Ent. 105
Lab Practical review
1. What magnification power is this scope set at?
2. What is this and what kinds of insects would you collect with it?
This is a Berlese funnel and you collect insects in dirt or leaf litter with it.
3. What order is this and what morphological trait separates this order from the
Hymenoptera?
This is a fly in the order Diptera and it has one pair of wings instead of two.
4. What order is this and what kind of legs do all members of this order have?
This is a grasshopper in the order Orthoptera and it has saltatorial hind legs for jumping.
5. What is a type specimen?
A type specimen is the first specimen ever named. The “name-bearing” prototype for the
species.
6. Bridget goes collecting and finds several soft-bodied specimens. Which one of these
will she use to preserve them?
All soft-bodied specimens are preserved in alcohol.
7. What order is this? Name one product produced by this species other than honey?
This is a honey bee in the order Hymenoptera. Bees also produce beeswax, propolis, and
royal jelly.
8. Which one of these substances is sweeter? Why?
Honey is sweeter because the water has been removed and the sucrose has been broken
down into its component sugars – glucose and frustoce.
9. Emerson goes to Disco Stu’s party in full leisure suit glory, and he accidentally lights
himself on fire. Here’s a piece of fabric taken from the scene. Is it silk, why or why not?
The fabric was polyester, not silk. You can tell by the fact that it’s flammable, silk is
self-extinguishing and will not burn or melt.
10. Here are some examples of mordants. Why do we use them in tie-dying?
A mordant is a fixative that fixes the dye to the cloth. Mordants can also affect the color
of the dye.
11. Why might people allergic to shellfish also be allergic to chocolate?
Chocolate has lots of insect parts in it from insects being attracted to the sugars while it’s
being made. Shellfish are also arthropods, and so are closely related to insects and have
many of the same proteins.
12. What order does this edible insect belong to?
These are silkworm pupae in the order Lepidoptera.
13. What order is this in? What kind of forelegs does it have?
This is a preying mantis in the order Dictyoptera. It has raptorial forelegs for catching
prey.
14. An IB 109 student desperate for extra credit, spends hours watching a predatory
insect hunt prey and draws two functional response curves from the results. Which graph
do you think has search and handling time factored in?
The S-shaped curve on the right has search and handling time factored in.
15. How can you tell if an insect if producing sound for defense or courtship?
Insects that produce sound upon provocation – touch, light, air – are doing it for defense.
Insects that make sound regardless, or only when the opposite sex is present, are doing it
for courtship.
16. What function do these serve in the males of this species?
These antennae are used by male moths to locate females by smelling and following their
sex pheromones.
17. Name the order of Drosophila melanogaster and describe how you generate mutants.
Drosophila are in the order Diptera. You can make mutants with radiation or mutagenic
chemicals.
18. What kind of mimicry system are these two species in? How is this system different
from another mimicry system?
The Monarch and Viceroy butterflies are Mullerian mimics because they are both
poisonous. If only one was toxic and the other species palatable then the system would
be Batesian.
19. Name and describe one disease of honeybees.
Honey bees can suffer from foul brood – a bacteria that turns larvae into gooey sacks.
Chalk brood that is fungus that turns larvae into chalky mummies.
And Sac brood that is a virus that also turns larvae into gooey sacks.
20. How do beekeepers calm honeybees, and give one reason why this may work.
Bee keepers calm bees with smoke. This may work by either blocking bees olfactory
receptors on their antennae so they cannot smell alarm pheromones, or by tricking the
bees into thinking that there is a fire nearby so they start gorging themselves on honey to
save it from being lost.
21. How does this insect breathe in its environment?
This is a water boatman that uses a physical gill to breathe underwater. It grabs a bubble
of air at the surface and carries it while swimming. Oxygen will diffuse into it from the
surrounding water as the insect uses it up.
22. What kind of environment does this species larval form live in? How does it
breathe/move?
This is a dragonfly and its larval form is aquatic. Dragonfly larvae breathe through rectal
or tracheal gills located in their rectum. It sucks water into its rectum, oxygen passes into
the body while carbon dioxide passes out. The larva then squeezes the water out very
fast, allowing it to move in the opposite direction in a jet propulsion system.
23. Name one mosquito control method advocated by the videos we saw in class?
The videos recommended removing objects where water collects, spraying pesticides,
using mosquito netting around beds, covering up skin, wearing repellent, and destroying
habitats.
24. What order is this? What kind of disease might it spread?
This is a flea in the order Siphonaptera. It can vector plague.
25. This poor creature was found near a farm in Savoy. Which order of insects will be
found on it first, and what kind of cues did they use to locate it?
Diptera will be attracted to the body first and they will locate it through olfaction.
26. How might cold weather affect a forensic entomologist’s estimate of time of death?
Cold weather can slow insect growth. The forensic entomologist will need to add a few
days to their time estimate then, or they will be underestimating how long something has
been dead.