ENTOMOLOGY LAB EXAM 1

COLLECTION TECHNIQUES
3 types of nets:
Aerial: thinner, less durable mesh used to catch flying insects with swing
& twist motion
Sweep: thicker, durable fabric used to sweep grasses in a back and forth
motion
Aquatic: extremely thick, durable fabric with a fine mesh bottom used to
skim top or scrape bottom of aquatic habitats
Sight Collecting
Pry bar: for bark peeling (have container ready to catch falling insects)
Beat Sheet: hit vegetation for insects to fall into sheet
Pan Trapping: using plastic brightly colored pans to attract insects, fill with
water and add a little dish soap to break surface tension & put in sunny
spot
Berlese Funnel: put leak lifer in to extract small soil dwelling insects with
heat
Pitfall Traps
Black-lighting: set up UV light with sheet to collect hella insects
Picking up
For big bugs use your hands
For tiny insects use a suction device called an aspirator
Preservation
Kill Jar: good to use during field collection, use tissue paper to give place
for insects to hide, charge jar with ethyl acetate, DONT put insects in
same jar as butterflies
The Freezer: NOT for soft bodied insects, preferred storage
Ethanol: soft bodied insects, vials of 75% ethanol (you can use everclear)
Butterflies and Moths: put them in envelopes or baggies to prevent wing
damage
Relaxing: for dried out specimens place a wet paper towel in an air tight
container and let sit for a few days often checking for mold, dont let
insect touch paper towel
Pinning
Insect should be about 1 cm from the top
Butterflies, moths and dragonflies must be spread with forewings making
a 90 degree angle to the body and the hindwing should meet the bottom
of the forewing at a slight angle
Point Mounts: very small insects, use card stock and attach with small dab
of water solubles fingernail glue & pin through thick end of point
Labeling
Primary Label: Location information
Secondary Label: Identification label

Labeling alcohol specimens: make labels fit your vials lengths and USE
LASERJET PRINTER ONLY

NSECT ANATOMY & MORPHOLOGY

Exoskeleton: made of chitin/protein matrix surrounding a single layer of
epidermal cells; provides support while allowing movement, molting,
protection, color, and prevention of water loss
Descriptive terms: : direction
Anterior: towards the front
Posterior: towards the rear
Dorsal: the top
Ventral: the bottom
Lateral: the side of the body
Proximal: near the body
Distal: away from the body
Descriptive Terms: Parts of the insects
Sclerite: individual hardened areas (plates)
Membrane: the soft flexible areas between the sclerites
Sutures/sulcus: a groove or line, often delimiting plates
Sternum: the ventral surface of a thoracic or abdominal segment
Tergum: the dorsal surface of an abdominal segment
Notum: the dorsal surface of a thoracic segment
Pleuron: the lateral surface of a thoracic or abdominal segment
Head
Main function is sensory perception through compound eyes, antennae
and ocelli-simple light sensitive organs
Mouthparts: either piercing-sucking, siphoning, sponging, vestigial, or
chewing-lapping
Labrum (upper lip)-broad flat lobe
Mandibles: 1st pair of jaws, heavily sclerotized
Maxillae: 2nd pair of jaws
Maxillary Palps: feeler-like organ
Labium (lower lip)
Antennae: differentiate by segmented or non-segmented and amount and
size of segments
Thorax: locomotion
Prothorax, Mesothorax, Metathorax
2 fused: pterothorax
Legs: cursorial, raptorial, saltatorial (jumping), natatorial (swimming),
fossorial (digging), cheliform
Wings

Wing Cell: any area of the wing between (open cell, extends to the margin
of the wing) or enclosed by veins (closed cell)
Abdomen: digestion and reproduction
Cerci, Oviposter and Aedeagus