AZ FFA CDE in Entomology

Background for identification, mouthparts, metamorphosis and some basic biology and morphology List of ‘to-know’ General common names • Brown dog tick • Short-horned grasshopper • Two-spotted spider mite • Katydid (Long-horned grasshopper) • Velvet mite • Field cricket • AZ recluse spider • Indian House cricket • Black Widow • Walking stick • Wolf spider • Chewing lice • Daddy-long-legs or Harvestman • Sucking lice: Head/Body/Crab • Bark scorpion • Assassin bugs • Desert Millipede • Kissing bugs • Giant Desert Centipede • Leaf-footed bug • Springtails • Lygus bug • Silverfish/Firebrat • Stink bug • Mayflies • Minute pirate bug • Dragonflies, Damselflies • Big-eyed bug • Stoneflies • Damsel bug • American cockroach • Cicadas • Brown-banded cockroach • Aphids • German cockroach • Armored scales • Turkestan cockroach • Cottony cushion scale • Desert cockroach • Cochineal scale • Earwigs • Leafhoppers • Webspinners • Treehoppers • Dry-wood termite • Whiteflies • Subterranean termite • Thrips • Preying mantis

To Know: continued • Blister • Horntail • Boll weevil • Sawfly • Collops beetle • Gall • Darkling beetle (Pinacate or Eleodes beetle) • Honey • Dermestid beetle • Leaf-cutter bee • Dung beetle • Carpenter bee • Fig beetle • Bumble bee • Flea beetle • Harvester ant • Lady beetle (Ladybird beetle/ Ladybug) • Leaf-cutter ant • Long-horned beetle (round-headed wood • Fire ant borer) • Velvet Ant (mutillid) • Palo Verde root borer • Paper wasp • Metallic wood borer (flat-headed borer) • Ichneumon wasp • White grub (Scarab beetle ) • Thread-waisted wasp • 10 Striped June beetle • hawk () • House • Bagworm • Crane fly • Two-tailed Swallowtail • Syrphid or hover fly • Budworm/Bollworm • Bee fly • Pink bollworm • Tachinid fly • Grape-leaf skeletonizer • Bot fly • Salt Marsh caterpillar • Deer fly • Tomato Hornworm • Mosquito • Sphinx • Gall Midge • Monarch • Cat flea • Checkered skipper • Antlion • Green lacewing

Types of metamorphosis • No metamorphosis (NONE)means life development includes EGG-SUBIMAGO (Juvenile)-ADULT No Real Change, just size increase. (Silverfish, Springtails, most arachnids) • Complex Metamorphosis:Egg-6 legged larva (seed tick)- 8 legged nymph-adult (Ticks, Mites, Centipedes, Millipedes) • Incomplete metamorphosis includes: EGG-NAIAD (aquatic, with external wing development)-ADULT(aerial) (Dragonflies, Mayflies, Stoneflies) • Gradual metamorphosis includes: EGG-NYMPH (miniature adult developing wings externally)-ADULT • Almost Complete metamorphosis includes: EGG- NYMPH-PSEUDOPUPA-ADULT (Thrips, whitefly) • Complete metamorphosis includes: EGG-LARVA (many varieties)--ADULT (, , Butterflies, Wasps, Fleas, Lacewings, etc.) • Hypermetamorphosis includes: EGG-LARVA (called Triungulin)-LARVA 2 (Called Grub)-ADULT (Blister beetle)

Types of Mouthparts • Vestigial: Non-functioning, no feeding • Chewing:Mandibles () or Chelicerae (Many Arachnids) • Piercing-Sucking: Sickle-shaped hollow mandibles of larval Neuroptera • Piercing-Sucking: Beak for liquid feeding (, Homoptera, similar structure in mosquitoes) • Envenomating (Fangs at end of Chelicerae): Spiders • Slicing-Lapping: Hypostome (Ticks & Mites) • Proboscis as hollow tongue for drinking nectar (Lepidoptera) • Sponging: Paired oval lobes called labella at tip of tube formation. (Many Flies) • Chewing and Drinking: have both mandibles for chewing and modified other mps as beak for drinking • Punch & Suck:designed to break tissue, liquify and drink: (Thrips) • Ripping-Lapping: Tear flesh, open capillaries for blood pool, lap up fluid. (Horsefly, Deer Fly, Black fly, No-See-ums) Illustrations of some Mouthparts

Chelicerae Piercing-sucking mandibles/ Chelicerae, compare Sickle-shape Larval type Fangs Mandibles Chelicerae with fangs: to mandibles Envenomization

Beak/Blood feeding Herbivore beak Proboscis coiled Predator beak Proboscis in use

Piercing-sucking/ Wasp mandibles Predatory Fly Drinking/Bee Sponging/House fly Ripping-lapping Deer fly and other biology for CDE: Part 1 • Phylum ARTHROPODA • Subphylum CHELICERATA • Class ARACHNIDA: Cephalothorax that has 4 pairs of walking legs, anterior appendages called pedipalps, up to 8 simple eyes located dorsally, Mps termed Chelicerae. Abdomen with few external structures. • Order Acari: Ticks & Mites: Brown Dog Tick, Two-spotted Spider Mite,Velvet Mite Mouthparts slicing and lapping Metamorphosis Complex • Order Araneae: Spiders: AZ Recluse, Black Widow, Wolf Mp: Chelicerae with Fangs, envenomizing Metamorphosis None • Order Opiliones (also Phalangida):Daddy-long-legs, Harvestmen Mp:Chewing (Chelicerae) Metamorphosis None • Order Scorpionida: Scorpions: Bark Mp:Chewing (Chelicerae) Metamorphosis None • Order Solpugida: Solpugids, Windspider, Sunspider, Windscorpion, Sunscorpion Mp: Chewing (Chelicerae) Metamorphosis: None Order Acari:Brown Dog Tick

• Called Hard Ticks- Ixodidae.Another less common group of ticks called Soft Ticks (Argasidae) usually on fowl Seed Tick • Mouthparts complex, referred to as Hypostome: Act as slicing and lapping device. • Blood feeder, almost exclusively Nymph on dogs. Engorged Female • Metamorphosis Complex: egg- Seed tick (3 pr legs)-Nymph (4 pr legs)-adult thus gradual in design. • Recognized by shape of Basis Capituli (See photo below).

Male Female

Soft tick Order Acari: Two-spotted spider mite • Mouthparts slicing lapping. • Plant juice feeder. • Spins silk over foliage feeding upon. • Metamorphosis Complex: egg- larva-nymph-adult. Webbing Order Acari: Velvet Mite • Bright carmine colored mites. • Seen after summer or winter rains. • Predator of termites. • Metamorphosis Complex: egg-larva- nymph-adult. • Mp:slicing lapping Order Araneae: AZ Recluse Spider • AZ Recluse Spiders, 5 spp. Known in AZ, 11 spp. in U.S. • Mouthparts: Fangs for envenomization. • Feeds by use of stomach pump and oral opening (Mouth). • General predator. Nocturnal. • Metamorphosis:None Egg- spiderling- adult. • Spins milky white web. • Recognized by three pair simple eyes arranged in crescent shape on cephalothorax. Note 3 pair of eyes Typical web

Distribution of RS In U.S. Order Araneae: Black Widow Spider Female Note hourglass mark • Identifying character:smooth shiny spider, color from brown to black, abdomen marked ventrally with red hourglass. Male • Males with bulbous pedipalps, like boxing gloves • Mouthparts: fangs for envenomization. • Metamorphosis None. • General Predator, shy, Brown phase of black widow Egg sacs retreats to silken hideaway if disturbed on web; mostly nocturnal Bulbous pedipalps Juvenile • Web seems a tangled mess, extremely strong fibers

Male Order Araneae: Wolf Spider • Hunting spider, not web builder. Builds burrow in soil, marked by turret of grass tied together with silk. (See photo) • General predator.Stalks prey. Note eyes • Nocturnal, thus enlarged pair of eyes anteriorly. (Top photo) • Mouthparts fangs. • Metamorphosis none. • Female carries young on back.

Mother with spiderlings on back

Burrow showing turret Order Opiliones:Daddy-long-legs, Harvestmen • Relatives of spiders differing in having chewing mouthparts (Chelicerae), no silk spinning, no venom, no division between cephalothorax and abdomen, and break away, From Baja Norte extremely long legs for escape. • General predators • Metamorphosis: None.

Clustering behavior Order Scorpionida:Scorpions, including Bark Scorpion Pedpalps: Note long • Relatives of spiders fingers. narrow palms having pedipalps with pincers, 8 walking legs, Tail Bark scorpions are segments Not small (+3” as adults) telson (). long and and vary in color. These • Predator, important narrow are the only climbers ecosystem member Bark scorpions • Chewing mouthparts called Chelicerae. • Metamorphosis: None. • Flouresce yellow-green under ultraviolet light

Mother with Young

Telson or Stinger Note large pedipalp and tail segment design: African sp. Order Solpugida: Solpugids • Fast-running predator, typically found in desert habitats, eats pedipalps mostly bugs. • Mp:Chewing:Very large chelicerae. • Front-most appendages called Simple eyes pedipalps, important sensors. • Many myths: These are not venomous! • Name ‘matavenado’ meaning deer killer is strictly bad biology. • Known as Camel Spiders in Chelicerae Middle Eastern countries, again with many bad myths. • Phylum ARTHROPODA More Taxonomy • Subphylum ATELOCERATA: defined by well- developed head, 1 pair antennae (sensory), mouthparts called mandibles (but many variations) • Class DIPLOPODA: Head, trunk of double segmentation, usually 2 pairs of legs per segment (1st four behind head with 1 pair legs), typically round in cross-section. • Order Spirostreptida: Desert Millipede • Class CHILOPODA: Head, trunk usually flattened with one pair of legs per segment, first pair of legs modified as gnathopods (called poison claws) • Order Scolopendromorpha: Giant Desert Centipede • Class INSECTA (sometimes called HEXAPODA): Head, thorax & abdomen: 3 pairs of legs on thorax, 1-2 pairs of wings on thorax in adults • Order Collembola: Springtails • Order Thysanura: Silverfish Order Spirostreptida: Desert Millipede • Millipedes are round in cross- section, aides them in burrowing in soil; possess two pairs of legs per segment, except the first four body segments with only one pair of legs per segment • Mps: Chewing; mandibles • Feed mostly on dead organic material, but some may feed on new leaf growth; important soil builders • Metamorphosis complex, young add segments and legs with each molt • Typically nocturnal; this species appears after rains in summer • Few predators of millipedes, as they produce many noxious chemicals from quinones to cyanide. Also coil up and defecate to discourage handling Order Scutigeromorpha: Giant Desert Centipede • Centipedes are flattened dorsoventrally (top to bottom); possess one pair of walking legs per segment (GDC has 21 pairs of legs) • Front pair of legs wrap around head, used for envenomization of prey, called gnathopods Giant Desert Centipede • Mps: mandibles • Metamorphosis complex, young start with 3 pairs of legs, add 1 body segment and legs each molt • Head has four ocelli or simple eyes on each side Female Tiger • Extremely large , excellent centipede with predators, nocturnal, hide under young rocks etc., fast runners

Mandibles hidden , or gnathopod Cellar centipede: Different order of centipede, with long legs; roach predator Order Collembola: Springtails • Most are soil dwelling, thus soil building: some may be found on surface of ponds. • Chewing mouthparts contained in sac. Jumping mechanism • Most feed on decaying plant matter or fungi. • Have ventral structures that allow a jumping locomotion. • When driven indoors by harsh dry weather, mistaken as fleas.

Order Thysanura: Silverfish, Firebrats • Primitive, wingless insects. • Diagnostic character: 3 caudal filaments with short fringe along tails. • Mouthparts chewing. Silverfish • Metamorphosis: egg- subimago (juvenile)-adult No real change, just growing larger til reproductive adults

Firebrat More Insecta Metamorphosis Incomplete • Order Ephemeroptera: Mayflies • Order Odonata: Dragonflies, Damselflies • Order Plecoptera: Stoneflies Order Ephemeroptera: Mayflies

Naiad • Immature stage termed naiad, completely aquatic . • Characters: naiad with platelike gills on abdomen, usually 3 caudal tails.Typically feed on algae. Note 3 tails and abdominal gills • Adults short-lived (a day), Dun or forewing very large, hind wing small, held together above body Subimago perpendicular to ground. • Unique development includes a growth stage called a dun or subimago: emerges from water, lives about day and molts. Only insect group able to molt wings that are capable of flight. • Metamorphosis incomplete. • Mps vestigial, (nonfunctional), no feeding in short-lived adults.

Adult Order Odonata: Dragonflies, Damselflies Dragonfly naiads • Immature stages called naiads, unique structure, a hinged lower lip for catching prey; Incomplete Metamorphosis. Requires water for juvenile stages. • Dragonfly naiads with gills inside Damselfly abdominal cavity, 3 sharp spines at naiad rear.By expelling water from this region, can swim by jet propulsion. • Damselfly naiads slender with 3 caudal plates, act as swim fins. • Adults of both with huge compound eyes, other sensory devices reduced. Note extended lower lip • Excellent fliers, can hover, turn on Damselflies mating dime, long legs act as catcher for prey items, Mps chewing. • Dragonflies alite with wings outstretched, damselfflies alite and usually hold wings perpendicular over body.(see pictures)

Dragonfly adult Dragonfly head Order Plecoptera: Stoneflies • Immatures: Naiads, aquatic (cold water streams), have two caudal

Gills tails, predatory. • Mps Chewing in both naiad & adult. • Gills fingerlike, fleshy structures located at bases of legs, mouthparts, rear of abdomen. • Adults hold wings flat over body, parallel to substrate.

Stonefly Naiad More Insecta Metamorphosis Gradual

• Order Blattodea (or Blattaria): Cockroaches: American, Brown-banded, German, Turkestan, Desert • Order Dermaptera: Earwigs • Order Embioptera (or Embiidina): Webspinners • Order Isoptera:Termites Subterranean, Dry Wood, Damp Wood • Order Mantodea: Preying Mantis • Order Orthoptera:Grasshoppers, Katydids, Crickets • Order Phasmida: Walking Sticks • Order Phthiraptera: Chewing & Sucking Lice, including head lice

Order Blattodea (or Blattaria): Cockroaches • Eggs placed in structure called Ootheca (small purse-like structure). • Nymphs and adults have head Ootheca (egg case) mostly hidden by pronotum, an oval plate-like structure. • Have long antennae; cerci short (segmented structures at rear American Cockroach like mini-tails). • Mp chewing; feed on variety of organic foods & debris • Usually have associated odors. • Most live outdoors, but typically walk into houses. They DO NOT Turkestan Cockroach come through the water pipes. Brown-banded Roach

Desert Roach Female & Male German Cockroach Order Dermaptera: Earwigs • Earwigs have shortened front Forewing wings that are rounded and leathery, hindwings pleated like fan. Harmless. • Noted for the cerci modified into pincers, used in prey Hindwing Cerci capture, mating. Have chewing mouth parts. Note dark short fore-wing, large hind-wing • Have a repugnatory gland, smell if stepped on.

Note large pincers of male Order Embioptera (or Embiidina): Webspinners

• Males winged, females wingless: can rotate head like mantis. • Males attracted to lights in home, mistaken as termites. • Modified foretarsi (feet) have silk glands. Female inside silken tube • Females spin silken tunnels under rocks, etc, spend life there, feed on dead plant material, males don’t feed.

Male: note fore-tarsi enlarged Order Isoptera:Termites • Social insects, have castes, division of labor with Queen and King for reproduction, workers for food gathering and care of young and nest, soldiers to protect colony. At certain times, individuals with wings (alates) develop to leave colony, mate, Castes: Workers (white), start new colony. Shed wings. Soldiers, Alates (winged) Tube builders • Chewing mouthparts: ability to digest dead wood because of symbionts with bacteria in gut that have cellulase and lignase. • Three main types:Dry wood, Damp wood and Subterraneans (Tube builders, encrusters). • Important soil builders and dead Desert encruste work plant recyclers African Queen termite, King (next largest) & workers Alates

Worker caste Dry-wood soldier Order Mantodea:Preying Mantis • Name confusion: Mantid/ mantis, praying/preying – they all can be used • General predator, chewing Ootheca Mps., forelegs modified for grabbing prey, termed raptorial • Females lay eggs in an ootheca (egg case) • Females have shortened Mantid nymphs Mantids mating: Male green wings, not fliers; males good fliers

Female

Raptorial forelegs Unicorn mantid nymph Order Orthoptera:Grasshoppers, Katydids, Crickets • Grasshoppers and Katydids separated by short or long antennae (Called horns in literature) • Wings held roof-like over body in above groups • Crickets hold wings flat and parallel to body • Hind legs modified for jumping, termed saltatorial, enlarged femurs • Chewing Mouthparts, mostly Short-horned, banded-wing grasshopper herbivores, various defenses from crypsis (blending with substrate) to leaf ) • Auditory communication developed in many species, also ears found in many spots on legs, abdomen. Crickets rub forewings together to make song, grasshoppers have various stridulatory ways (rubbing parts of body together) Female katydid, note ovipositor in rear Indian House Cricket Female Field Female (wingless) & Male Cricket, note (note shortened wings) Ovipositor Order Phasmida: Walking Sticks • Mostly wingless; varieties of long Long-horned Sticks mating and short antennae. • Mimic plant parts, mostly twigs and branches but some from Australia mimic leaves. • Herbivores, chewing mouthparts. • Can reproduce asexually, termed parthenogenesis • Highest diversity in Tropical areas. Leaf insect Winged Stick

Australian Stick New Guinea Stick Order Phthiraptera: Chewing and Sucking Lice • Used to be Orders Mallophaga (chewing) and Anoplura (sucking, now combined as Phthiraptera • Ectoparasites, found mostly on birds and mammals. Head louse on nickel • Body flattened dorsoventrally to aid in clinging to host feathers, hair or fur. Modified tarsi for clinging. • Important human parasites, head louse, body louse and crab louse. • Two kinds of lice evolved for different feeding behavior, one group Head louse (sucking mouthparts) Chewing Sucking with chewing mouthparts and wide heads for eating feathers, one with sucking mouthparts and narrow heads for blood feeding. • Eggs called nits, hence term ‘nitpicker’ for activity of removal of eggs from hair

Pubic or crab louse Cattle louse Chewing louse on Buzzards Chicken Head Louse More Insecta Metamorphosis Gradual, Mps modified into beaks for fluid feeding

• Order Hemiptera: Assassin bugs, Kissing bugs, Leaf-footed bugs, Lygus bug, Say Stink bug, Minute pirate bug, Big-eyed bug, Damsel bug • Order Homoptera: (sometimes combined into Hemiptera): Cicadas, Aphids, Armored scales, Cottony cushion scale, Cochineal scale, Leafhoppers, Treehoppers,Whiteflies Order Hemiptera: Assassin Bugs, Kissing Bugs • Order known for forewings (hemelytra) with anterior part Showing beak hardened, posterior part membranous; held flat and parallel to body, usually forming a visible X in middle of the body. • Mps piercing-sucking. • These two are predators: Assassins feed on blood, Kissing bugs feed on mammal blood (typically Assassin bugs associated with packrats) thus sometimes vectors of disease pathogens. • Assassin bugs important in field crop management.

leathery membrane

Kissing bug nymph, note Kissing bug adult Short developing wing buds Hemelytra Order Hemiptera:Leaf-footed bugs • Herbivores • Scent gland for defense. • Modified hind legs, sometimes totally enlarged, other times with one part flanged, thus the common name. • Some known for feeding Nymph Adult Male on ripened fruits, mostly innocuous bugs. Giant Mesquite Bug

Leptoglossus Narnia Order Hemiptera: Minute Pirate Bug, Damsel Bug • Predators • Small in stature. • Minute Pirate Bugs are typically black with white markings: Orius an important predator in many crops Minute Pirate Bug • Damsel bugs (nabids) slender, pale yellowish to brown, membrane of forewing Damsel Bug (hemelytra) with numerous cells around margin.

Damsel bug, note cells in wing membrane Order Hemiptera: Lygus Bug, Harlequin Stink Bugs:Crop Associates

scutellum • Lygus bug:note the heart-shaped marking on scutellum. • Stink bugs noted for enlarged triangular scutellum dominating dorsum - why these are also Lygus bug called shield bugs. • Stink bugs have scent glands that produce variety of odors for protection, often used as Green Stink Bug seasoning for foods in many countries. Eggs • Herbivores, important competitors in crops: Lygus & cotton, Harlequin & cabbage.

Nymph Adult Harlequin Stink Bug Order Homoptera: Cicadas, Treehoppers, Leafhoppers Cicada nymph Cicada adult & Cast skin • The following insects are all plant juice feeders, with slender, elongate piercing- sucking mouthparts, held beneath body between legs; head directed backwards and underneath body. • If winged, wings held roof-like over body, membranous, hind wing smaller but similar in shape to forewing. • Cicadas best known, summertime singers, nymphal skins collected by kids; 17 year cicadas from NE U.S. one of longest life cycles of insects. Treehopper adults & nymphs • Treehoppers are a curiosity because of extreme development of pronotum to mimic thorns, spines, etc. • Leafhoppers look like small versions of cicadas; most notorious are the sharpshooters; this group sometimes vectors plant pathogens.

Treehopper spine mimic Smoketree Sharpshooter Order Homoptera:Armored Scale, Cottony Cushion Scale, Cochineal

• Strange life history: egg-crawler (active nymph)-sessile nymph-adult; female stays put, males small with one pair wings. • Actual insect hard to identify because of lack of morphology, being mostly a Oystershell Scale (Armored Scale) bag of reproductive and digestive organs. • Armored scales named because female soft bodied but covered by hard scale covering: Oystershell scale feeds on ornamental plants. • Cottony cushion scale important citrus feeder but managed by Vedalia beetle, a model of biological control Cottony cushion scale CCS & Vedalia beetle success. • Cochineal, a scale on prickly pear; seen as clumps of wax on cactus pads, but underneath a brilliant carmine colored scale; famous as use in making red dye in Mexico for dying fabrics.

Cochineal on Prickly Pears Order Homoptera: Aphids, Whiteflies

Winged & unwinged aphids • Important garden and crop feeders noted for producing honeydew, sticky substance ants feed upon, also a medium for fungal growth on leaf. • Mostly sessile individuals; usually recognized by the tubes projecting from posterior termed cornicles or siphunculae. Aphids showing • Aphids have a winged form and both sexual & asexual reproduction. Aphid producing cornicles honeydew • Whiteflies flattened as nymphs to cling closely to leaf; have a Parthenogenetic reproduction pseudopupal stage so have Almost Complete metamorphosis. • Whitefly adults produce wax and rub over bodies after emergence from Whitefly nymphs & adults pseudopupa. • Nymph & peudopupa many times ringed with white wax. Whitefly eggs

Whitefly nymphs w/ wax ringing body, and drops of honeydew (brown) More Insecta Metamorphosis Almost Complete

• Order Thysanoptera: Thrips Order Thysanoptera: Thrips (singular & plural) • Very small, with or without four wings: wings long, narrow and fringed with long hairs, act as oars rowing through air. • Mouthparts described as ‘punch and suck’, the single mandible breaks up plant cells, material then sucked into digestive system. • Metamorphosis complex, with active feeding instars (growth stages) with wing development, and a pseudopupal stage sometimes inside cocoon, followed by adult emergence. • Familiar kinds are found in flowers and buds, causing deformed flowers at times.

Thrips on lemon flower Note fringe of hairs on wings More Insecta: Metamorphosis Complete • Order Coleoptera: Beetles (Forewings hardened, called elytra): blister, boll weevil, collops, darkling (Pinacate), dermestid, dung, fig, flea, lady, long-horned (round-headed wood borer), palo verde root borer, metallic wood borer (flat-headed wood borer), 10-Striped June beetle, white grubs (immatures of many). • Order Diptera: Flies (Forewings normal, hindwings called halteres):House, crane, syrphid or hover, bee, tachinid, bot flies, mosquitoes, deer, maggots (immatures). • Order Lepidoptera:Butterflies, , Skippers (wings usually covered with scales): Bagworm ,Pink bollworm, grape-leaf skeletonizer, Salt Marsh caterpillar, Tomato Hornworm, Sphinx moth, Monarch, Checkered skipper, Two tailed swallowtail, bagworm. • Order : Wasps, Bees, Ants (Wings membranous, linked by hindwing hooks called hamuli):Honey bee, Leaf-cutter bee, Carppenter bee, Bumble bee, Harvester ant, leaf-cutter ant, fire ant, paper wasp, Ichneumon wasp, Thread-waisted wasp, Tarantula hawk (spider wasp), Horntail, Sawfly, Velvet ants (mutillids). • Order Neuroptera:(Wings marked by many crosswveins) Antlions, Green lacewings. • Order Siphonaptera:(Wingless) Fleas: Cat. Order Coleoptera: Scarab beetles • Scarab beetles, known as May beetles, June beetles, dung beetles, Fig beetles. • Larvae called White grubs, may feed on plant roots, compost, etc. White grubs (larval stage) Dung beetles • Adults are leaf-eaters if they feed at all. • Chewing mouthparts in both larva & adult.

Scarab beetle adults

Fig beetle

10 striped June Beetle African goliath, one of heaviest insects known Order Coleoptera: Predators • Predators, even in the larval stages. • Ladybird beetle (ladybug). • Collops beetle. • Mps chewing. Ladybug eggs

Ladybug larva Ladybug pupa

Arrow indicates elytra (forewings) Ladybug adults

Ladybug aggregation Lots of ladybug species Collops beetle Order Coleoptera: Wood-boring Beetles • It’s the larvae that feed in the wood: Chewing mps. Wood tyoically stressed, diseased, dying or dead, result of physiological problems, not the borers! • Round-headed woodborer or Long- Round-headed borer larva horned beetle (Cerambycidae). • Flat-headed woodborer or Metallic wood borer (Buprestidae).

Long-horn beetle adults Metallic wood-borer adults Flat-headed borer larva Order Coleoptera: Herbivores Acorn weevil • Boll Weevil, well-known agricultural insect. Weevils very numerous, probably largest family of beetles in world. • Head shaped into a beak Boll Weevil, note snout with chewing mps at tip. Snout extremes Flea beetle • Flea beetle: one of numerous beetles called leaf beetles because of habit of chewing on leaves. • Flea beetle recognized by enlarged hind femora designed for jumping.

Note enlarged hind femor Order Coleoptera:Dermestid Beetles • Stored Product insects known larva to infest dried foods not stored properly in the kitchen; outdoors feed on pollens; chewing mps. • Called Buffalo beetle, Carpet beetle, many other names. • Larvae typically cream to white colored, usually quite hairy. Hairs may sometimes cause dermatitis. • Adults small, rounded, many with scales to add color. • Dermestids sometimes used to clean skeletons for museum specimens. • Dermestids are late arrivals to corpses, use for forensic study. Order Coleoptera: Darkling Beetles • Known in AZ as a Stink beetle, it is also called Eleodes & the Pinacate beetle. • Has gland in rear that produces qinones, very smelly chemical to protect itself. • Stands on head and elevates body to put stinky gland in predator’s nose. • Rubs quinones on legs to let it walk across ant nests and to their dump Eleodes sulcipennis site, dinner for these beetles that are scavengers and organc matter feeders: chewing mps. Elodes armatus headstanding • Many other darkling beetles less noticed, no scent glands, usually black, fly to lights at night, may enter homes, cause no damage. Quinone gland visible • The Common Flour Beetle sold in pet stores as food for other pets is a darkling beetle.

Tailed species headstanding Darkling beetle, no scent gland Order Coleoptera: Palo Verde Root Borer

• Long-horned beetle. • Larvae live in soil, move about feeding on starches in roots; 3 yr development. • Affect stressed, or exotic plants like Mexican PV, rose, privet, elm, olive and others. pupa Larval stages • May with other factors help weed out weak trees or plants. • Emerge as adults during summer monsoon season; do not feed as adults. • Fly at dusk. Found at bright lights in town • Mps chewing.

Adult female PV beetle Order Coleoptera:Blister Beetles

Epicauta sp. • Many different kinds of blister beetles, but all undergo HYPERMETAMORPHOSIS, meaning they have two different larval forms, one active called triungulin, second grub-like. • Some species use grasshopper eggs as food for larvae (genus Epicauta). Bleeding cantharidin • Some hitch rides with bees and feed on bee larvae and provisions. • Called blister beetle because have cantharidin, an irritating chemical in blood to protect from predation, used in medicine also. • Some aposematic in colors (bright yellows or reds with black, warning colors: others dull browns, grays and blacks. • All have chewing mps; adults feed on variety of plants. • A few species nationwide associated Variation on blister beetle looks: with horse hay, can cause horse to Enlarged abdomen perish if eaten. Those seen walking Iron Cross Blister Beetle: around on ground are not problematic. Aposematic color Order Diptera:The Flies

• Forewings well-developed for flight; hindwings reduced, appear like lollipop shape, used as gyroscopes in flight, called halteres. • Larvae: primitive flies like mosquitoes have a head but no legs. • More advanced flies like house Note Haltere, small Maggots fly, larvae called maggots, have white structure, no defined head, no legs, a mouth end of arrow Puparia apparatus hidden inside body, spiracles on rear plates reduced in number. • Advanced flies pupate inside last larval exoskeleton which is hardened and called a puparium. • Mps sponging in house fly, piercing sucking or ripping- lapping in others, chewing in some, siphoning in some. Order Diptera:Crane Flies

• Long-legged flies, seen usually in Spring. Legs break off easily. • Mistaken for giant mosquitoes, but not blood feeders, rather pollen feeders or non-feeding. • Larvae live either in soil or water. • Mps sponging. • Appear like flying daddy-long- legs

Note the halteres (white lollpop-like hindwings) Order Diptera:Pollinators: Syrphid Flies, Bee Flies • Both these types of flies are mimics of bees or wasps, but are harmless. • Significant pollinators. • Syrphids typically smooth bodied, with sponging mps; recognized by fake vein in wings. Syrphid flies Known as hover flies for ability to hover at flowers. Some syrphid larvae are excellent predators, Predatory syrphid larva eating aphid typically eating aphids. • Bee flies typically furry, many have a beak for drinking nectar, some have sponging mps if not visible as beak.

Bee flies Bee fly Order Diptera: Predators, Parasites • Robber flies, known for big eyes, depression in head between eyes, hairy face, hump-back appearance, and a beak for piercing and drinking blood from insect prey: long basket-like legs for catching prey; piercing sucking mps

• Tachinid flies are parasitic as larvae, found in many types of Robber flies insects feeding internally; adults are very spiny, looking like porcupines because of rigid spines on abdomen: adults are flower pollinators, with beaks for drinking nectar

Tachinid flies Order Diptera:Blood Feeders: Mosquitoes & Deer Flies

Female mosquito • Mosquitoes; blood feeders; Male mosquito mps piercng-sucking; males Compare antennal design with plumose antennae, nectar feeders; larvae aquatic, usually with siphon for breathing, called wrigglers; Siphon pupae aquatic, called tumblers, for motion in water; have respiratory horns. Pupa or • Deer flies (& horse flies): tumbler Blood feeders; Mps ripping- lapping; tear flesh, pool blood Larva or wriggler lap it up; wings with patterns; 2 spp. of larvae larvae aquatic. pupa

Deer flies Order Diptera: Bot Flies • Bot flies lay eggs on or in flesh, causing myiasis or invasion of tissue. • Larvae typically with rings of spines to keep in place in wound. • Adults are large flies with no Bot fly adults mouthparts (vestigial); fly to hills to gather for mating, a behavior called hilltopping. • No disease, just plenty of irritation; human bot fly found in tropics; wound termed a warble. • Some causes problems in cattle, degrading the leather with holes. Other species tied to packrats, rabbits, deer and Bot fly larva in other mammals. packrat neck Bot fly larva Cattle grub life history Order Diptera: Gall Midge • Creosote woolly gall • Strange plant growth caused by fly ovipositing in twig, continued growth as Gall still growing larvae feed inside • Gall harmless, provides tasty food and shelter for larvae

Adult gall midge Gall midge gone, no longer growing Order Lepidoptera: Butterflies, Moths, Skippers • These are the showy bugs, having modified hairs called scales on wings and body to create color patterns. • Adults have a sodastraw-like butterfly Note proboscis proboscis for drinking nectar, coiled under head at rest. • Butterflies brightly colored because day active, moths more drab because night-active. • Butterflies have clubbed antennae and thin body; skippers are more robust, have herky- jerky flights in daytime, more Moth Skipper subtle browns & grays, antennae with hooked clubs; moths nocturnal, robust body, dull colors typical, antennae like feathers, males more plumose. • Larvae called caterpillars, chewing mps, fleshy prolegs on abdomen with hooks on bottom. Caterpillar with 5 pr prolegs Moth antennae Order Lepidoptera:Monarch • Famous butterfly, migrates long distances, caterpillar feeds on milkweed thus has Egg hatches chewing mouthparts, adults aposematically colored to warn about its chemical defenses; pupa called chrysalis in butterflies.

Caterpillar

Prepare to molt

Molt to pupal stage

Adult Chrysalis (=pupa) Order Lepidoptera: Tomato Hornworm, Sphinx Moth • Common moths, excellent fliers, can hover by flowers. • Have elongate proboscis for deep nectaries, sometimes mistaken for hummingbirds; good pollinators. • Larvae spectacularly large, with Prolegs prominent rear facing horn Tobacco hornworm: (decoration, not a stinger); many Tomato hornworn: Note white diagonal bands of these hornworms feed on Note white v marks plants like tomato and tobacco. Tomato sphinx moth • Larvae disguised by white diagonal marks on sides, rear up when disturbed, thrash about and regurgitate; pupate in soil. Note 5 pairs of fleshy prolegs on abdomen

Pupa Darwin’s Hawk Moth; Note extreme proboscis Order Lepidoptera: Checkered Skipper

• Common AZ Skipper, adult with gray and white mottlings; larva with large black head capsule, appearing to almost have neck, typical of most skipper larvae; feeds on variety of mallows; note antennal design of adult Lepidoptera: Two-tailed Swallowtail • The AZ state butterfly • Adult black and yellow with hind wings having two tails • Larva pale green with a black and greenish- white neck bands, blue spots on body and strange eyespots dorsally, feeds on Ash Order Lepidoptera: Bagworms

• Only stage typically seen is larval (caterpillar) because they construct silken mobile homes • Decorated with pieces of plant they feed on • Adult small clear-winged Caterpillar feeding from bag moth. • Caterpillars move about feeding on foliage until ready to pupate, tie bag together and turn it into a cocoon Order Lepidoptera: Pink Bollworm • Major cotton insect, widely studied in AZ, for management schemes. Larvae feed in cotton bolls on the seeds. Overwinter (diapause) as larvae in the bolls, pupate in soil. Order Lepidoptera: Budworm/Bollworm • Cotton insects: larval stages feed in bolls

Tobacco Budworm larva and adult

Bollworm larva and Adult Order Lepidoptera: Grape Leaf Skeletonizer

• Note the black wasp-like adult moth flying around grape arbor; lays batch of eggs on underside of leaf; larvae hatch and stay on first leaf to feed,; larvae typically blue and yellow banded, with urticating (stinging) spines; feeding leaves leaf like a skeleton, hence name. Removal of leaf with egg cluster good management practice for small gardeners. If larvae distribute, use of Bt is helpful. • Paper wasps are good predators of GLS. Typical feeding results Order Lepidoptera:Salt Marsh Caterpillar

• From the Woolly Bear family of moths (or Tiger moths), this caterpillar feeds on wide variety of plants; known from cotton in late time period when cotton defoliated for picking, this larva then leaves for new pastures. Adult moths typically white with black dots on wings and a yellow abdomen Order Hymenoptera: Wasps, Ants, Bees • Primitive wasps are called sawflies, have no waist, an ovipositor for egg-laying, larvae with prolegs, chewing mps for herbivory • More modern wasps have waist, Primitive wasps facilitate using ovipostor for either parasitic lifestyle towards Note ovipositor other insects, or predation with Predatory wasp the ovipositor modified as stinging device; larvae more grub-like; ants and many wasps social, but with little to no hair; Parasitic wasp bees became pollinators, thus have branched hairs on most of body for holding pollen grains. • Hold wings together with tiny hooks (called hamuli) found on hind wings. Named for Hymeno, god of marriage, because of this linking together of wings. Bee Ant castes Order Hymenoptera: Horntails (wood wasps)

• Horntails are tied to conifers, larvae found inside feeding in old, weakened or diseased trees • Primitive wasps with no waist, female with stout ovipositor Male Females (egg laying organ)

Larva in wood Parasite of horntail Order Hymenoptera:Sawfly

• Adults brightly colored, larvae external feeders of foliage, body coiling over leaf edge, pupate in silken cocoon; the one illustrated feeds on mallow, but Adult known in hollyhocks in the garden

Larvae

Pupae inside cocoon Order Hymenoptera: Gall Makers • Vast array of species that cause gall formation on oaks • Galls formed by plant because of wasp activity, laying eggs in various tissues. Harmless, merely affording tasty food and safety to larval wasps • Family name Cynipidae Order Hymenoptera: Honey Bees • Honey bee:smaller bees, noted for branched hairs for pollen collecting both on body and specialized baskets on hind legs; honey bees social, drones (males) only involved with mating; hive ruled and occupied by females; Honey bee showing stinging a true defense of hive; Typical honey bee pollen leg baskets swarms not a threat, merely a moving body; foraging a focused behavior as is water discovery; honey bees typically black and orange banded; mps both chewing and sipping, or pollen & nectar feeding Stinging

Honeycomb in tree Swarm

Typical hive site Order Hymenoptera:Leaf-cutter bees • Solitary bees. • Cut leaf circles to make cells in hidden site; use many types of leaves esp. landscape non- native plants; changes aesthetic, doesn’t kill plant. • Adult bees use stomach area (venter) to accumulate pollen, then mix with nectar, creating bee bread to feed young in cells made rom leaf material • Pollinate native flora, very Adult bee carrying pollen important for desert plants. • One species does utilize flaws Cutter bee at work in foam roofing as nest site, which then attracts birds, and may cause damage to roof. Good maintenance prevents this activity. Cutter bee carrying leaf Order Hymenoptera: Bumble bees & Carpenter bees • Very large bees. • Bumble bees typically yellow & black banded, carpenter bees black or metallic blue-black; male carpenter bees have yellow to white .markings on Bumble bee head (at least). Females solid. • Carpenter bees nest in flower stalks, rotting wood, bumbles A different bumble bee look typically in soil; mps chewing Carpenter bee & sipping.

Male carpenter bee

Nest site Order Hymenoptera: Parasites: Ichneumonid wasps • Just one group of many parasitic wasps acting to balance populations of insects. • This is a huge group that may affect any stage of insect development, egg, larva, nymph, pupa or adult • Many have ovipositors exposed; • These wasps are recognized by long, many segmented antennae, usually abdomen flattened laterally (side to side) • Larvae act as parasitoids (host killed by larval feeding): many insect orders used by these wasps; mps chewing Hymenoptera: Predatory or Provisioning Wasps: Tarantula Hawk, Thread-waisted wasps, Paper wasps

• Tarantula hawk, largest AZ wasp, uses large spiders that they paralyze and put in secure burrow for larvae to feed upon;Thread-waisted wasps have long thin waist, capture and paralyze caterpillars, grasshoppers, spiders for nest sites either underground or constructed nests of mud; paper wasps Tarantula hawks: Spider wasps make nest site of paper, many cells, hunt caterpillars to eat and regurgitate to feed young at nest; mps chewing

Mud daubber Thread-waisted wasps Paper wasps at nest Order Hymenoptera: Velvet Ants (Mutillids) • Not ants but wingless female wasps, aposematically colored in day-active species • Lots of long hairs giving furry look • Ground nesting bee parasites; males are winged as shown, mps chewing. • Females run about searching for host nests. Males winged to allow them to find mates. • Sometimes called ‘cow killers’ for belief if cow tries to eat on, VA will sting tongue which swells and asphixiates cow: urban legend

Male with wings Order Hymenoptera:Ants • Ants really are just social wasps that have lost wings except during swarming seasons • Many castes, including reproductives called queens, workers and sometimes soldiers; winged males & females termed alates • Ant nests are all female except when Harvester ant nest and many workers winged males develop for swarming and mating. • Ants are very important for soil development and aeration • Many chemicals evolved for communication between individuals. • Many species; here are 3 important ones in AZ: Leaf-cutter ant nest, worker and winged male – Harvester ants (seed eaters) – Leaf-cutter ants (fungus growers) – Fire ants (Scavengers/predators)

Southern Fire ant castes and nest site Order Neuroptera: Antlions

• Larvae well-known for digging cone-shaped pits to entrap unwary insects in their sickle- shaped mandibles (piercing- sucking design) • Spin cocoons with sand and silk Larva in pit to disguise pupal chamber. • Adults nocturnal, usually gray, elongate narrow body with wings held tent-like over body, with stout capitate antennae • Adults with chewing mps; excellent predators

Adult showing antennal design Larva eats ants Order Neuroptera:Green Lacewings

• Green lacewings an important biological control agent • Larvae are excellent aphid eaters with sickle-shaped mandibles designed to pierce exoskeleton and suck out Lacewing eggs innards. • Eggs laid on silken stalks to protect from being eaten by siblings. • Spin silken cocoons inside which they pupate Lacewing larva • Adults vary in feeding behaviors from pollen to predation. Lacewing cocoon, pupa inside Order Siphonaptera: Fleas • Fleas are ecto-parasites, meaning they live on the exterior of host, in this case cats & dogs. Always wingless. • They have a siphoning or piercing sucking mps for blood feeding. • Check pictures for the combs on head and thorax that help keep them on host. • Fleas are flattened laterally to make them hard to dislodge; hind legs are modified for jumping; larvae are very hairy and legless, similar to maggots

combs Some References • “Borror and Delong’s Introduction to the Study of Insects”. 2005. Triplehorn, Charles A. & Norman F. Johnson. Brooks/Cole. • “50 Common Insects of the Southwest”. 2004. Olson, Carl A. Western National Parks. • “Learning About & Living With Insects of the Southwest”. 1994. Werner, Floyd G. & Carl A. Olson. Fisher Books. • “Insects: Peterson Field Guide Series”. 1970. Borror, Donald J & Richard E. White.Houghton Mifflin Company • “Pollinators of the Sonoran Desert”. 2004. Chambers, Nina, Yajaira Gray & Stephen Buchmann. Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, International Sonoran desert Alliance, & The Bee Works • “Spiders of the Eastern United States: A Photographic Guide”. 2004. Howell, W. Mike & Ronald L. Jenkins. Pearson Education • “Caterpillars in the Field and Garden: A Field Guide to the Butterfly Caterpillars of North America”. 2005. Allen, Thomas J., Jim P. Brock & Jeffrey Glassberg. Oxford University Press. • “Secret Weapons: Defenses of Insects, Spiders, Scorpions, and Other Many-Legged Creatures”. 2005. Eisner, Thomas, Maria Eisner & Melody Siegler.The Belnap Press of Harvard University Press. • “The Handy Bug Answer Book”. 1998. Waldbauer, Gilbert. Visible Ink Press. • “The Voice of the Infinite in the Small: Re-Visioning the Insect-Human Connection”. 2002. Lauck, Joanne Elizabeth. Shambhala Publications, Inc.