General Entomology

The Biology of Insects

Arthropod (and insect) dominance

(comparisons of numbers of species)

Metazoans
(multicellular animals)
only:

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 GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE

Time Units of the Geologic Time Scale Development of

What sort of Eon Era Period Epoch Plants and Animals

Holocene
animals are Quaternary
Pleistocene
0.01

1.6
Earliest Homo sapiens

insects? Pliocene
5.3
Earliest hominids

Phanerozoic
Miocene

Cenozoic
23.8
Tertiary Oligocene “Age of Mammals”
33.7
Ediacaran pre-Cambrian fauna Eocene
55
Palaeocene Extinction of dinosaurs
65 and many other species
Cretaceous 145

Mesozoic
First flowering plants
Jurassic “Age First birds
208 of Dinosaurs dominant
Triassic Reptiles”
248 First mammals
Permian Extinction of trilobites and
286 many other marine animals

Carboniferous
Pennsylvanian “Age
of First reptiles
320 Amphibians” Large coal swamps
Mississippian Amphibians abundant

Palaeozoic
360
Devonian “Age First amphibians
410 of First insect fossils
Silurian Fishes Fishes dominant
438
Ordovician “Age First land plants
505 of First fishes
Cambrian Invertebrates” Trilobites dominant
545 First organisms with shells
“Soft-bodied
Vendian faunas” Abundant Ediacaran faunas
650
Metazoa First multicelled organisms
Archean Proterozoic

(35 phyla) Collectively called

Precambrian
2500 comprises
about 87% of the
geological time scale First one-celled organisms
Age of oldest rocks
3800
Hadean
4600 Ma Origin of the earth

Urmetazoan
Urmetazoan

(peanut)
(proboscis)

(horseshoe) (spoon)

Deuterostomes

Lophotrochozoa

(Siboglinidae)
= Lophotrochozoa
(moss)
= Ecdysozoa,
“molting animals”

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 Summary of changes to phylogeny of Metazoa,
based on nucleotide sequences of 18S rDNA
(from Aguinaldo et al….& Lake, 1997 – a “paradigm shift”)

Non-morphological characters:
-- Gene sequences/markers
• nuclear (& RFLPs, AFLPs, SNPs)
• mitochondrial
-- Haemocyanin & hexamerin

Priapulida
-- Homeobox (HOX) gene expression
• engrailed, distalless, wingless,
nubbin, & apterous
Pseudocoelomates -- Histones, ubiquitins, etc.

(a superphylum of molting animals)

Annelida Arthropoda Nematoda Nematomorpha Priapulida

GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE

Time Units of the Geologic Time Scale Development of

Eon Era Period Epoch Plants and Animals

Holocene
Quaternary 0.01
Earliest Homo sapiens
Pleistocene
Anomalocaris (Burgess Shale) Pliocene
1.6
Earliest hominids
mid-Cambrian, 510 my 5.3
Phanerozoic

Miocene
Cenozoic

23.8
Tertiary Oligocene “Age of Mammals”
33.7
Eocene
55
Palaeocene Extinction of dinosaurs
65 and many other species
Cretaceous 145
Mesozoic

First flowering plants

Jurassic “Age First birds
208 of Dinosaurs dominant
Triassic Reptiles”
248 First mammals
Permian Extinction of trilobites and
286 many other marine animals
Carboniferous

Pennsylvanian “Age
of First reptiles
320 Amphibians” Large coal swamps
Mississippian Amphibians abundant
Palaeozoic

360
Devonian “Age First amphibians
410 of First insect fossils
Silurian Fishes Fishes dominant
438
Ordovician “Age First land plants
Phylum Cambrian
505 of
Invertebrates”
First fishes
Trilobites dominant
545
Arthropoda Vendian
“Soft-bodied
faunas”
First organisms with shells
Abundant Ediacaran faunas
Metazoa 650
First multicelled organisms
Archean Proterozoic

Collectively called
Precambrian
2500 comprises
about 87% of the
geological time scale First one-celled organisms
Age of oldest rocks
3800
Hadean
4600 Ma Origin of the earth

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 “Panarthropoda” Tardigrada (“water bears”)
Cambrian? ~1150 species
Regular arthropods, plus:

Onychophora (“velvet worms”)

Cambrian; ~200 species

Peripatus sp.

• α-chitinous exoskeleton
• open circulatory system
• pericardial & perineural
sinuses
• embryological
development
• molecular markers

Aysheaia sp.
Burgess Shale: 510 my

Arthropoda – “jointed foot” (leg)

exoskeleton
(better at small body sizes)

endoskeleton
(better at larger body sizes)

sclerotized chitinous cuticle + epidermis

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 Arthropoda – major groups

hypothetical insect ancestor




 


Arthropoda: Trilobitomorpha †
~4000 species (Cambrian-Permian)
trilobed body

antennae

uniramous
limbs

tiny to huge:
1 mm to 90 cm (3 ft)

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 Arthropoda: Chelicerata
Pycnogonida (Sea Spiders) – Devonian-Present; ~1300 species

like trilobites,
tiny to huge:
1 mm to 90 cm

Chelicerates are defined by their front-most pincer-like

chelicerae and their pedipalps. Devonian fossil (400 mya)

Arthropoda: Chelicerata, continued:

Euchelicerata: Merostomata
Eurypterida † (Ordivician-Permian) Xiphosura (Cambrian-Present)
200 fossil species, some huge (>8 feet) 4 extant but many fossil species

carapace

compound
eye (!)

480 mya  250 mya

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 Arthropoda: Chelicerata, continued:
Euchelicerata: Arachnida 1, the Scorpion clade
Opiliones (harvestmen, daddy longlegs) Scorpiones (scorpions)
6500 species 1750 species; Silurian (430 mya)

pedipalp

Pseudoscorpiones (pseudoscorpions) Solpugida (Solfugae) (sun spiders)

3300 species 1000 species

Arthropoda: Chelicerata, continued:

Euchelicerata: Arachnida 2, the Tick clade
Acari or Acarina (ticks and mites) Ricinulei (ricinulids)
Devonian; Carboniferous; 60 species
50,000 species

350 mya

leaf galls

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 Arthropoda: Chelicerata, continued:
Euchelicerata: Arachnida 3, the Spider clade
Palpigradi (microwhip scorpions) Amblypygi (tailless whip scorpions) 140 species
80 species

Araneae (spiders) - U. Carboniferous; 40,000 species

300 mya

Arthropoda: Crustacea (67,000 species)

(mid Cambrian; relationships are very poorly understood)
Branchiopoda (brine shrimp) Maxillopoda (barnacles & copepods)

Daphnia

Remipedia

Mallocostraca
crabs & shrimp) Pentastomida

(???)
Ostracoda (ostracodes)
Decapoda

520 mya

Isopoda

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 Arthropoda: Myriapoda (Silurian, 430 mya)
Chilopoda (centipedes) 3000 species Diplopoda (millipedes) 12,000 species

uniramous
limbs

Symphyla (symphylans) 200 species Pauropoda (pauropods) 500 species

Phylogeny of myriapod classes/subclasses

Gai et al. 2006: nearly complete 28S & 18S rDNA

Myriapoda

“Uniramia”

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 hypothetical ancestral insect leg

tergum

wing exite
epicoxa
3rd leg of
Machilis
subcoxa (Archaeognatha)
exites
coxa

patella A “not so
trochanter
uniramous” limb
prefemur (after Kukalová-Peck 1987)
femur
tibia

pretarsus

tarsus

RELATIONSHIPS OF ARTHROPOD TAXA: CURRENT HYPOTHESES

Snodgrass, Weygoldt, Wägele, Wheeler et al. B. Zrzavý, Giribet et al.

Chelicerata Chelicerata
Crustacea Mandibulata Myriapoda Mandibulata
‘Myriapoda’ Crustacea
Atelocerata (Uniramia) Pancrustacea
Hexapoda Hexapoda
two traditional views

A. Turbeville et al., Friedrich & Tautz, Mallatt et al. Cisne, Briggs et al., Budd

Chelicerata Chelicerata
Paradoxopoda Schizoramia
Myriapoda Crustacea
Crustacea Myriapoda Atelocerata
Pancrustacea
Hexapoda Hexapoda (Uniramia)

Note : Atelocerata = Tracheata = Uniramia (more or less)

Second note:: Pancrustacea (Mallatt) = Tetraconata (Richter 2002)

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 Von Reumont et al. 2012.
Insects-from-Remipedia hypothesis

SUMMARY of PANCRUSTACEA (TETRACONOTA)

Autapomorphies:
• Lateral eye ultrastructure
• CNS ontogeny and function
• EF1-α and EF2 (nuclear) sequences
• SSU rRNA (small subunit) sequence
• LSU rRNA (large subunit) sequence
• Mitochondrial genome sequence
• Shared mitochondrial rearrangement

Hexapod sister group within Pancrustacea:

• Branchiopoda (Artemia, Daphnia) – some molecular studies
• Remipedia (blind) – recent molecular studies
• Malacostraca (crabs, shrimp) – brain anatomy
• Ostracoda (ostracods) – body plan

Included subphyla/classes:
• Crustacea
• Collembola
• Diplura Hexapoda
• Protura
• Insecta

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 GEOLOGIC TIME SCALE

Time Units of the Geologic Time Scale Development of

Eon Era Period Epoch Plants and Animals

Holocene
Quaternary 0.01
Earliest Homo sapiens
Pleistocene
1.6
Pliocene Earliest hominids
5.3

Phanerozoic
Miocene

Cenozoic
23.8
Tertiary Oligocene “Age of Mammals”
33.7
Eocene
55
Palaeocene Extinction of dinosaurs
65 and many other species
Cretaceous 145

Mesozoic
First flowering plants
Jurassic “Age First birds
208 of Dinosaurs dominant
Triassic Reptiles”
248 First mammals
Permian Extinction of trilobites and
286 many other marine animals

Carboniferous
Pennsylvanian “Age
of First reptiles
320 Amphibians” Large coal swamps
Mississippian Amphibians abundant

Palaeozoic
360
Devonian “Age First amphibians
410 of Fishes dominant
Silurian Fishes
Insecta 438
First insect fossils
First land plants
Ordovician “Age
505 of First fishes
Cambrian Invertebrates” Trilobites dominant
First organisms with shells
Arthropoda Vendian
545
“Soft-bodied
faunas” Abundant Ediacaran faunas
Metazoa Archean Proterozoic
650
First multicelled organisms

Collectively called
Precambrian
2500 comprises
about 87% of the
geological time scale First one-celled organisms
Age of oldest rocks
3800
Hadean
4600 Ma Origin of the earth

1. Tripartite Tagmosis

Six shared
specializations
of true Insecta

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 2. Trignathous, ectognathous mouthparts

1.

2.

3.

flagellum
pedicel
scape
3. Antennae with
no intrinsic muscles
muscles
past the pedicel

9 tip of insect abdomen

10
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4. Non glandular cerci:
(singular = cercus)

5. No anamorphosis:
(i.e., epimorphic development

terminal segment
added at each molt

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 6. “Amniotic” Egg
Blastoderm Serosa
Yolk

Germ Amnion
band
amniotic fold amniotic cavity Yolk

Genduara punctigera
Lepidoptera: Lasiocampidae)

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