Prof.

Angsumarn Chandrapatya
Department of Entomology
Kasetsart University

Feed on plants

pollinate blossoms
aerate the soil
control insect pests
decompose dead
materials
reintroducing nutrients
into the soil

Many insects are herbivores, or plant-eaters,

which makes them primary consumers.
This abundance of primary consumers
provides protein and energy for secondary
consumers, known as carnivores.

There are 2 different type

of mouthparts; chewing and
piercing mouthparts to feed on
plants and their products

chewing

piercing

grasshopper, ant,
beetle, caterpillar use
mandible, maxilla to
chew plants and their
products.

True bug, aphid, scale insect,

cicada, thrips feed by using
needle-like or stylets to suck
fluid from plant tissue

Some insects such as

thrips, moth, beetle,
wasp and flies induce
plant gall

beetle, caterpillar,
wasp can make tunnel
underneath upper leaf
surface

 some insects such as

bollworm, stem borrer make a

hole on twig, stem, fruit, ear
and feed inside the hole
Insects stay inside the hole,
protect them from natural
enemies

A beneficial insect is an insect that helps you

grow healthy plants. There are 3 groups of beneficial
insects:
Predatory insects eating pests like aphids and
beetles.
Parasitoids parasitize pests, eventually killing
them.
Insect pollinators help the gardener by pollinating
crops, insuring a good harvest.
Ideally, WE should try to attract all three kinds of beneficial
insects to our garden predators, parasitoids, and pollinators.
http://insects.about.com/od/roachesandma
ntids/p/mantodea.htm

Don't Use Pesticides in Your Garden:

Pesticides can't distinguish the good guys from the
bad guys.
Allow pest population to build up on the plants to
serve as prey.
give the good bugs time to find the food, mate, lay
eggs, and soon be clean up your plants.
As long as they've got food to eat, the beneficial
insects will stay in the garden.
http://insects.about.com/od/roachesandma
ntids/p/mantodea.htm

Plant an Insectary to Invite Insects to Your Garden:

An insectary is a garden plot just for the insects.
The right variety of plants will attract beneficial
bugs to the neighborhood.
It can be a separate landscape bed right near your
garden, or several small plantings interspersed
among the veggies.

http://insects.about.com/od/roachesandmantids/p/mantodea.htm

Plant an Insectary to Invite Insects to Your Garden:

Plant some early bloomers to attract beneficial insects

early in the season, even before your crops are full of
pests.
Beneficial insects will feed on pollen and nectar as
adults.
Providing flowers early in the season will invite these
insects into the garden in time to produce their
predatory offspring on the prey community.
The insectary should include plants of varied heights.
http://insects.about.com/od/roachesandmantids/p/mantodea.htm

Provide Water for Insects:

Insects need water to live.
Sprinkler system in the garden
will suffice to give bugs a
drink.
Make a simple watering hole
with a saucer and some rocks,
and keep it full on dry days.
http://insects.about.com/od/roachesandmantids/p/mantodea.htm

Give the Ground Dwellers Some Cover:

Some beneficial insects stay down on the ground,
searching for soil-dwelling pests, rarely climb the plants
looking for pests to eat.
Need some shelter from the bright sun during the day.
Provide mulch, stepping stones to allow insects to burrow
or hiding during the day.

http://insects.about.com/od/roachesandmantids/p/mantodea.htm

Pollen from anther and egg inside the style

get together forming zygote and turn into
flower.
Plant can be pollinated by wind and human
Insects play an important role in pollinating
plants

Bees play a major

role in pollinating
fruit trees and flower
blossoms.
Other important
pollinators are:
carpenter bees,
syrphid fly (hover
fly), stingless bee

Lacewings
Adult lacewings feed on pollen, nectar, and
honeydew.
Green lacewing larvae are voracious
predators.
Larvae hunt for soft-bodied prey, using their
curved, pointed mandibles to stab their
victims.

http://insects.about.com/od/insects101/g/Parasitoid.htm

http://www.grow-it-organically.com/images/predatorlacewing-larva-lg.jpg

Lady beetle
Both the adults and the larvae feed
on pests.
Feed on aphids, scale insects, thrips,
whitefly pupa, mealybugs and mites.
One nymph eats about 400 aphids
during 3 weeks before it pupates.
One female lady beetle eat more
than 5,000 aphids in its lifetime and
lay up to 1,000 eggs over a 3 month
period,
http://insects.about.com/od/insects101/g/Parasitoid.htm

http://gardening.about.com/od/insectpestid/tp/BeneficialInsects-In-The-Garden-The-Good-Guys.htm

Lady beetle
hibernate
Lady beetle
Feed

Assassin bug
Many assassin bugs specialize in
certain kinds of prey, but as a group,
assassins feed on everything from
beetles to caterpillars.

http://insects.about.com/od/insects101/g/Parasitoid.htm

Mpraying mantid
Praying mantids are generalist
predators.
They like to eat a helpful lady beetle
as they are to catch a caterpillar.
Nymph starts to feed after hatching,
they sometimes eat their siblings.

http://abbotlab.files.wordpress.com/2011/10/
mantis-eaticcccng1.jpg

http://insects.about.com/od/insects101/
g/Parasitoid.htm

Syrphid, Hover fly

Syrphid fly generally has bright
markings of yellow-orange and
black, and can be mistaken for bees
Syrphid maggots crawl on garden
foliage, searching for aphids to eat.
Adults will pollinate flowers.

http://insects.about.com/od/insects101/g/Parasitoid.htm

http://gardening.about.com/od/insectpestid/tp/BeneficialInsects-In-The-Garden-The-Good-Guys.htm

Stink bug
Stink bug as predator, feeds on
caterpillars, sawfly larvae, and
grubs.
Most predatory stink bugs are
generalist feeders, so they might
also devour your lady beetles or
even their own kin.

http://insects.about.com/od/insects101/g/Parasitoid.htm

 An organism that lives in or on the body of a

single host individual during the larval stage of its
life cycle and ultimately killing that individual.
Adult parasitoid being free-living, no longer
dependent on the host.
Parasitoids may comprise up to 25% of all insects
(Parasitoids, Nick Mills, U.C. Berkeley).
Most parasitoids belong to the Hymenopteran or
Dipteran
http://insects.about.com/od/insects101/g/Parasitoid.htm

Parasitoid lays eggs within the

bodies of host insects.
Parasitoid larvae feeds on nonessential organs thus feeding
without killing the host.
Eventually, the larvae either feeds
on the vital organs killing the host
or pupates within the host and then
emerges as an adult killing the
host.

http://www.amentsoc.org/insects/glossary/terms/parasitoid

http://aggie-

horticulture.tamu.edu/galveston/beneficials_images/1c_archives/beneficial-00A=Fig2_GCMGA14623_parasitoid_example_02.jpg

http://cdn.physorg.com/newman/gfx/news/hir
es/2011/parasitoidla.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/be/Trissolcus_parasitoid_wasps.JPG

An ectoparasitoid is a parasite that

lives externally on another animal
and eventually kills it.
Eggs attached to the integument
of caterpillar between thoracic or
abdominal inter-segmental grooves.

Parasitism
Parasitism is a symbiotic
relationship between two
organisms where one organism
(the parasite) gets benefit from
the other organism (host plant).
The parasite is detrimental to the
host .
Parasites do not kill their host
directly but may weaken it to the
point where it is susceptible to
infection.
http://semprul.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/plantparasite.jpg

http://www.amentsoc.org/insects/glossary/terms/parasitism

Mutualism
A form of symbiotic relationship.
A relationship between different species
where both species benefit from the
relationship: aphids and ants.
The aphids secrete a sugary solution called
honeydew.
Ants drink the honeydew and, in return, they
protect the aphids from predators.
leaf cutting ants and fungus within their
fungus gardens.

http://www.amentsoc.org/insects/glossary/terms/symbiosis

http://www.amentsoc.org/insects/glossary/terms/mutualism

Commensalism
A relationship between different
species where one organism gains
benefit from the relationship and the
other is unaffected.
A group of smaller organisms
'hitching' a lift on larger organisms
(called Phoresy)

http://www.amentsoc.org/insects/glossary/terms/commensalism

More than 90% of the organic matter synthesized by the

green plants remains unconsumed, and it passes to the
level of decomposers as plant material decaying on soil.
Arthropods are the major decomposers, playing a very
important role in degradation of waste by feeding on
dead matter or decaying remains derived from
producers and consumers

Burrowing bugs such as ants and beetles

dig tunnels that provide channels for
water, benefiting plants.
all insects fertilize the soil with the
nutrients from their droppings.
http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/capinera/eny5236/pest1/content/03/2_decomposers.pdf