Insects Habit and Habitat
Insects have a wide range of habits and habitats. They are found everywhere lives are found and feed everything. In the following
1. Proturans (Coneheads) are always found in moist habitats usually in the humus and leaf mold of temperate deciduous forests. Both adults and immatures feed on organic matter released by decay matter.
2. Diplurans live in moist soil, leaf litter, or humus. Most diplura are predators; their diet probably includes a wide variety of other soil-dwellers. They may also survive on vegetable debris and fungal mycelia, but most species seem to prefer animal prey.
3. The springtails are among the most abundant of all soil-dwelling arthropods. They live in a variety of habitats where they feed as scavengers on decaying vegetation and soil fungi.
4. Silverfish are fast-running insects that hide under stones or leave during the day and emerge after dark to search for food. They are scavengers or browsers; they survive on a wide range of food, but seem to prefer a diet of algae, lichens, or starchy vegetable matter.
5. Dragonflies and damselflies are predaceous both as immatures and adults. The adults are quick, agile fliers that are generally considered beneficial because they feed on large numbers of small, flying insects like gnats and mosquitoes. Eggs are laid singly in fresh water; females often hover over open water and dip their abdomen as they oviposit.
6. Most living members of Orthoptera are terrestrial, herbivores with modified hind legs that are adapted for jumping. Many species have the ability to make and detect sounds. Orthoptera is one of the largest and most important groups of plant-feeding insects.
7. Termites and wood roaches are thought to be close relatives because they occupy similar habitats, share the same type of food resources, have the same intestinal symbionts, and provide care for their offspring. Termites are the only hemimetabolous insects that exhibit true social behavior.
8. Earwigs are mostly scavengers or herbivores that hide in dark recesses during the day and become active at night. They feed on a wide variety of plant or animal matter. A few species may be predatory. Females lay their eggs in the soil, and may guard them until they hatch. In most earwigs, the cerci at the end of the abdomen are enlarged and thickened to form pincers (forceps). These pincers are used in grooming, defense, courtship, and even to help fold the hind wings.
9. The cockroaches, often known as "water bugs", are scavengers or omnivores. They are most abundant in tropical or subtropical climates, but they also inhabit temperate and boreal regions. Some species are commonly found in close association with human dwellings where they are considered pests. Cockroaches have an oval, somewhat flattened body that is well-adapted for running and squeezing into narrow openings. Rather than flying to escape danger, roaches usually scurry into cracks or crevices. Much of the head and thorax is covered and protected dorsally by a large plate of exoskeleton (the pronotum).
10. Mantids have elongate bodies that are specialized for a predatory lifestyle. Long front legs with spines for catching and holding prey, a head that can turn from side to side, and cryptic coloration for hiding in foliage or flowers. Mantids are most abundant and most diverse in the tropics.
11. The leaf and stick insects are herbivores. As the name "walkingstick" implies, most phasmids are slender, cylindrical, and cryptically colored to resemble the twigs and branches on which they live. Members of the family Timemidae (=Phyllidae) bear a strong resemblance to leaves. Most walkingsticks are slow-moving insects, a behavior pattern that is consistent with their cryptic lifestyle. Stick insects are most abundant in the tropics. Females do not have a well-developed ovipositor so they cannot insert their eggs into host plant tissue like most other Orthoptera. Instead, the eggs are dropped singly onto the ground, sometimes from great heights.
12. The Heteroptera (true bugs) include a diverse assemblage of insects that have become adapted to a broad range of habitats- terrestrial, aquatic and semi-aquatic. Terrestrial species are often associated with plants. They feed in vascular tissues or on the nutrients stored within seeds. Other species live as scavengers in the soil or underground in caves or ant nests. Still others are predators on a variety of small arthropods. A few species even feed on the blood of vertebrates. Bed bugs, and other members of the family Cimicidae, live exclusively as ectoparasites on birds and mammals (including humans). Aquatic Heteroptera can be found on the surface of both fresh and salt water, near shorelines, or beneath the water surface in nearly all freshwater habitats. With only a few exceptions, these insects are predators of other aquatic organisms.
13. All aphids have piercing and sucking mouthparts and feed by withdrawing sap from vascular plants. As nymphs, they live underground and feed on the roots of trees and shrubs.
14. Thrips are generally small insects (under 3 mm). Most species feed on plant tissues, but some are predators of mites and various small insects (including other thrips).
15. Coleoptera (beetles and weevils) is the largest order in the class Insecta. They feed on a wide variety of diets, inhabit all terrestrial and fresh-water environments, and exhibit a number of different life styles. Many species are herbivores-variously adapted to feed on the roots, stems, leaves, or reproductive structures of their host plants. Some species live on fungi, others burrow into plant tissues, still others excavate tunnels in wood or under bark. Many beetles are predators. They live in the soil or on vegetation and attack a wide variety of invertebrate hosts. Some beetles are scavengers, feeding primarily on carrion, fecal material, decaying wood, or other dead organic matter. There are even a few parasitic beetles, some are internal parasites of other insects, some invade the nests of ants or termites, and some are external parasites of mammals.
16. Members of the order Hymenoptera can be regarded as ecological specialists. Most species are rather narrowly adapted to specific habitats and or specific hosts. Their remarkable success as a taxon probably has more to do with their immense range of behavioral adaptation rather than any physical or biochemical characteristic. The Hymenoptera is the only order besides the Isoptera (termites) to have evolved complex social systems with division of labor.
Herbivory is common in the gall wasps, and in some of the ants and bees. Most other Hymenoptera are predatory or parasitic. The greatest diversity, though, is found among the many families of parasitoid wasps whose larvae feed internally on the living tissues of other arthropods (or their eggs). These insects eventually kill their host, but not before completing their own larval development within its body. Despite their small size and characteristically narrow host range, these wasps are highly abundant and exert a tremendous impact on the population dynamics of many other insect species.
Most of the Hymenoptera have relatively unspecialized mandibulate mouthparts. An exception is found in the bees (superfamily Apidoidae) where the maxillae and labium are modified into a proboscis that works like a tongue to collect nectar from flowers. In these insects, the mandibles are used to gather or manipulate pollen and wax.
18. Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) is the second largest order in the class Insecta. Nearly all lepidopteran larvae are called caterpillars. Most lepidopteran larvae are herbivores; some species eat foliage, some burrow into stems or roots, and some are leaf-miners.
Adults are distinctive for their large wings relative to body size, which are covered with minute overlapping scales. Lepidopteran wing scales often produce distinctive color patterns that play an important role in courtship and intraspecific recognition.
Butterflies are diurnal, brightly colored, and have knobs or hooks at the tip of the antennae. At rest, the wings are held vertically over the body. Most moths are nocturnal. They are typically drab in appearance, and have thread-like, spindle-like, or comb-like antennae. At rest, their wings are held horizontally against the substrate, folded flat over the back, or curled around the body.
19. The order Diptera includes all true flies. These insects are distinctive because their hind wings are reduced to small, club-shaped structures called halteres - only the membranous front wings serve as aerodynamic surfaces. The halteres vibrate during flight and work much like a gyroscope to help the insect maintain balance.
All Dipteran larvae are legless. They live in aquatic (fresh water), semi-aquatic, or moist terrestrial environments. They are commonly found in the soil, in plant or animal tissues, and in carrion or dung- almost always where there is little danger of desiccation. Some species are herbivores, but most feed on dead organic matter or parasitize other animals, especially vertebrates, molluscs, and other arthropods. Adult flies live in a wide range of habitats and display enormous variation in appearance and life style.
20. As adults, all fleas are blood-sucking external parasites. Most species feed on mammals, although a few (less than 10%) live on birds. Only adult fleas inhabit the host's body and feed on its blood. Unlike lice, most fleas spend a considerable amount of time away from their host. Adults may live for a year or more and can survive for weeks or months without a blood meal.
Flea larvae are worm-like (vermiform) in shape with a sparse covering of bristles. They rarely live on the body of their host. Instead, they are usually found in its nest or bedding where they feed as scavengers on organic debris (including adult feces). In general, flea larvae can survive more arid conditions than most fly larvae. After a larval period that includes two molts, fleas pupate within a thin silken cocoon. Under favorable conditions, the life cycle can be completed in less than a month.
