Insect Dominance

How to assess the dominance

of insects?
 Number of species
 Number of individuals
 Extent of distribution
 Reasons for the dominance of insects?
Number of species
 Plant Kingdom : 400,000- 500,000 species

 Animal Kingdom
 Vertebrates : 200,000 species
 Lower Invertebrates : 50,000 species

Insects : 1,500,000 species

Reasons for the dominance of
insects
 Structural factors
 Morphological factors
 Developmental factors
 Physiological factors
Structural factors
 Exoskeleton
 Small size
Exoskeleton
Suit of armor
 protects muscles and internal organs
 prevents desiccation – wax layer
 barrier to pathogens
 ensures free movement of appendages –
by membranes between sclerites
 provides strength with good leverage
e.g., ant can lift 50 times of its own
body weight
Exoskeleton
 protective coloration

Click beetle

Preying mantis

Preying mantis Leaf insect

on flower
Smallest insect
 Range of size: 0.2 – 20 mm in length
 Dichomorpha echmepterygis, Costa Rica wasp
(Mymaridae) – egg parasitoid
 Size of adult male – 0.139 mm (0.00055 inch)
(discovered in 1997)

Mymarid –
Adult male
Small size
 requires less food and Parasitoid completes its larval
space for survival and stage within only one larva

reproduction,

Leaf miner completes its

life cycle in single leaf
Small size
 hide easily to avoid predation – beneath petal/ bark
 disperses easily – by wind currents
 minimizes water loss – due to smaller surface area
 requires less energy for movement- e.g. flea
Flea can jump
- horizontal length of > 30 cm
- height of 20 cm
Morphological factors
 Segmentation
 Jointed appendages
 Hexapod locomotion
 Power of flight
 Tracheal respiration
 Protective devices
Segmentation
 exhibits division of labour
 Head – sensory and feeding
 thorax – locomotory
 abdomen – digestion, excretion
and reproduction
 facilitates freedom of
movement
 improves efficiency
 Jointed appendages
 specialized for special function through modifications in
the structure
 Mouthparts  Locomotory
 chewing type appendages
(grasshopper),  digging (molecricket),
 rasping-sucking (thrips),  running (cockroach),
 piercing and sucking  grasping (preying
(bugs, lice, horse fly), mantis),
 siphoning (butterfly),  jumping (grasshopper),
 sponging (house fly)  swimming (giant water
bug), etc.
AC & RI, Madurai Dr. M. Shanthi
Associate Professor (Entomology)
Hexapod locomotion
 body rests on a tripod
 tripod mode provides stability as well as easy
maneuverability (movement) to insect
locomotion
1 1 Fore leg

2 2 Middle leg

3 3 Hind leg
Power of flight Migratory locust

 Only invertebrate that can fly

 to escape from predators
 to migrate for long distance to
find food e.g. migratory locust
 to disperse into new habitats to
find food and mates e.g. aphids
develop wings to disperse
 to generate a considerable Alate/
amount of lift e.g. dragonfly winged
aphid
Tracheal respiration
Tracheoles
 supplies oxygen directly to each
and every cell of the body,
through invagination of body
wall
 reduces water loss with closed
tracheal system Closed spiracle
Protective devices
 stinging hairs and apparatus
 poisonous and repugnatorial glands
 protective coloration, camouflage
 Mimicry
 habitual stillness to feign to death to escape enemy attention
e.g. beetles, ash weevil
 eggs and pupae protect them from predators and desiccation
Mimicry
Developmental factors
 Metamorphosis
 High fecundity
 Diversity in mode of reproduction
 Short life cycle
 Specificity of food
Metamorphosis

 Primitive insects -incomplete metamorphosis

 Advanced insects - complete metamorphosis

AC & RI, Madurai Dr. M. Shanthi
Associate Professor (Entomology)
Metamorphosis
 Each life stage
 consume different types of food
 exploit different environmental resources and
 occupy different habitats
 Hence, no internal competition for food and
shelter
 Each stage has a specialized function(s)
 larval stage - feeding and growth
 adult stage - dispersal and reproduction
 Incomplete metamorphosis
Dragonfly

Aerial Adult
Aquatic naiad Adult emergence
Different habit and habitat

Aquatic and Aerial and feed

feed on aquatic insects on aerial insects
Complete metamorphosis
High fecundity
 100-500 eggs/ female
 A queen bee produces 2000-3000 eggs/ day
 A queen termite produce 60 eggs/ second.
Queen termite
Fecundity
 Females - store sperm for months or years
within the spermatheca
 Females outnumber males
 Polygamous (a male mating with many
female) - a few males are sufficient for a
large number of females
Diversity in mode of
reproduction
 oviparous
 viviparous Viviparous insect
 parthenogenesis
 polyembryony
Oviparous insect
 paedogenesis
Short life cycle
 able to reproduce quickly
 produce several broods per year
Specificity of food
 No interspecific competition
 Monophagous e.g. Termites - cellulose
 Specific to different plant species
or varieties
 Specific to different parts of the same Termites

plant e.g. root borers, stem borers

and top borers of sugarcane
Physiological factors
 Ability to withstand/ escape adverse
conditions
 Methods of retaining water
 Adaptability
 Parental care
 Chemical communication
Ability to withstand adverse conditions
 hot springs (water temperature > 50ºC)
 deserts (> 60ºC)
 above and below the surface of rivers, streams, lakes, ponds
 in pools of crude oil fields (Petroleum fly, Helaeomyia
petrolei)
 in high salinity of Utah’s Great Salt Lake (Brine fly,
Ephydria cinera)
 on the polar ice caps of Antarctica
 on the surface of glaciers
 near the edge of melting snow fields
Ability to escape adverse conditions
 escape places that are too hot or too dry
 by flying away or
 by undergoing a quiescent stage viz.,
 diapause (at low temperature) or
 aestivation (at high temperature)
Method of retaining water
 overcome evaporation of water by
heavy wax layer in exoskeleton
 spiracle closing mechanism
 excrete nitrogen in the form of uric Spiracle closing
acid
 produce of metabolic water
 reabsorb water in rectum
 internal fertilization
Internal fertilization
Adapt to changing situations
 exploit variety of new food sources
 develop resistance to insecticides
 develop detoxification mechanisms to
overcome toxins in plants
 produce biotypes, which can develop on
resistant plants
Parental care
 protect their offspring from death (only
invertebrate having this habit)
 Earwigs and social insects take care of their brood
 Male Giant water bug
with eggs on its back

Parental care
 Some insects carry their eggs on their back until
hatching
 Female Hydrophilid beetle
 Male Giant water bug
 Provide food for young ones even before hatching -
by paralyzing caterpillars (by stinging) and oviposit
on its body
 Female sand wasp, Ammophila
Chemical communication
 Chemical volatiles emanate from the plants
or insects
 Insects use this to find their food and mates
 Parasites also use this to locate their host
insects