Example
• Bubonic Plague epidemic that wiped out the
  population of Europe in the 14th century was
  carried by fleas that infested rodents

14
DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane)

• A chemical that was discovered by a German
  scientist named Othmar Zeidler in 1874
• Used to reduce the number of insects in a given
  area
• Example
• Mosquitoes in the tropics
• Eventually banned due to the side affects to
  wildlife animals and plants
• Silent Spring

15
Integrated Pest Management (IPM)

• Cultural methods
• Vary country to country
• Insect diseases and predators
• Pheromones
• Release of sterile males
• Insect resistant plant varieties