Kingdom Animalia Phylum Arthropoda Bilateral vs radial symmetry • Most abundant group of animals. Notable Animals from the • Ancient group of organisms. Some fossils date from the Southwest Cambrian period (500 Million Years old). • Bilaterally symmetrical. Insects and other arthropods Exoskeleton Arthropoda: Crustaceans • Consists of layers of chitin (a • Arthropods have a polysaccharide) and • Most species segmented body. proteins. are aquatic. • Many limbs. • It is a hard covering • Bodies covered with a that protects the though exoskeleton (no animal and provides backbone) points ot attachment • Jointed legs to muscles. • Requires molting Arthopoda: Arachnids • Body divided Arthropoda: Diplopods Arthopoda: Chilopods into two • Centipedes sections. • Millipedes • Body divided in • Four pairs of segments, each legs. • Body divided in with 1 pair of • Most of them many legs. are carnivorous • Head with long pedipalps segments, each antennae one bearing 2 • First pairs of legs modified as pairs of legs. poison fangs 1 • Scorpions are ancient, climbing out of the thorax Sonoran Desert Arthropods Arthropoda: Insects sea 400 million years ago. abdomen head • Scorpions – Three species are common in the Arizona Upland (30 • Scorpions are eaten by elf owls, lizards, some snakes, grasshopper mice, desert • Body with three main species are known from Arizona). sections shrews, and pallid bats. • Bark scorpion • Head with 1 pair of • They have live young which ride on their antennae and 1 pair of • Stripe tailed scorpion eyes. mother’s back until their first molt in 1 – 3 • Thorax with 3 pairs of legs. • Giant hairy scorpion. weeks. • Many of them with wings. • The most diverse and abundant group of organisms on Earth. • Scorpions tend to sit still in the same place night after night waiting for prey. • Bark scorpion (Centruroides exilicauda) • Stripe tailed scorpion (Vaejovis • They can be very athletic during an attack. • Most poisonous of the 30 in AZ. spinigerus) • Not likely to kill a human, but it sure hurts. • They use their pinchers to hold the prey • Widespread and common (outdoors). • Likes to climb trees and rocks. while they sting it to paralyze it. • Orients upside down (people get stung • Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, southern • They are easy to find using a black light on picking up rocks). California,Sonora, Northeastern Baja. • Often found in houses, especially on the • About 2 inches long. a warm moonless summer night in edge of town (get trapped in sinks and undisturbed Arizona Upland. bathtubs, found on walls and ceilings). • Sturdy medium sized • Outdoors in wood or brick piles. • Sometimes found in groups especially when hibernating. • Giant desert centipede – Scolopendra heros • The tail mimics the head to confuse predators. • Giant Hairy Scorpion (Hadrurus • A true giant at 6-8 inches. arizonensis) • Warning coloration – short fangs under • They run around at night eating insects, lizards, small rodents. • Biggest in the USA: 6 inches! head inject venom into prey. • Strictly nocturnal. • Uncommon; only out a few weeks in • Bite is painful but not dangerous for summer. humans. • Mothers tend eggs and young for a few days. • Eats other scorpions, lizards (whatever it • Won’t bite if you don’t pick them up. wants!). • Mild venom. 2 Arthropoda: Insects thorax • Because they are abdomen head Arizona blond tarantula predators male has to be careful not to • Body with three main • About 3-4 inches; become the sections females tan, males female’s dinner. • Head with 1 pair of antennae black with redish and 1 pair of eyes. hairs in abdomen. • Males do not survive • Thorax with 3 pairs of legs. much after mating. • Many of them with wings. • Typically found in • The most diverse and saguaro-dominated • They make quiet abundant group of plant communities. pets. organisms on Earth. • Females are bigger than males and live longer. The most diverse and abundant Insect development: Complete History of insects metamorphosis group of organisms on Earth (after the microbes). • Oldest fossil record of insects appear in the • Small size. Devonian about 400 mya. • Wings • They developed wings about • They are very specialized. 350 mya (the first organisms to evolve active flight). • They have low rates of extinction. • Soon after that many of the major orders appeared. • Many of them feed on plants. • Immature and adult stages are very different and often live in I different habitats. • There is a quiescent or pupal stage preceding the last molt. Pterosaur, a flying reptile, 220myo • Wings develop internally. Insect development: simple Insects: Lepidoptera Hawkmoths metamorphosis (Manduca spp) • Butterflies and moths • Large moths (size of • Big wings hummingbirds. • Body and wings • They have long covered with scales proboscis. • Proboscis often coiled. • Pollinate nocturnal • Long, antennae. • Little change in form. Young and adults are blossoms of Datura very similar except for size. • Some have auditory organs (tympana). plants. • Wings develop externally during the immature stages. • No quiescent stage preceding last molt. 3 • Larvae have very Giant swallowtail bad reputation among gardeners. • They are voracious • The largest butterfly in the and feed on Datura urban areas in the and wild tobacco Southwest. leaves but they also • Wingspan of about four inches. love to eat your • Caterpillars feed on citrus tomato plants. consuming young leaves • In a few hours they with great gusto. can defoliate a whole • Caterpillar looks like fresh bird dropping. plant. • If poked, it shoots out an orange “forked tongue” Homoptera (aphids, whiteflies, Cactus dodger (Cacama sp) • It is a cicada and cicadas, etc) emerges by May. • Form is highly • The only insects • Males sing to attract variable known to cool females by means of • Piercing-sucking themselves by the some abdominal mouthparts evaporation of membranous sweat. structures called • Feed on plants tymbals. • They sing loudly during the heat of the day. Mantodea (mantids) Insects: Coleoptera • Beetles • Predators • Two pairs of wings. • Forelegs designed • Forewings for grasping and • They are able to do it because they sweat! toughened to form • They extract water from their blood and transport it through large holding prey elytra (wing cases). ducts to the surface of the thorax, where it evaporates. • Elongated body • They loose 20-35 % of their body water every hour. • The most diverse of • They can do it because they feed directly on the xylem fluid of plants. • Wings are leathery the insects. and cover abdomen 4 Pinacate beetles • Kissing bugs – our local Insects: Heteroptera nightmare. • Characteristic of the desert. • True Bugs • They are about an inch long. • Most species hold their Simple • Bloodsucking bugs that • Spend much time on their wings flat. metamor normally live in wood rat nests heads to display defensive (“pack rats”). glands in the tip of • Triangular structure phosis abdomen. (scutellum), creating an • They become adults in May x-shaped pattern. and June and fly around • Many species, you can looking for mates and new • Mouth parts form a packrat nests. choose color as long as you slender tube under want black. head. • If they get in your house, they feed on the nearest mammal, • Many feed on plant • False Pinacate beetles do you or the dog. not have defensive glands juices and some are but they will mimic Pinacate predaceous. Some like beetles’ defensive display. to feed on you. • They feed only at night. • First they inject an anesthetic Giant Mesquite Bug and an anticoagulant, so you Insects: Blattodea won’t be disturbed. • One of the flashiest insects • Termites • Most people wake up with a of the Southwest. • Pale body large hard itching welt. • Nymphs are banded with • Feed on dead wood • Some people get sensitized red and white. • Related to cockroaches and go into shock. • Males have very enlarged, • The trypanosome, Chagas’ toothed hind femora • Form colonies and their societies are the oldest. disease is carried by kissing • At the end of antenna they bugs. have sensory spots. • King, queen, soldiers, workers (males and • Chagas’ is not known here yet. • They feed on mesquites females). • Buy good screens and don’t and nothing else. live near pack rats. • In the Sonoran Desert • They recycle cellulose Insects: Diptera region some termites • Flies (from dead plant are highly specialized. material and dung). • 1 pair of wings. • Marginitermes hubbardi • Mouthparts highly variable • Some contain - the saguaro skeleton • Most species feed on nectar, but many protozoans in their guts termite. species feed on sap and blood. that have bacteria that • Pterotermes occidentis, produce cellulase. specialist on Palo verde • Some cultivate fungi. wood. • Without termites cow • Termite rain! pies would cover 20% of the surface in 50 years! 5 Cactus fly (Odontoloxozus Insects: Hymenoptera longicornis) • Bees - • The region around Tucson has • Feeds on rotting saguaros more species of bees than • Bees, wasps and anywhere else in the world. and other cacti. But you can ants. also find them in your glass • Sonoran Desert bees – 1,000 of French wine! • Winged members species. • The conical heads and have four • Bees are more diverse in deserts raptorial forelegs mimic membranous wings. and grasslands than in rainforests. heteropteran predators. • Bees are the pollinators of most • Males keep territories and • Many are social and desert plants. pose to females. live in colonies. • The most beneficial to humans. • Female bees gather pollen and nectar • Most are solitary (one to feed their offspring and for their own female does all the nest • The smallest bee is energy needs. building and Perdita minima, 2 mm • Pollen has protein and vitamins, nectar provisioning). long. has mostly sugar. • Most bees in the • The largest bee is Sonoran Desert dig carpenter bees, burrows in the ground Xylocopa for their brood. (1.5 in). • Often seen around blossoms in summer. • Female tarantula hawk feeds a paralyzed • Once she gets it out she captures and paralyzes it with her sting. • Tarantula hawk – more than 12 species of tarantula to it’s young.