Portal:Entomology
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Entomology, the study of insects, is an area of biology and ecology that people encounter on a daily basis, often without even giving it a second thought. Insects themselves make up a huge proportion of known animal species, with over a million described species. Their interactions with humans occur on a number of different levels and influence areas including agriculture, medicine, food, recreation, and art. Entomologists who study these insects are found in occupations ranging from the military and hospitals to research and teaching positions to exterminators and crop consultants. Familiarity with and understanding of insects through the field of entomology is necessary for human life as we currently know it.
Hemipterans are hemimetabolous, meaning that they do not undergo metamorphosis between a larval phase and an adult phase. Instead, their young are called nymphs, and resemble the adults to a large degree, the final transformation involving little more than the development of functional wings (if they are present at all) and functioning sexual organs, with no intervening pupal stage as in holometabolous insects.
Most hemipterans are phytophagous, feeding on plant sap, such as aphids, scale insects and cicadas. A few, however, are parasites, feeding on the blood of larger animals. These include bedbugs and the kissing bugs of the family Reduviidae, which can transmit potentially deadly Trypanosoma infections. Others are predatores, feeding upon smaller insects.
Francis Walker (July 31, 1809 - October 5, 1874) was an English entomologist. Walker was employed by the British Museum between 1844 and 1873. He described a great number of new insects, but unfortunately he was, sometimes, a careless taxonomist, often describing the same species more than once under different specific names. In this respect, however, he was no worse than many continental entomologists. He was born in Southgate, England on 1 July 1809 and died at Wanstead, England October 5, 1874. Walker added an immense amount of material to the collections of the British Museum and wrote 87 scientific papers. He is best known for his catalogues of Orthoptera, Neuroptera, Homoptera, Diptera, Lepidoptera and Hymenoptera.
- Charles Darwin was an avid collector of beetles?
- The habit of eating insects is called Entomophagy?
- A certain species of stick insect is known to grow to lengths of up to 21.9 inches?
- Insects first appear in the fossil record some 318 million years ago at the beginning of the Late Carboniferous period?
- Entomology as an academic discipline didn't begin to develop until approximately the middle of the 17th century?
A foraging bee photographed in mid air flight.
Portal:Entomology/Things you can do
- Categories of Entomology
- Categories of Insects
Other related Categories: Agriculture - Epidemiology - Natural History - Collecting - Taxonomy - Organic Farming - Toxicology - Invasive Species - Evolution - Arthropods - Academic Disciplines - Biology - Ecology -
| “ | Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! | ” |
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— Proverbs, 6:6, NIV |
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| “ | If you step on people in this life, you're going to come back as a cockroach. | ” |
| “ | The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough. | ” |
Portal:Entomology/Entomology topics
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