Identifying Insects

Insects are among the most diverse group of living organisms on the earth. These small creatures belong to the class insecta in phylum arthropoda. Insects are characterized by features, like, exoskeleton, three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes, body with three parts (head, abdomen and thorax) and two antennae. While most of the insects have all these physical features, some may have modified body parts, so as to help them adapt to their environment. Some insects develop wings during specific stages, but, some others possess this appendage throughout their adult life. While some insects walk, others may jump, fly, swim or walk over water. However, studies show that there are over eight million species of insects on the earth, and these creatures amount to about half the number of total living organisms.

Insects and Humans

In general, like any other living organism, insects are very necessary for the proper functioning of the ecosystem. These creatures play a vital role in pollinating flowers, aerating soil, controlling pests and decomposing dead materials. In short, some types of insects are harmful to humans, but, there are insects, like, bees (for honey) and silk moths (producing silk), which are beneficial for mankind. The presence of some insects in large numbers can be harmful for humans in many ways. While some insects damage their crops, insect bites can also prove to be dangerous in some cases. Insects like mosquitoes and fleas can transmit diseases to humans, pets and livestock. Termites can cause damage to the constructions made by humans. So, a basic idea about identifying insects can prove beneficial in various ways. Most of the pest control measures are targeted at specific insects, which makes identifying bugs or insects mandatory. In some cases of insect bites, treatment maybe specific for bites inflicted by a particular insect. For example, the stings inflicted by jack jumper ant of Australia can be life-threatening, and the treatment is an antivenin specifically developed for treating such stings. The above mentioned are only a few examples. There are various such situations, which are unavoidable, due to the wide variety and huge number of insects on earth. Otherwise too, you may develop a fancy for insects and start studying about these fascinating creatures. Now, you know that identifying insects in the home or garden can prove beneficial.

How to Identify Insects

Insects in one region may or may not be present in another. While there are insects, which can be found in almost all parts of the world, some are endemic to specific regions. In the first case also, it may happen that different species occupy different regions, rather than a single species covering the whole world. So, in order to study these creatures in your region, you must have a basic idea about the commonly found insects in your area, which include seasonal ones too. The first step in identifying insects is to determine whether it is an insect or not. Check for the basic characteristics of an insect, like, six legs, one pair of antennae, body with three parts and compound eyes. There are various types of insects with different characteristics. If the insect, about which you want to know has more than one of the above said characteristics, it can be an insect. If you want to know further you have to conduct a deeper study about insects and their characteristics. The following paragraph about insect classification may help you in this task.

Insect Classification

Insects are basically divided into two subclasses - Apterygota (wingless insects) and Pterygota (winged insects). While Apterygota consists of fours orders (Thysanura, Diplura, Protura and Collembola), Pterygota has two subdivisions - Eopterygota and Endopterygota. Exopterygota consists of sixteen orders and Endopterygota has nine orders. The following are some of the insects that comes under the above said orders.

Order	Common Name	Characteristics
Thysanura	Bristletails (600 species - e.g.: silverfish and firebrat)	Small insects, compound eyes, very long and threadlike antennae, wingless
Diplura	Two-pronged bristletails (400 species - e.g.: Campodea staphylinus and Japyx)	Small insects, compound eyes, very long and thread-like antennae with many segments, wingless, no eyes, biting mouthparts
Protura	No common name (70 species - e.g.: Acerentomon doderoi)	Minute wingless insects, lack eyes and antennae, piercing or sucking mouth parts
Collembola	Springtails (2000 species - e.g.: green springtail)	Small wingless insects with 4 - 6 antennal segments, biting mouthparts, dense hair or scales covering the body
Ephemeroptera	Mayflies (2100 species - e.g.: Ephemera danica and Cloeon dipterum)	Soft body with large eyes, very short antennae, atrophied mouthparts, membranous wings with many veins, hind pair small or even absent
Odonata	Dragonflies and Damselflies (4500 species - e.g.: large red damselfly, southern hawker dragonfly)	Large winged brightly colored insects, elongated bodies, large and prominent eyes, small and filamentous antennae, biting mouth parts, two pairs of narrow and shiny wings
Plecoptera	Stoneflies (3000 species - e.g.: Perla burmeisteriana)	Soft body, long thread-like antennae, weak biting mouthparts, membranous wings, hind wings larger than front ones
Grylloblattodea	No common name (6 species - e.g.: Grylloblatta chirurgica)	Wingless with eyes reduced or absent, long and filamentous antennae, biting mouth parts
Orthoptera	Crickets, Grasshoppers and Locusts (17000 species - e.g.: field cricket, Jerusalem cricket, desert locust )	Biting mouth parts, enlarged hind legs modified for jumping, two pairs of wings and the front pair tough and leathery. Some members are wingless too
Phasmida	Stick Insects and Leaf Insects (2000 species - e.g.: walking stick, Javanese leaf insect)	Large, wingless insects, very slender and twig-like body, some members are flattened and leaf-like, long and filamentous antennae that resemble twigs, flat species have short antennae, biting mouth parts
Dermaptera	Earwigs (1000 species - e.g.: common earwig)	Elongate insects, biting mouth parts, long and slender antenae, large, membranous semi-circular hind wings with fore wings modified into short, leathery wing-cases
Embioptera	Web-spinners (170 species - e.g.: Haploembia solieri)	Long, segmented and filamentous antennae, biting mouth parts, two pairs of wings, some species with reduced or flat wings, long spiny legs
Isoptera	Termites or White Ants (2000 species - e.g.: Yellow-necked termite)	Social insects living in large communities that consist of several forms of insects, soft-bodied, pale-colored, biting mouth parts, powerful jaws.
Zoraptera	No common name (16 Zorotypus species - e.g.: Zorotypus swezeyi)	Very minute insects (less than 3 mm in length), mostly live under bark, in decaying wood and humus, thick antennae with large, distinct segments, biting and chewing mouth parts, both winged and wingless species
Psocoptera	Psocids or Book lice (2000 species - e.g.: book louse or dust louse, bark louse)	Small, soft-bodied insects, two pairs of membranous wings or wingless, broad head, long filamentous antennae and biting mouth parts, large, protruding eyes
Mallophaga	Biting Lice (3000 species - e.g.: bird louse)	Small, wingless insects, usually live as external parasites on birds or mammals, broad head, flat body, very small eyes, short and concealed antennae, modified biting type mouth parts
Siphunculata or Anoplura	Sucking lice (500 species - e.g.: human louse, human crab louse)	Small, wingless insects, live as external parasites on mammals, narrow head, very minute or no eyes, short antennae, modified mouth parts for piercing and blood-sucking, flat bodies
Hemiptera	True Bugs (70000 species - e.g.: white flies, scale insects, capsid bugs, bed bugs)	Small to large sized insects, different shapes and habits, piercing mouthparts adapted for sucking the juices of plants or animals, long antennae, two pairs or wings or wingless
Thysanoptera	Thrips (5000 species - e.g.: pea thrips)	Minute insects, slender body, mostly found in flowers, short antennae, piercing and sucking mouth parts, a pair of very narrow wings, many species are wingless
Neuroptera	Lacewings, Alder Flies and Snake Flies (5000 species - e.g.: ant-lion, lacewing, snake fly)	Small to large and soft-bodied insects, two pairs of similar wings, long and thread-like antennae, biting mouth parts, carnivorous larvae
Coleoptera	Beetles (350000 species - e.g.: Colorado beetle, diving beetle, rove beetle)	Minute to large insects, forewings modified into hard wing-cases membranous hind wings (vestigial or absent in many species), biting type mouth parts, complex metamorphosis, diverse larval stages with biting jaws
Strepsiptera	Stylopids or Stylops (400 species - e.g.: Elenchus tenuicornis)	Minute insects (less than 5 mm in length), parasitic females and young ones, which live inside the bodies of other insects, females with no eyes, antennae or legs
Mecoptera	Scorpion Flies (300 species - e.g.: common scorpion fly, winter scorpion fly)	Soft-bodied insects, head is prolonged downwards into a beak, biting jaws at the lower end of head, long and thread-like antennae, large eyes, two similar pairs of wings (there are wingless species too)
Siphonaptera	Fleas (1800 species - e.g.: dog flea)	Very small, wingless insects, adults live as external parasites of warm-blooded animals (birds and mammals). Body flattened at both sides, inconspicuous eyes and antennae, skin piercing and blood-sucking mouth parts, long hind legs for jumping, complex metamorphosis
Diptera	True Flies (90000 species - e.g.: crane-fly, hover-fly)	Small to moderate-sized insects, hindwings serve as balancing organs or halteres, one pair of membranous wings (some are wingless and parasitic), large eyes, mouth parts like a proboscis for sucking liquid food and for piercing
Lepidoptera	Butterflies and Moths (2500 species - e.g.: small white butterfly, peacock butterfly, death's head hawk moth)	Small to very large insects, two pairs of brightly-colored wings, large eyes, long antennae, long and coiled mouth parts like sucking tube (called the proboscis), complex metamorphosis
Trichoptera	Caddis Flies (6000 species - e.g.: limnephilid caddis fly)	Moth-like insects, two pairs of wings densely covered with tiny hair, dull brownish or grayish insects, flying at dusk, very long and thread-like antennae, biting mouth parts, a complex metamorphosis, aquatic young stages
Hymenoptera	Sawflies, wasps, ants and bees (6500 species - e.g.: horntail, pine sawfly, common wasp, yellow garden ant, hive bee)	Minute to moderate-sized insects, two pairs of membranous wings, larger front wings, wings attached by a row of small hooks on the front edge of the hind wing, large eyes, thread-like antennae, biting mouth parts, powerful jaws

Identifying insects can be a very difficult task, as there are millions of species with different physical features. So, once you are sure that what you have found is an insect, then study the physical features. Then you can find the type of insect from relevant and authentic books or from websites.