HOW TO KNOW ThiE INSECTS

211 Pages·2013·25.16 MB·English

HOW TO KNOW
ThiE INSECTS
lip
H. E. JAQUES
SECOND EDITION
WM. C. BROWN COMPANY
Publh]uu
DUBUQUE, lOW"
Copyright 1947
by H. E. Jaques
Library of Congre s Catalog Card Number: 48-501
THE PICTURED·KEY NATURE SERIES
"How to Know the Insects," Jaques, 1947
"Living Things- How to Know Them," Jaques, 1946
"How to Kno\v the Trees," Jaques, 1946
"Plant Families-How to Know Them," Jaque8, 1948
"How to Know the Economic Plants," Jaques, 1948, 1958
"How to Know the Spring Flowers," Cuthbert, 1943, 1949
"How to Know the MOlSes and Liverworts," Conard, 1944, 1956
"How to Know the Land Birds," Jaques, 1947
"How to Know the Fall Flowers:' Cuthbert, 1948
"How to Know the Immature Insects," Chu, 1949
"How to Know the Protozoa," John, 1949
"How to Know the Mammals," Booth, 1949
"How to Know the Beetles," Jaques, 1951
"How to Know the Spiders:' Kaston, 1952
"How to Know the Graue8," Pohl, 1953
"How to Know the Fresh·Water Algae," Pre8colt, 1954
"How to Know the Western Tr ...: ' Baerg, 1955
"How to Know the Seaweeds," Dawson, 1956
"How to Know the Freshwater Fish. ., " Eddy, 1957
"How to Know the Weeds," Jaqu", 1959
"How to Know the Water Birds," Jaques..()llivier, 1960
"How to Know the Butterfliel," Ehrlich, 1961
"How to Know the Ea.tem Land Snails," Burch, 1961
Other Subjects In Prepcuatfoll
PrInted In U.S.A.
INTRODUCTION
1936 federal estimate found 128.429.000 people living in
tbe United States. Forty.four million four bundred eigb.
teen thousand hoqs. 11.163.000 horMs and 387.251.000
chickens lived within our borders. Our country allO bad
a population of mult1plied trillions of I.naects. Some of these interest·
Ing creatures are highly beneficial. otbers qreatly hinder our proqre. ..
To succe. .f ully compet. with them we need to mow the insects better.
This book Is designed to make it oosy to acquire a ready mow·
ledge of the I.naects. It Is closely applicable throughout North America
and should be helpful wherever insects are studied. Illustrated keys
for identifications of the orders and of the principal families are given.
One common representative of each included famUy is pictured and
briefly deacrlbed. In all. 196 species of common insects are thus treat·
ed. It should be borne in mind that for each species pictur d. th re
are many others which space does not permit us to show. When a
apeclmen is seen to closely re roble one that is pictured. It will Uk Iy
be found to belong to the same family. U It differs in lOme details It
probably represents a species not herein deacribed. cmd will need to
be referred to more complete literature or to a speciaUst.
Many small families of Ie.. common insecta do not appear in the
keys. Had tbese been Included the keys would have become too cum·
berlOme and difficult for beginners. As th student advances In hw
study he wlll need to turn to apeclal literature for these Ie.. frequent
families.
Referenc haa been made to many leeys and descriptions by other
authors. Many of the illuatratiolUl are original. others have been gath·
ered from vartous lOurees by petm1aa1on. reeoqnltloD for which I.a In·
dlcated. Our students have made a large number of the drawings from
specimena in th. Iowa Survey Collection. te.ted the key. and helped
in other ways. Valued augge.llolUI by teachers who are ualnq the
book in their classe. have resulted in minor changes in the second.
fourth and fifth printings. Space forbids any attempt to Dame the many
lIdentiat. and other. who have helped. We wlah to thank them all.
REVISED EDmON
During Ita fir.t ten years "How t~ Know the Insects" haa served
in many schools. reMarch laboratorie• • outdoor campa. etc. Numerous
copies went over·8eCJ8 with our men wbo fouqht and won the recent
war. Now it haa been given a thorouqh-goinq revision. Incr~
emphaaia baa been placed on the deecrfptiolUl of famill. . and lOme
75 additional famili. . pictured cmd keyed. We hope Its many user.
will find the chang. . to their liJdnq.
Mt. PlflallaDt. Iowa - ~ ..... c :('
Auquat. 1947
Page
The Place of Insects. Their Development
and Their Study .................................. 1
Directions for Collectinq and Mounting Insects ........ 9
More Than Sixty Places to Look for Insects ........... , 21
Making and HOUSing a Larqe Insect Collection ........ 39
How to Use the Keys ................................ 42
The Parts of an Insect ............................... 44
Pictured-Keys for the Identification of the
More Common Families of Insects ................. 47
The Orders and Families of Insects .................. 171
Index and Pictured-Glossary ... ...................... 194
THE PLACE OF INSECTS
ATURAL history deals with all JivIng thinqs. Tbese fall
into two divisions, the plant kinqdom and the animal
kinqdom. Membere of the. . two ldngdome, whUe unlike
- in many waye, have much in common. Green plante, for
• instance, utilize inorqanic substances such a. carbon
dioxide, water. nitroqen, iron, sulphur, lime, etc., for food and ouUd
their livinq protoplasm wholly from such source.. All the other plant.
and all animals are. either directly or indirectly. entirely dependent
upon green plante QI a source of food. The functions of re.plration
and reproduction While dlffering in details, follow the aame general
plWl.l in the. . two kingdoms. Thus. many points of eimUarlty, and also
numeroua differences could be cited.
What many lolb would call "lcinds'·, tbe biologist call. "species".
All bor. .s are one species. all dogs one species. but tbere are many
species of birds (robins, blue birds, ruby-crowned kinqlet., Baltimore
oriole., etc.). fish. oak tree. (white oak. black oak, shingle oak, bur
oa.k. etc.) and many, many species of insect.. All the .pecle. (you
will notice that the word is .pelled the aame for both .ingular and
plural) of plante and animala that have come to the attention of eeien·
tists have been given a "scIentific name" and a description 10 that the
speci.e may be recognized wben found aqain.
Scientific names are in Latin .and are the same the world over.
They consist of two worda; fir.t a Latin noun 1cnown QI the genu. name
which alway. begin. with a capital letter and followed by a Latin ad·
jective (or noun in apposition) modifyinq this qenerk: word and .up
poMdly telling IOmething about the plant or animal to which the
name belong.. This second word is the species name and beqiDl with
a small or lower ccue lett.r. The. . two words are printed in ilaliCi.
When writt.n, or when italic type ls not available. the adentl1ic name
is underscored. Specie. are occasionally divided into vari.ti.. In
which. caae a third llCIXIle is added which is also italicized or und.r.
scored. Th. scientific name is followed by the name or abbr.viatlon
of the scI.ntist who proposed the scl.ntific nam.. This word. which ls
!mown as the autbor or authority begins with a capital and I. not
ltalic:i&ed or underscored. U the 1Ip8Ci.. name baa been referred to a
new 9.nua aince it was first qiv.n, tb. author'. name wUl appear in
parenthMu. 01b..-wiM lb. par.nth.... mould not be used.
Anybody may 9fv. any plant or animal any common nam.· he
wiab .. but there is only ODe approved scl.ntUk nam. for each .pecl. ..
Th-. COJDIDOJ1 nam_ (or as Dr. Lutz aptly pua it .. nlck·IlCIXIl .... ) are
DOt reliabht and offer Ulany opportunitiN for m.launder.tandlnq,
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ROW TO KNOW THE INSECTS
Let ua illustrate all thill. The earliest ex~rience in collecting in
sectll for many country children is with the "Colorado Potato Beetle"
at so much per hundred. or quart. but they are not always called by
that common name. The scientific name is Leptinotarsa decimlineata
(Say) and would appear in exactly that form in aU languages. "Lep
tinotaucr" is the name of the genus. It means "slender feet". Other
beetles. e. 9. Leptinotarsa juncta (Germ.) and Leptinotarsa .oensularis
Horn belong to thi.s same genus. The "decimlineata" is the species
name. It referl to the ten stripel in evidence on the back of the adult
beetle. "(Say)" tells UI that Thomas Say. a noted American entomo
loqist described this beetle in 1823 befoTe it had become a pest of
potatoes. It was first called Doryphora decimlineata Say but later re
ferred to itl proper genus.
When nature was making b:usects she was in a mOlt prolific mood.
'l'he total of known species is so great that we must have some care
fully organized system of "filing" not to become wholly lost in the
maze of numbers. We have just seen how very closely related species
have a common generic name. In the same way closely related gen
era (relationship is judged by similarity of important structurel) are
grouped into families. Families in turn fall into great groupl known
a. order.; orders unite in a class and classes form a phylum.
The whole group of the world's known animals may be divided
into lixteen phyla. One of these includes all animcrls having seg
mented bod!e. and jointed appendagea.. They are known as Arthro
pods and include such animals as the crawfish. lobsters. crabs. centi
ped... millipede,. spiden. ticka. mites and inMcte. The insects diUer
from these others in having jUllt six leg• .
They constitute the most abun
dant form of animal We. In fact
there are more known species of
1naectl than there are of all other
animals and all the plants put to
gether. This cla.. distinguished
by six legs is known as the In
secta or Hexapoda.
Such matters as metamorph
osis. mouth parts. number and
kinds of wings. and types of leg*
divide the class Insecta into Iwen
ty-aix orders. The beetles. which
belong to the order Coleoptra.
are. perhaps. the belt known of
Figure I. Considerably more than holf of the insects for they have long
<III the IIl1ing things in the _rid ore been favorites with inIecI collec
Insects.
tora. They ~e found everywhere;
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HOW TO KNOW THE INSECTS
many 01 them are marveloualy beautiful in their marking. and color·
ation; th.ey are easUy mounted and kept. Over 260,000 speci.s of
beetles have been named and described, making this the largest known
order. In our country more than 26,000 species have been recorded.
Other large orders are the Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, and ants)
and the Diptera (two-winged flies) about which entomologists Imow
less than they do 01 beetles. It is thought by some that both of these
orders will prove to be larger than the Coleoptera. The Lepidoptera
(moths and butterflies) have been much collected because of their
beauty and general interest. The Hemiptera (true bugs), another fairly
large order, is perhaps somewhat better Imown because of the great
economic importance of its members. A few o( the orders are small
and only a few species are known but tbey are so different from the
other groups that they must be considered separately.
The insects seem to be the world's most successful form of life
and many of man's most serious problems relate to his competition
with them. We sometimes complain of a 20/(' sales tax, but farmers.
gardeners and otbers are paying at least 100/. all the while to the
insects, and getting nothing in return for it. Every species is interest·
inq in its ways and many are 80 beautiful that their collection and
study cannot be beaten for fascinating, wholesome recreation.
We have attempted to make this book simple enough that the un·
trained nature lover, youth or adult, can handle it, and at the same
time make it sufficiently reliable to be used in serious entomological
work. It is hoped that it will serve to create a more intelligent interest
in insects in general. We recall our attempts at collecting insects
when a child, which were made futUe tor want of knowing a tew
simple things. It is some of these things we needed to know that have
been included here.
SOME SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS
In teaching the use of leeys, such plan as this has been found
qood. Require each student to collect and identify specimens of as
many dillerent orders and families as possible. Temporary name lab
els as here shown (Fig. 2) are neatly lettered
with ink and attached to the .pecimen when
it is named. (See Fig. 31 and page 35).
Figure 2. Temporary Nome Lobell. "XI·2" refers to the order Coleoptera and
family Carabidae. Lilc:ewise "XXIII·39" means
order Diptera, famUy Syrphidae. These numbers may be found in
the list of Orders and Families pp. 117·131. "del. Berger '37" shows
which student made the determination ahd when it was made. We
prefer to malee these temporary lobe.. on colored paper as they may
be later replaced with the scientific name of the specimen if that is
determined. U the family of each specimen, when determined, is
marked in the list of Order. and Families (po 111) both teacher and
.rudent can note at a glance bow the student'. work is progresslnq.
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HOW TO KNOW THE INSECTS
We have found that .ame contest feature stimulates intere.t in
this work of collectinq and detennininq inIect.. The bulldinq of a
reference collection for the school is a worthy project. Needed .ped
mena may be taken from the students' collectiona and .ame of the
more lnterested student. put in charqe as Curators.
A qood microacope is very helpful for i.nae¢t study. The low pow
er binocular. are be.t. Much can be done however without theM aids.
Simple tripod maqnillerl or hand lenMI selling for 75<: or le.. are
very u88ful In the laboratory or field. The ten cent stores frequently
have small readlnq qlouea. Students will flnd them worth-whUe.
Insect pictures on charts or cut trom bulletins, which ahow good
detail. may be used to excellent advantage to supplement actual
.pecimens and offers a good !I)ethod for teaching the UM of keys.
HOW INSECTS DEVELOP
'~Ii; LMOST all insects start from eqg. laid by the female.
~ theM eqqs vary qreatly in shape, aise, color, and
place of deposit. Many insect eqqs are beautifully
sculptured. The number laid by one female range.
from three or four for .ame specie. to Mveral hun
dred or even thousands by other species. In mo.t
Cal8S it will run into hundreds, which accountl for
the sudden prodiqioua increaae of many insect pelt.. Some lay their
eqq. one In a place, more or leu widely scattered. Other. lay their
eqqa in moues, then the young on halchlnq bve a qreqarioua life or
may acatter out.·
~lour. 3. Som. Insect Eggs.
-For studying the growIng stQgeS of Insect. ... H. F. Chu, How to tc_ the Im
moture '...eb.
HOW TO KNOW THE INSECTS
Some insec.1s such as grasshoppers or chinch bugs when they
hatch, look like the adult but are much smaller and do not have wings.
The head is usually quite large proportionately, for feeding is a most
Important function at that age. They olten grow with amazing rapid.
ity. Since their skeleton is on the outsid and restricts their enlarge
ment, insects molt or shed their skeleton from time to time during the
growing stage to acquire a more roomy covering which permits fur·
ther growth. Wing pads appear rather early and after the last molt
(often the flIth) the insect has fully developed wings, and is mature
sexually. This, of cours , is the adult stage. Insects which thus re
semble the adults as they grow up and change from the growing
stage to the adult stage without an Intervening resting stage are said
to have incomplete metamorphosis. While in the growing stage they
are known as nymphs.
Figure 4. Nymphs are young Insects that somewhat
resemble their parents.
Butterflies, house flies, bees, beetles, etc., have complete meta·
morphosis. The eggs hatch into creatures but little, if at all, resembl·
ing the parents. These are known as larvae. All their growth is mad.
in the larval stage. During this growing period the larva repeatedly
molts. At its last molt it assumes a resting stage or pupa which may
last only a few days or in which months may be spent. While In·
active outwardly, some marvelous remodeling goes on inside. Old
Figure 5. The Pupae of lruect, represent their resting Gtage.
10, Coleoptera; b, DipIero; c, Siphonaptera;
d, Lepldootera; e, Hyrnennptera.1
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