Economic entomology
Encyclopedia
Economic entomology is a field of entomology
, which involves the study of insects that are of benefit or those that cause harm to humans, domestic animals, and crops
. Insects that cause losses are termed as pests. Some species can cause indirect damage by spreading diseases and these are termed as vectors. Those that are beneficial include those reared for food such as honey
, substances such as lac
or pigments and for their role in pollinating
crops and controlling pests.
described the role of predatory insects in protecting crops from insect pests and ....to be continued
In the 18th century many works were published on agriculture.Many contained accounts of pest insects. In France Claude Sionnest
(1749–1820) was a notable figure.
The most able exponent of this subject in Great Britain
was John Curtis
, whose treatise Farm Insects, published in 1860, was once the standard British work dealing with the insect pests of corn, roots, grass and stored corn. The most important works dealing with fruit and other pests were by Saunders, Joseph Albert Lintner
, Charles Valentine Riley
, Mark Vernon Slingerland and others in America and Canada. In Europe the earliest works were by Ernst Ludwig Taschenberg
, Sven Lampa
(1839–1914), Enzio Rafael Reuter
(1867–1951) and Vincenze Kollar
. Charles French
(1842–1933), Walter Wilson Froggatt
(1858–1937) and Henry Tryon (1856–1943) pioneered in Australia. It was not until the last quarter of the 19th century that any real advance was made in the study of economic entomology. Among the early writings, besides the book of Curtis, there was also a publication by Pohl and Kollar, entitled Insects Injurious to Gardeners, Foresters and Farmers, published in 1837, and Taschenberg's Praktische Insecktenkunde.During the 19th century Italian
entomologists made significant progress in controlling diseases of the Silk moth which supported the silk
industry, in the control of agricultural pests and in stored product entomology.Significant figures were: Agostino Bassi
( 1773–1856), Camillo Róndani
(1808–1879), Adolfo Targioni Tozzetti
(1823–1902),Pietro Stefanelli (1835, 1919), Camillo Acqua
(1863–1936) Antonio Berlese
(1863–1927), Gustavo Leonardi
(1869–1918) and Enrico Verson
(1845–1927).In France Etienne Laurent Joseph Hippolyte Boyer de Fonscolombe
, Charles Jean-Baptiste Amyot
, Émile Blanchard
, Valéry Mayet
and Claude Charles Goureau
were early workers as was Jean Victoire Audouin
the author of Histoire des insectes nuisibles à la vigne et particulièrement de la Pyrale, Philippe Alexandre Jules Künckel d'Herculais
and Jean-Étienne Girard
.American literature began as far back as 1788, when a report on the Hessian fly
was issued by Sir Joseph Banks; in 1817 Thomas Say
began his writings; while in 1856 Asa Fitch
started his report on Noxious Insects of New York. Also in America, Matthew Cooke wrote Treatise on the Insects Injurious to Fruit and Fruit Trees of the State of California, and Remedies Recommended for Their Extermination, published in 1881.The Englishman Frederick Vincent Theobald
wrote A text-book of agricultural zoology in 1890.It became a standard text worldwide.
, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, extending from 1878 to his death, in which is embodied an enormous amount of valuable material. At his death the work fell to Professor Leland Ossian Howard
, in the form of Bulletin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The chief writings of J. A. Lintner extend from 1882 to 1898, in yearly parts, under the title of Reports on the Injurious Insects of the State of New York. Another significant contributor to the entomological literature of the United states was Charles W. Woodworth
.The Florida
entomologist Wilmon Newell
was a pioneer of pest control as was Clarence Preston Gillette
.In India Thomas Bainbrigge Fletcher
, who succeeded Harold Maxwell-Lefroy
and Lionel de Nicéville
as the first Imperial Entomologist, wrote Some South Indian insects and other animals of importance considered especially from an economic point of view, an influential work in the subcontinent.In France Alfred Balachowsky
was a key figure.
In the last quarter of the 20th century new techniques were pioneered and new theories developed, for instance Integrated Pest Management
by Ray F. Smith.
, Plecoptera
(stoneflies), Embioptera
(webspinners), Trichoptera
(caddisflies), Neuroptera
(in the broad sense), and Mecoptera
(also, the tiny groups Zoraptera
, Grylloblattodea, and Mantophasmatodea
). Conversely, of course, essentially all insect orders primarily have members which are beneficial, in some respects, with the exception of Phthiraptera (lice), Siphonaptera (fleas), and Strepsiptera
, the three orders whose members are exclusively parasitic.
Insects are considered as pests for a variety of reasons including their
Examples
See also
In the past entomologists working on pest insects attempted to eradicate species. This has rarely worked except in islands or controlled environments and raises ethical issues. Over time the language has changed to terms like control and management. The indiscriminate use of toxic and persistent chemicals and the resurgence of pests in the history of cotton growing in the US has been particularly well studied.
Honey
is perhaps the most economically valuable product from insects. Apiculture is a commercial enterprise in most parts of the world and many forest tribes have been dependent on honey as a major source of nutrition. Honeybees can also act as pollinators of crop species. Many predators and parasitoid insects are encouraged and augmented in modern agriculture.
Silk
is extracted from both reared caterpillars as well as from the wild (producing wild silk
). Sericulture
deals with the techniques for efficient silkworm rearing and silk production. Although new fabric materials have substituted silk in many applications, it continues to be the material of choice for surgical sutures.
Lac
was once extracted from scale insects but is now replaced by synthetic substitutes. The dye extracted from cochineal
insects was similarly replaced by technological advances.
The idea of insects as human food, entomophagy
, has been proposed as a solution to meet the growing demand for food, but has not gained widespread acceptance.
Entomology
Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of arthropodology...
, which involves the study of insects that are of benefit or those that cause harm to humans, domestic animals, and crops
Crop (agriculture)
A crop is a non-animal species or variety that is grown to be harvested as food, livestock fodder, fuel or for any other economic purpose. Major world crops include maize , wheat, rice, soybeans, hay, potatoes and cotton. While the term "crop" most commonly refers to plants, it can also include...
. Insects that cause losses are termed as pests. Some species can cause indirect damage by spreading diseases and these are termed as vectors. Those that are beneficial include those reared for food such as honey
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
, substances such as lac
Lac
Lac is the scarlet resinous secretion of a number of species of insects, namely some of the species of the genera Metatachardia, Laccifer, Tachordiella, Austrotacharidia, Afrotachardina, and Tachardina of the superfamily Coccoidea, of which the most commonly cultivated species is Kerria lacca.The...
or pigments and for their role in pollinating
Pollinator
A pollinator is the biotic agent that moves pollen from the male anthers of a flower to the female stigma of a flower to accomplish fertilization or syngamy of the female gamete in the ovule of the flower by the male gamete from the pollen grain...
crops and controlling pests.
Early Workers
Economic entomology began in China where in 1061 Shen KuoShen Kuo
Shen Kuo or Shen Gua , style name Cunzhong and pseudonym Mengqi Weng , was a polymathic Chinese scientist and statesman of the Song Dynasty...
described the role of predatory insects in protecting crops from insect pests and ....to be continued
Claude Sionnest
Claude Sionnest was a French naturalist. Born in a family which had traded as pharmacists for two centuries Claude Sionnest had an early interest in natural sciences....
(1749–1820) was a notable figure.
19th Century
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
was John Curtis
John Curtis (entomologist)
John Curtis was an English entomologist and illustrator.-Biography:Curtis was born in Norwich and learned his engraving skills in the workshop of his father, Charles Morgan Curtis...
, whose treatise Farm Insects, published in 1860, was once the standard British work dealing with the insect pests of corn, roots, grass and stored corn. The most important works dealing with fruit and other pests were by Saunders, Joseph Albert Lintner
Joseph Albert Lintner
Joseph Albert Lintner was an American entomologist. He held the position of State Entomologist from 1881 following the creation of this post by the federal government. He served until 1898...
, Charles Valentine Riley
Charles Valentine Riley
Charles Valentine Riley was a British-born American entomologist and artist.-Early Life:The son of a Church of England minister, Charles Valentine Riley was born on 19 September, 1843 in London’s Chelsea district. When he was around eleven his parents, the Rev. Charles and Mary Riley, chose to...
, Mark Vernon Slingerland and others in America and Canada. In Europe the earliest works were by Ernst Ludwig Taschenberg
Ernst Ludwig Taschenberg
Ernst Ludwig Taschenberg was a German entomologist.-Life:After 1836 Taschenberg studied mathematics and natural sciences in Leipzig and Berlin.He went, then, as an auxiliary teacher to the Franckesche Stiftungen and dedicated himself to arranging the important beetle collection of professor ...
, Sven Lampa
Sven Lampa
Sven Lampa was a Swedish entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera.He wrote Förteckning öfver Skandinaviens och Finlands Macrolepidoptera. Ent. Tidskr. 6: 1–137. 9 ....
(1839–1914), Enzio Rafael Reuter
Enzio Rafael Reuter
Enzio Rafael Reuter was a Finnish entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera.He wrote. Über die Palpen der Rhopalocera. Ein Beitrag zur Erkenntnis der verwandtschaftlichen Beziehungen unter den Tagfaltern...
(1867–1951) and Vincenze Kollar
Vincenze Kollar
Vincenz Kollar was an Austrian entomologist who specialised in Diptera. He was especially concerned with species of economic interest, particularly those of forests. Kollar described many new species. He was Curator of the Natural History Museum in Vienna...
. Charles French
Charles French (entomologist)
Charles French was an Australian horticulturist, naturalist, entomologist and plant/seed collector who made significant contributions to economic entomology.-Early life:...
(1842–1933), Walter Wilson Froggatt
Walter Wilson Froggatt
Walter Wilson Froggatt was an Australian economic entomologist.-Early life:Froggatt was born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of George Wilson Froggatt, an English architect, and his wife Caroline, daughter of Giacomo Chiosso, who came from a noble Italian family...
(1858–1937) and Henry Tryon (1856–1943) pioneered in Australia. It was not until the last quarter of the 19th century that any real advance was made in the study of economic entomology. Among the early writings, besides the book of Curtis, there was also a publication by Pohl and Kollar, entitled Insects Injurious to Gardeners, Foresters and Farmers, published in 1837, and Taschenberg's Praktische Insecktenkunde.During the 19th century Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
entomologists made significant progress in controlling diseases of the Silk moth which supported the silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
industry, in the control of agricultural pests and in stored product entomology.Significant figures were: Agostino Bassi
Agostino Bassi
Agostino Bassi, sometimes called de Lodi, was an Italian entomologist. He preceded Louis Pasteur in the discovery that microorganisms can be the cause of disease...
( 1773–1856), Camillo Róndani
Camillo Róndani
Camillo Róndani was an Italian entomologist noted for his studies of Diptera.-Early years:When Camillo Róndani was born in Parma the city was part of the French Empire Napoleon having crowned himself King of Italy...
(1808–1879), Adolfo Targioni Tozzetti
Adolfo Targioni Tozzetti
Adolfo Targioni Tozzetti was an Italian entomologist who specialised in Homoptera. He was Professor of Botany and Zoology in Florence, associated with Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze where his collection remains today at La Specola...
(1823–1902),Pietro Stefanelli (1835, 1919), Camillo Acqua
Camillo Acqua
Camillo Acqua was an Italian entomologist, born 30 August 1863 at Velletri near Rome, Italy. He died 25 March 1936 at Ascoli Piceno.Camillo Acqua was Directeur de l’Instituto Bacologico at Portici then at Stazione Sperimentale di Gelsicoltura e Bachicoltura at Ascoli...
(1863–1936) Antonio Berlese
Antonio Berlese
Antonio Berlese was an Italian entomologist.Berlese worked on pest insects notably of fruit trees...
(1863–1927), Gustavo Leonardi
Gustavo Leonardi
Gustavo Leonardi was an Italianentomologist.Leonardi was an entomology assistant in the universities of Padua and Portici before becoming a plant disease inspector at Vintimille. He wrote 45 publications on pest insects, such as Monografia delle Cocciniglie italiane...
(1869–1918) and Enrico Verson
Enrico Verson
Enrico Verson was an Italian entomologist,A physician, Verson worked initially at the experimental station of Gorigia before founding the first research station on the silkworm in the world, the Stazione Bacologica Sperimentale in 1871...
(1845–1927).In France Etienne Laurent Joseph Hippolyte Boyer de Fonscolombe
Etienne Laurent Joseph Hippolyte Boyer de Fonscolombe
Etienne Laurent Joseph Hippolyte Boyer de Fonscolombe was a French entomologist who specialised in Coleoptera and Hymenoptera and pest insects....
, Charles Jean-Baptiste Amyot
Charles Jean-Baptiste Amyot
Charles Jean-Baptiste Amyot was a French lawyer and entomologist especially interested in Hemiptera....
, Émile Blanchard
Émile Blanchard
Charles Émile Blanchard was a French zoologist and entomologist.Blanchard was born in Paris. His father was an artist and naturalist and Émile began natural history very early in life. When he was 14 years old, Jean Victoire Audouin , allowed him access to the laboratory of the Muséum national...
, Valéry Mayet
Valéry Mayet
Valéry Mayet was a French entomologist. He was professor of zoology in Montpellier at the French National School of Agriculture, École nationale d'agriculture.-Publications:...
and Claude Charles Goureau
Claude Charles Goureau
Claude Charles Goureau was a French soldier and entomologist.In 1808, he entered L’École Polytechnique training there until 1810. He then spent two years at “L’école du génie” a Military Academy in Metz where he was awarded the rank of second lieutenant...
were early workers as was Jean Victoire Audouin
Jean Victoire Audouin
thumb|Victor AudouinJean Victoire Audouin , sometimes Victor Audouin, was a French naturalist, an entomologist, ornithologist and malacologist.Audouin was born in Paris and studied medicine...
the author of Histoire des insectes nuisibles à la vigne et particulièrement de la Pyrale, Philippe Alexandre Jules Künckel d'Herculais
Philippe Alexandre Jules Künckel d'Herculais
Philippe Alexandre Jules Künckel d'Herculais was a French entomologist.He was the nephew of the French chemist Théophile-Jules Pelouze and the son of a doctor. He lost his father when he was two years old. After his baccalauré in 1860, he entered École des mines in 1861...
and Jean-Étienne Girard
Jean-Étienne Girard
Maurice Jean Auguste Girard was a French entomologist.Girard entered École normale supérieurein 1844. In 1847 he taught physics in Périgueux. After having obtained his agrégation, he left for Dijon where he taught from 1853 to 1873...
.American literature began as far back as 1788, when a report on the Hessian fly
Hessian fly
The hessian fly or barley midge, Mayetiola destructor, is a species of fly that is a significant pest of cereal crops including wheat, barley and rye. Though a native of Asia it was transported into Europe and later into North America, supposedly in the straw bedding of Hessian troops during the...
was issued by Sir Joseph Banks; in 1817 Thomas Say
Thomas Say
Thomas Say was an American naturalist, entomologist, malacologist, herpetologist and carcinologist. A taxonomist, he is often considered to be the father of descriptive entomology in the United States. He described more than 1,000 new species of beetles and over 400 species of insects of other...
began his writings; while in 1856 Asa Fitch
Asa Fitch
Dr. Asa Fitch Dr. Asa Fitch Dr. Asa Fitch (February 24, 1809 – April 8, 1879. His early studies were of both natural history and medicine, which he studied at the newly formed Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, graduating in 1827. However, in 1838 he decided to start studying agriculture and...
started his report on Noxious Insects of New York. Also in America, Matthew Cooke wrote Treatise on the Insects Injurious to Fruit and Fruit Trees of the State of California, and Remedies Recommended for Their Extermination, published in 1881.The Englishman Frederick Vincent Theobald
Frederick Vincent Theobald
Frederick Vincent Theobald was an English entomologist.Theobald was the author of a vast monograph, in six volumes, on the Diptera, A Monograph of the Culicidae of the World . His collections are in Glasgow....
wrote A text-book of agricultural zoology in 1890.It became a standard text worldwide.
20th Century
Among the most important reports early in the 20th century were those of Charles Valentine RileyCharles Valentine Riley
Charles Valentine Riley was a British-born American entomologist and artist.-Early Life:The son of a Church of England minister, Charles Valentine Riley was born on 19 September, 1843 in London’s Chelsea district. When he was around eleven his parents, the Rev. Charles and Mary Riley, chose to...
, published by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, extending from 1878 to his death, in which is embodied an enormous amount of valuable material. At his death the work fell to Professor Leland Ossian Howard
Leland Ossian Howard
Leland Ossian Howard, Ph.D., M.D. , was an American entomologist.-Biography:He graduated from Cornell University in 1877. He was later employed by the Department of Agriculture, and became chief of the Bureau of Entomology in 1894...
, in the form of Bulletin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The chief writings of J. A. Lintner extend from 1882 to 1898, in yearly parts, under the title of Reports on the Injurious Insects of the State of New York. Another significant contributor to the entomological literature of the United states was Charles W. Woodworth
Charles W. Woodworth
Charles W. Woodworth was an American entomologist. He founded the Entomology Department at the University of California, Berkeley, and made many valuable contributions to entomology during his career....
.The Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
entomologist Wilmon Newell
Wilmon Newell
Wilmon Newell was an American entomologist.He received his bachelor's and master's degrees from Iowa State University, along with an honorary doctorate in 1920. In 1903, he was named State Entomologist of Georgia...
was a pioneer of pest control as was Clarence Preston Gillette
Clarence Preston Gillette
Clarence Preston Gillette was an American entomologist....
.In India Thomas Bainbrigge Fletcher
Thomas Bainbrigge Fletcher
Thomas Bainbrigge Fletcher was an English entomologist. He was a naval paymaster until 1910 and was later appointed Imperial entomologist in India, succeeding Harold Maxwell-Lefroy. He took great interest in various aspects of entomology in India, especially those of economic importance. He also...
, who succeeded Harold Maxwell-Lefroy
Harold Maxwell-Lefroy
Harold Maxwell-Lefroy was an English entomologist. He was a Professor of Entomology at Imperial College London.-Biography:He was born on 20 January 1877, and attended King's College, Cambridge graduating in 1895....
and Lionel de Nicéville
Lionel de Nicéville
Charles Lionel Augustus de Nicéville was a curator at the Indian Museum in Calcutta . He studied the butterflies of South Asia and wrote a three volume monograph on the butterflies of India, Pakistan, Burma and Sri Lanka.Born in a noble Huguenot family, his father was a physician. He was educated...
as the first Imperial Entomologist, wrote Some South Indian insects and other animals of importance considered especially from an economic point of view, an influential work in the subcontinent.In France Alfred Balachowsky
Alfred Balachowsky
Alfred Serge Balachowsky was a French entomologist born in Russia. He specialised in Homoptera : Coccoidea but also worked on Coleoptera. Balachowsky worked at the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle...
was a key figure.
In the last quarter of the 20th century new techniques were pioneered and new theories developed, for instance Integrated Pest Management
Integrated Pest Management
Integrated pest management is an ecological approach to agricultural pest control that integrates pesticides/herbicides into a management system incorporating a range of practices for economic control of a pest...
by Ray F. Smith.
Harmful insects
Insects considered pests of some sort occur among all major living orders with the exception of Ephemeroptera (mayflies), OdonataOdonata
Odonata is an order of insects, encompassing dragonflies and damselflies . The word dragonfly is also sometimes used to refer to all Odonata, but the back-formation odonate is a more correct English name for the group as a whole...
, Plecoptera
Plecoptera
Plecoptera are an order of insects, commonly known as stoneflies. There are some 3,500 described species worldwide, with new species still being discovered. Stoneflies are found worldwide, except Antarctica...
(stoneflies), Embioptera
Embioptera
The order Embioptera, commonly known as webspinners, are a small group of mostly tropical and subtropical insects, classified under the subclass Pterygota. The order has also been referred to as Embiodea or Embiidina...
(webspinners), Trichoptera
Trichoptera
The caddisflies are an order, Trichoptera, of insects with approximately 12,000 described species. Also called sedge-flies or rail-flies, they are small moth-like insects having two pairs of hairy membranous wings...
(caddisflies), Neuroptera
Neuroptera
The insect order Neuroptera, or net-winged insects, includes the lacewings, mantidflies, antlions, and their relatives. The order contains some 6,010 species...
(in the broad sense), and Mecoptera
Mecoptera
Mecoptera are an order of insects with about 550 species in nine families worldwide. Mecoptera are sometimes called scorpionflies after their largest family, Panorpidae, in which the males have enlarged genitals that look similar to the stinger of a scorpion...
(also, the tiny groups Zoraptera
Zoraptera
The insect order Zoraptera contains a single family, the Zorotypidae, which in turn contains one extant genus with 34 species, Zorotypus as well as 9 extinct species.-Phylogeny:...
, Grylloblattodea, and Mantophasmatodea
Mantophasmatodea
Mantophasmatodea is a suborder of carnivorous African insects discovered in 2002, originally considered to be a new order, but since relegated to subordinal status, and comprising the single family Mantophasmatidae...
). Conversely, of course, essentially all insect orders primarily have members which are beneficial, in some respects, with the exception of Phthiraptera (lice), Siphonaptera (fleas), and Strepsiptera
Strepsiptera
The Strepsiptera are an order of insects with ten families making up about 600 species...
, the three orders whose members are exclusively parasitic.
Insects are considered as pests for a variety of reasons including their
- direct damage by feeding on crop plants in the field or by infesting stored products
- indirect damage by spreading viralVirusA virus is a small infectious agent that can replicate only inside the living cells of organisms. Viruses infect all types of organisms, from animals and plants to bacteria and archaea...
diseases of crop plants (especially by sucking insects such as leafhopperLeafhopperLeafhopper is a common name applied to any species from the family Cicadellidae. Leafhoppers, colloquially known as hoppers, are minute plant-feeding insects in the superfamily Membracoidea in the order Hemiptera...
s) - spreading disease among humans and livestock
- annoyance to humans
Examples
- The Phylloxera plaguePhylloxeraGrape phylloxera ; originally described in France as Phylloxera vastatrix; equated to the previously described Daktulosphaira vitifoliae, Phylloxera vitifoliae; commonly just called phylloxera is a pest of commercial grapevines worldwide, originally native to eastern North America...
- Migratory locustMigratory locustThe migratory locust is the most widespread locust species, and the only species in the genus Locusta. It occurs throughout Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It used to be common in Europe but has now become rare there...
- Colorado potato beetleColorado potato beetleThe Colorado potato beetle , also known as the Colorado beetle, the ten-striped spearman, the ten-lined potato beetle or the potato bug, is an important pest of potato crops. It is approximately 10 mm long, with a bright yellow/orange body and five bold brown stripes along the length of each...
- Boll weevilBoll weevilThe boll weevil is a beetle measuring an average length of six millimeters, which feeds on cotton buds and flowers. Thought to be native to Central America, it migrated into the United States from Mexico in the late 19th century and had infested all U.S. cotton-growing areas by the 1920s,...
- Japanese beetleJapanese beetleThe beetle species Popillia japonica is commonly known as the Japanese beetle. It is about long and wide, with iridescent copper-colored elytra and green thorax and head...
- AphidAphidAphids, also known as plant lice and in Britain and the Commonwealth as greenflies, blackflies or whiteflies, are small sap sucking insects, and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Aphids are among the most destructive insect pests on cultivated plants in temperate regions...
s - MosquitoMosquitoMosquitoes are members of a family of nematocerid flies: the Culicidae . The word Mosquito is from the Spanish and Portuguese for little fly...
es - CockroachCockroachCockroaches are insects of the order Blattaria or Blattodea, of which about 30 species out of 4,500 total are associated with human habitations...
- Western corn rootwormWestern corn rootwormThe Western corn rootworm, Diabrotica virgifera virgifera LeConte, is one of the most devastating corn rootworm species in North America, especially in the midwestern corn-growing areas such as Iowa. A related species, the Northern corn rootworm, D...
See also
In the past entomologists working on pest insects attempted to eradicate species. This has rarely worked except in islands or controlled environments and raises ethical issues. Over time the language has changed to terms like control and management. The indiscriminate use of toxic and persistent chemicals and the resurgence of pests in the history of cotton growing in the US has been particularly well studied.
Beneficial insects
Honey
Honey is a sweet food made by bees using nectar from flowers. The variety produced by honey bees is the one most commonly referred to and is the type of honey collected by beekeepers and consumed by humans...
is perhaps the most economically valuable product from insects. Apiculture is a commercial enterprise in most parts of the world and many forest tribes have been dependent on honey as a major source of nutrition. Honeybees can also act as pollinators of crop species. Many predators and parasitoid insects are encouraged and augmented in modern agriculture.
Silk
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The best-known type of silk is obtained from the cocoons of the larvae of the mulberry silkworm Bombyx mori reared in captivity...
is extracted from both reared caterpillars as well as from the wild (producing wild silk
Wild silk
Wild silks have been known and used in many countries from early times, although the scale of production is far smaller than that from cultivated silkworms.-Background:...
). Sericulture
Sericulture
Sericulture, or silk farming, is the rearing of silkworms for the production of raw silk.Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, Bombyx mori is the most widely used and intensively studied. According to Confucian texts, the discovery of silk production by B...
deals with the techniques for efficient silkworm rearing and silk production. Although new fabric materials have substituted silk in many applications, it continues to be the material of choice for surgical sutures.
Lac
Lac
Lac is the scarlet resinous secretion of a number of species of insects, namely some of the species of the genera Metatachardia, Laccifer, Tachordiella, Austrotacharidia, Afrotachardina, and Tachardina of the superfamily Coccoidea, of which the most commonly cultivated species is Kerria lacca.The...
was once extracted from scale insects but is now replaced by synthetic substitutes. The dye extracted from cochineal
Cochineal
The cochineal is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the crimson-colour dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessile parasite native to tropical and subtropical South America and Mexico, this insect lives on cacti from the genus Opuntia, feeding on plant moisture and...
insects was similarly replaced by technological advances.
The idea of insects as human food, entomophagy
Entomophagy
Entomophagy is the consumption of insects as food. Insects are eaten by many animals, but the term is generally used to refer to human consumption of insects; animals that eat insects are known as insectivores...
, has been proposed as a solution to meet the growing demand for food, but has not gained widespread acceptance.
External links
- Homepage of the Applied Entomology Group ETH Zurich
- Bibliography of the more important contributions to American economic entomology (Volume 7) (1889-1905) Free book.History.
- Pest Management Glossary
- History of Pest Control Timeline
- North Carolina State University Department of Entomology
- Pest Control Experts Publications, portraits.
- Principal Groups of Insect parasites and predators
- Entomology Seminal work by Walter Ebeling
- Bibliography of synanthropic control of synanthropic Diptera
- Insect and Mite Pests in foodU.S.D.A. Goreham 316 pages,illustrated.
- Pests and Diseases Image Library
- Veterinary Parasitology at Sao Paolo University
- Featured Creatures at University of FloridaUniversity of FloridaThe University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
/ IFASInstitute of Food and Agricultural SciencesThe University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information... - OPIE
- Journal of Economic Entomology
- European and Mediterranean Plant Protection Organisation Leads through to species accounts through the Quarantine List http://www.eppo.org/QUARANTINE/listA1.htm See also the Alert List http://www.eppo.org/QUARANTINE/Alert_List/alert_list.htm
- Insect Vectors of Plant Pathogens
- European Dictionary of Domestic and Utilised Animals
- Woody Ornamental Pests and Beneficial Arthropods at University of FloridaUniversity of FloridaThe University of Florida is an American public land-grant, sea-grant, and space-grant research university located on a campus in Gainesville, Florida. The university traces its historical origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its present Gainesville campus since September 1906...
/ IFASInstitute of Food and Agricultural SciencesThe University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is a federal-state-county partnership dedicated to developing knowledge in agriculture, human and natural resources, and the life sciences, and enhancing and sustaining the quality of human life by making that information... - PADIL Extensive image library. Australia but mamy of the species are cosmopolitan.
- FEHD Very useful Hong Kong website.