Ex. No.

10

CHARACTERS OF INSECT ORDERS

ORTHOPTERA, DICTYOPTERA, DERMAPTERA,
EMBIOPTERA, MALLOPHAGA & SIPHUNCULATA
 ORDER:ORTHOPTERA
Synonyms : Saltatoria, Saltatoptera
Etymology : Ortho - straight; Ptera-wings.
Common names : Grasshoppers, Locust, Katydid, Cricket, Mole cricket

Characters:
 Medium to large sized insects
 Antenna- filiform.
 Mouthparts - mandibulate
 Prothorax - large.
 Pronotum - curved, ventrally covering the pleural region.
 Hind legs - saltatorial.
 Forewings - leathery, thickened - tegmina - capable of bending without
breaking
 Hindwings - membranous with large anal area - folded by longitudinal
pleats between veins and kept beneath the tegmina.
Characters Contd……

 Cerci - short and unsegmented

 Ovipositor - well developed in female

 Metamorphosis - gradual

 In many Orthopterans the newly hatched first instar nymphs are covered
by loose cuticle and are called pronymphs

 Wing pads of nymphs undergo reversal during development

 Specialized stridulatory (sound-producing) and auditory (hearing) organs

are present.
 Sub orders

Caelifera Ensifera
Family Families
Acrididae Tettigonidae
Short horned grasshoppers and Long horned grasshoppers,
locusts
Katydids and bush crickets.

Gryllidae
Crickets.

Gryllotalpidae
Mole crickets
Acrididae

 Short antenna
 Tarsus - 3 segmented
 Ovipositor - short & horny
 Tympanum - 1st abdominal segment
 Femoro-alary type of sound production
row of peg like projections - on innerside of hind femur
rubbed against hard radial vein of the closed tegmen
Tettigonidae
 Long antenna
 Tarsus - 4 segmented
 Ovipositor - sword like
 Tympanum - fore tibia - 2 pairs
 Alary type of sound production
 Thick hind margin of fore wing (Scraper) - rubbed against a
row of teeth on the stridulatory vein of ventral side of
another fore wing
Gryllidae
 Long antenna
 Tarsus - 4 segmented
 Ovipositor - slender & needle like
 Forewings - bent to cover abdomen; hind wings acuminate
 Cerci - long & unsegmented
 Household pest
Gryllotalpidae

 Eyes - reduced
 Pronotum in elongate, ovate and rounded posteriorly
 Fore legs - fossorial - tibia is digitate
 Sound production - absent
 Tympanum - a pair on outer tibial surface
 Ovipositor vestigeal
 ORDER : DICTYOPTERA
(Dictyon= network; ptera =wings)
Common names: Cockroaches and mantids
Characters:
• Body: Medium to large sized insects
• Head and mouth parts: Hypognathous; Chewing type.
• Antennae: Filiform or setaceous.
• Thorax: Usually prothorax larger than meso & meta-thorax.
• Wings: Forewings are leathery tegmina; hindwings
membranous; anal lobe in hind wings is large and kept
folded fan like.
• Legs: In cockroaches all three pairs are similar and used for
running; in mantids forelegs are raptorial; tarsi 5 seg-
mented.
• Abdomen: Segmented anal cerci present.
• Development: Eggs are contained in ootheca (egg case);
nymphs resemble adults; development gradual
 ORDER : DICTYOPTERA
(Dictyon= network; ptera =wings)
Common names : Cockroaches and mantids
Cockroaches (S.O: Blattaria) Preying mantids (S.O: Mantodea)
1 Body flattened , dark coloured Usually elongate body : sometimes cylindrical :
prothorax elongate : colour bright or dark
2 Wings present in both sexes Reduced or absent in females
3 Legs cursorail (running) Forelegs raptorial; others cursorial
4 Pronotum large and shield like almost covers the Pronotum is large and elongate but does not cover
dorsum of head the head
5 Omnivorous in food habit Carnivorous (Predators)
6 Gizzard powerfully aimed with chitinous teeth to grind Gizzard not armed
food
7 No mimicry is noticed Mimic flowers and leaves
8 Head is not mobile in all directions Mobile in all directions
9 Female does not devour the male during mating Often (but not always) devours the male during
mating
10 Ocelli degenerate and present in the form of two Dorasl ocelli 0 to 3
fenestrae
11 Nocturnal, found in households, deadwood, litter etc. Found mostly outdoors
12 Economic importance: Impart a foul smell to the Predatory on moths , grass hoppers , caterpillars
dwelling place, Transmit diseases, Feed on food stuff, etc. and hence beneficial
papers, etc.
14 Blattidae: eg. Periplanata americana Mantidae: Eg. Mantis religiosa
 ORDER : DERMAPTERA
(derma - skin; ptera-wings) Common name: Earwigs

• Body: Elongate, usually dorsoventrally compressed

• Mouth parts: Chewing type.
• Antennae: Long, filiform.
• Eyes: Compound eyes present or absent; Ocelli absent
• Wings: tegmina (hence the order's name) hindwings
semicircular & ; it looks membranous like human ear
• Legs: 3 segmented tarsi.
• Abdomen: Not fully covered by wings; ovipositor reduced
or absent.
• Cerci: Forceps like highly sclerotized and unsegmented;
Cerci - straight in females and curved in males exhibiting
sexual dimorphism
• Forficula auricularia - damage flower and tender foliage.
• Euborellia annulipes - Common pest in groundnut pods.
 ORDER: EMBIOPTERA
(Embio-lively; ptera-wings) Embids, Web-spinners
• Body: Minute to small; soft bodied insects.
• Mouth parts: Chewing type.
• Eyes: Compound eyes present; Ocelli absent.
• Antennae: Filiform or setaceous.
• Wings: Exhibit sexual dimorphism in wings -
males of many species winged; females of all
species wingless. Both pairs of wings alike;
wings smoky.
• Legs: Basal tarsal segment of forelegs slightly
enlarged than the other two pairs. Fore tarsi
contains the silk glands with which they
construct silken tunnels to live in, Tarsi - 3
segmented.
• Abdomen: Long and flat; cerci asymmetrical
in males and symmetrical in females.
• e. g. Oligotoma seundersii
 ORDER: PSOCOPTERA
(Psoco -rub small; ptera- wings) (Psochos= dust like)
Common names: Book lice, bark lice

• Body: Minute soft bodied insects

• Mouth parts: Chewing; labial silk glands present.
• Eyes: Compound eyes prominent; Ocelli 3 in winged
forms and absent in wingless.
• Antennae: Long filiform.
• Wings: Membranous, held roof like at rest; forewings
larger than hind wings.
• Legs: Tarsi 2-3 segmented.
• Abdomen: 2-3 segmented cerci.
• Habits and life history: live under the bark of the
trees and in bird’s nest; some occur in paste of book
bindings, stored products, museum specimens, etc.
• Economic importance: (a) Carry fungal spores and
disseminate them. (b) feed on paper, stored products
and museum specimens and damage them.
 ORDER : MALLOPHAGA
(Mallo=wool; phaga=eat)
Common names: Chewing (or) biting lice or bird lice

• Mouth parts: Chewing.

• Antennae: Short and concealed.
• Eyes: Compound eyes reduced; Ocelli absent.
• Thorax: Prothorax free and not fused with
pterothorax
• Wings: Absent (secondarily apterous).
• Legs: With unsegmented or 2 segmented tarsi,
modified for clinging to the hair or feather;
usually with one or two claws.
• Abdomen: 7-10 segmented; cerci absent.
• Life history and habits
• Poultry lice
 ORDER: ANOPLURA / SIPHUNCULATA
(Anoplos- Unarmed; ura -tail)
Common name: Sucking lice (or) True lice

• Mouth parts: Piercing and sucking; retracted into head

when not feeding.
• Eyes: Compound eyes reduced or absent; Ocelli absent.
• Antennae: Short filiform; 3-5 segmented; visible externally.
• Thorax: All the three segments fused together.
• Legs: Tarsus 1-segmented; adapted for clinging to hairs
(single claw plus a thumb like tibial process)
• Wings: Lacking (secondarily apterous)
• Abdomen: 7-10 segmented; cerci absent
• Economic importance: Infestation with lice is called
Pediculosis.
• Crab louse or Pubic louse, Pthirus pubis
• Human head louse, Pediculus humanus
• Human body louse, Pediculus humanus corporis - transmits
diseases like relapsing fever, epidemic typhus, French
fever and murine typhus.