INTRODUCTION

For most people, insect, bug or a fly is any small creature. However, in a scientific
view, each of these words carries definite meaning and represents a specific group of
organisms. Bugs and flies are subgroups of insects. And insects are a set of small animals.
The science of insects is called Entomology. Entomology is a branch of biology that deals
specifically with the study of insects. It aims at understanding all aspects of insects such as
morphology, anatomy, taxonomy, biology, genetics, ecology, physiology, toxicology,
ethology, management, zoogeography, etc. Entomology is derived from Greek words,
Entomo meaning insects and Logos meaning discourse. The word insect has a Latin
origin. Insecare, in Latin means some thing that is cut into, so that the same meaning is
carried on to the English word, insect. Insect, thus simply means some thing that comes in
sections referring to their segmented body.

Insects belong to the Superclass Hexapoda of the Phylum Arthropoda. Hexapoda

comprise of all six legged arthropods, which include true insects. However, in practice, all
hexapodan arthropods are collectively called as insects.

Insects are the most dominant of all creatures on earth. They are dominant on two
counts. First they exhibit great diversity. Second they are highly abundant in many
terrestrial ecosystems. Their diversity and abundance is also possibly because of their near
omnipresence especially in terrestrial habitats. Because of these features, they are
frequently associated with man or things of importance to him and influence his interests.
As a result, insects have attracted the attention of man in many ways that has made the
subject of Entomology an important field of study in biology.

Importance of insects to man:

Perhaps one of the important reasons for man to worry about insects is their
pestilence. Insects, having co-evoloved with plants, are perhaps the most important
herbivores to bother them. Settled agriculture could have only made man to take notice of
these as the most important competitors for his crops. World wide an estimated 30 per
cent of all agricultural production is lost to pests. And insects take the major share of this.
They ravage all kinds of crops in a variety of ways, affecting the economic interests of
man. Huge swarms of locusts, time and again, have caused famines in many parts of the
world. A marching army of locusts devour almost everything that is green, leaving nothing
for man to live on. So much so that only thing to survive on would be the locusts for
many communities. Thus locusts have attracted human attention since biblical times, to
such an extent that much of our knowledge of insects is due largely to their intensive
investigations. It is just not locusts, however, many others can be equally bad. Almost
every agriculturist in every nook and corner of the world is prone to be affected by these
insects. That explains the reason, why containing insects is a multimillion dollar business
in the world today. An estimated US$ 30 billion (Year 2000 estimates) is spent by the
farmers world wide to manage these pests. Obviously, man in the interest of protecting his
crops has given the greatest attention towards studying insects to understand the ways and
means of managing them. Thus Entomology is an integral part of study of agriculture.

Many insects are also important not because they eat up crops, but also because they
harm man and his live stock. Mosquitoes, fleas, bed bugs, lice and several others suck
blood of man and domesticated animals. Veterinary and human parasitology is therefore,
very specialized subject to address these problems caused by insects.

A.R.V. Kumar : Introduction to Entomology 1

 Insects can be more serious potential threats to man, his live stock and crops. Besides
the direct damage they can also transmit diseases of man, domesticated animals and the
crop plants. The notorious bubonic plague for example is a disease transmitted by an
insect, the rat flea. Such is their notoriety that more people, it is estimated, have possibly
died due to the insect transmitted diseases than all the wars fought by human beings.
Historically, these diseases have been of great importance in moulding the human societies,
settlements and possibly civilizations.

Not to stop at that, many insects are also of importance as pests of stored material.
Insects virtually eat everything of organic origin. Thus stored material are no exception.
Grains, processed food, clothing, wood, paper, furniture, furnishings, wool, etc., are all the
potential food for insects under storage conditions. Many moths and beetles are serious
pests of cereals, pulses, oil seeds, etc. attacking both processed items such as sooji and
flour as well as the whole grains. Termites and many beetles are serious pests of stored
wood and wooden material such as furniture. Termites also attack all kinds of cellulose
rich material, often traversing several hundred feet above ground to be found even at the
top most floor of any sky scraper. Similarly, psocids, silverfishes, cockroaches, ants and
flies are commonly found eating up all kinds of stored food. The very same insects are
also found frequently damaging our clothes in store. Ants not only eat up the food, and
contaminate it, they also bite or sting people. Cockroaches and flies are notorious for their
ability to contaminate food with many bacterial diseases that afflict human beings. The
domestic cockroach alone is considered responsible for spreading over thirty such micro-
organisms. House fly spreads the dreaded cholera. A large number of species of insects
attack wood and wooden material. Museum specimens are the other precious material
that form the potential food of many an insect. Commonly, dermestid beetles are the real
threats to the museum specimens.

Without causing any damage to any material, insects can still be annoying for many
people. Especially in public places and human dwellings, many insects are a nuisance.

However, out of a million described species, these negative aspects are relevant only
in respect of a few 100s of species and a majority of insects are beneficial in their own
right. Their enormous diversity and abundance, simply suggests their importance in any
ecosystem. Insects play an important role in accomplishing many ecosystem functions
such as pollination, energy transfer, nutrient cycling, scavenging, earth moving, etc.

Insect pollination is important not only from the point of view of ecosystem functions
but also as a beneficial activity for man kind in the production of many crops. An
estimated 3000 species of plants are used by man as food, of which about 300 are really
cultivated in some measure and of these, 12 crops are actually responsible for supplying 90
per cent of human food requirement world wide. All these are basically wind or self
pollinated crops. However, many of these crops indirectly get the benefit from insect
visitation. The grain quality and seed set is expected to increase due to insect visitation.
In addition, many other self pollinated crops show improvement in production and quality.
Quality in terms of better seed filling, better growth and germinability and vigour are the
primary benefits. In addition, many crops exclusively depend on insects such as bees for
pollination. The queen of spices, cardamom would not set fruits unless a bee attends its
flowers. Many vegetables, including gourds and sunflower are the other important ones
that exclusively depend on insects for pollination. Such crops are referred to as
entomophiles. Several other species of plants such as fig, tamarind, coconuts, oil palm,
etc. depend on insect pollination. It is estimated that a honey bee can visit up to 10,000
A.R.V. Kumar : Introduction to Entomology 2
flowers per day. An estimate of 10,000 worker bees per colony might make a colony
contribute for an immense 100 million flower visits per day. But honey bees are not the
only insects to pollinate crops. Many other non social bees, wasps, flies, butterflies,
beetles, moths, etc., are also able to contribute by way of pollination. In all, it is estimated
that 30 per cent of world food production is directly or indirectly dependent up on the
pollination by insects. By way of improved nutritional value, the contribution can be much
higher.

One other major ecosystem function of immense value, but hardly appreciated is the
scavenging. The inexorable cycle of feeding and defecating by every animal contribute an
enormous amount of filth in the world we live in. Most areas of Indian country side to this
day lack proper sanitary measures. In addition, the country also boasts of the largest
number of cattle heads in the world. What happens to the enormous amount of filth
deposited by these populations? Long before our independence, Major R.W.G. Hingston,
in a book titled ‘A Naturalist in Hindustan’ writes - “Were it not for Nature’s scavengers
the East would be the cesspit of the world. Man assuredly would annihilate himself in the
emanation from his own filth. ………chief of this great array …. are …. Dung beetles
….”. He further elaborated on the subject to demonstrate how important these beetles are
in removing the filth from the teeming millions of human and cattle population that is
deposited every day in India.

Few cows introduced during the mid nineteenth century to Australia grew to
enormous populations of millions by the early part of twentieth century. This population
contributed for enormous amount of dung that was not palatable to native species of dung
beetles. This was largely because, the bovines are alien to Australia and the native species
were exclusively adopted for marsupial dung. The accumulated dung was causing two
great problems for the ranchers. One, the accumulated dung was making the grass quality
poor and the cattle would not feed on such grass. This amounted to loss of millions of
hectares of grassland annually. Second, the dung also supported lot of flies which posed
serious health damage to cattle and possibly, human beings. Australian Government woke
up to this problem and in the early part of the twentieth century started a programme to
introduce the dung beetles that can dispose the cattle dung, from other parts of the world.
Thus the Australian cattle industry today is dependent on these introduced dung beetles.
The above amply suggest the importance of insets as scavengers. Many other species of
insects, including mostly beetles, flies and termites help processing a variety of organic
wastes such as leaf litter, carcasses, dead wood, etc. In the process, insects accomplish
many other functions. One important function is the nutrient cycling. The burial of all
kinds of organic wastes adds to the enrichment of soil. Insects play a vital role in
achieving this. In the process insects also play an important role in earth moving. They
turn the soil and make galleries to allow percolation of water in to deeper layers apart from
improving aeration in deeper layers of soil column. Many ants and termites can construct
nests reaching deeper layers of the soil. In these roles, termites in the tropics for example,
are believed to be the counter parts of temperate earth worms. The extreme efficiency of
insects in these roles also suggests their exploitation possibilities for solid waste disposal.
A poultry farm is another place where insects have found important functions. The feces
of the birds that accumulates in layer farms adds to the moist atmosphere which is not
congenial for the birds in the first place and secondly adds to the foul smell due to
increased bacterial activity which amplifies the water content resulting in the droppings
contributing for slurry under the cages. Entomologists have helped manage this problem
by discovering a dermestid beetle that can process this slurry to remove water and obtain

A.R.V. Kumar : Introduction to Entomology 3

powder from the same. By this method the poultry farm can now remain dry and the bird
droppings are easy to handle.

A great diversity coupled with large biomass of insects has resulted in their important
role in any ecosystem as the means of energy transfer. Roughly about 40 per cent of all
insects are phytophagous and the remaining insects have multiple roles of serving as
scavengers, parasitoids and predators in any ecosystem. Insects due to their great
abundance serve as important source of food for many organisms of higher trophic levels.
Many vertebrates and invertebrates are exclusively supported by insects. Insects serve as
important source of food for them. Thus insects are of great value in the energy transfer
system in any terrestrial ecosystem. A notable group in this regard is the social insects
such as ants, bees, termites etc. These social insects, manage to remain active in all
seasons of the year and support life. Besides, their abundances can be ominously large
such that almost 70 % of all insect biomass and 40 % of all animal biomass is expected to
be made of social insects alone in many tropical forests. Given this, their activity might
greatly influence the general survival of many other dependent animals and plants – in
terms of serving as food, and in terms of serving as pollinators etc. As a result, the entire
structure of the ecosystem often depends heavily on the composition and relative
abundance of these social insects. Thus, social insects are considered as “key stone”
species in many ecosystems.

In the process of accomplishing these ecosystem functions, insects have served as

useful tools in the management of many pestiferous organisms. Insects have been used by
man extensively for managing noxious weeds. Management of Opuntia using
Cactoblastis cactorum has helped recover millions of hectares of land in Australia. Closer
home, Neocatena brucei and Neocatena eichorniae have helped manage the aquatic weed,
Eichornia sp. Similarly, Zygogramma bicolorata has helped alleviate the problem of
obnoxious Parthenium hysterophorus in many parts of India. Introductions of weed
killing insects is a common practice to remove unwanted weeds as this is the most cost
effective technique in their management.

Similar to their ability in reducing the weed problems, insects are also looked at as the
saviours of his crops. Many insect pests are managed today using other insects that
depend on them. Both predators that kill many pests during their life time and the
parasitoids that generally kill one host apiece are used in this approach of biological;
management of insect pests. A large majority of the insects occupy the higher trophic
levels and are exploited for this purpose. Many species of wasps and flies serve as
parasitoids that are cultured in the laboratory conditions and used in the field for the
management of pestiferous phytophagous insects. Similarly, beetles, wasps, lace wings
among the many predatory insects are being used for the management of several pests.
Minute parasitoid wasps of the family Trichogrammatidae that parasitise the eggs of many
species of moths are a classic example in this process of biological control of pest species.
Trichogramma spp. are used almost through out the world for the management of a
variety of moth pests.

In the look out for sources of protein, the diverse and abundant insects have met these
demands for man. Insects are eaten the world over. Many groups of insects such as
termites, caterpillars, hymenopteran larvae, beetles, grasshoppers and bugs have served
this purpose for man.

A.R.V. Kumar : Introduction to Entomology 4

 Insects also provide lot of material benefits to man. Honey produced by honey bees is
the best example. Honey bees also provide us with wax, propolis and bee venom. While
wax is useful for making candles, honey, apart from serving as the food, also has many
medicinal properties. Propolis and bee venom are used as medicines. Many species of silk
worms produce silk. Domesticated silk worm, Bombyx mori, is the most important
species. In India, silk production serves as the major source of income for many farming
communities in the southern parts of Karnataka. Other insect products include shellac,
which has many industrial uses. The lac house cited in the great epic Mahabharatha is
supposed to have been built out of this shellac, which is produced by a small insect that is
cultivated on certain tree species mostly in Bihar and West Bengal. Many insects are
believed to have uses as source of medicines. The infamous spanishfly, is a beetle that
produces a yellow liquid when disturbed at its joints of limbs and body. This liquid
contains one of the most toxic substances known to man, cantharidin, which has many
medicinal uses.

The inquisitiveness of man has also permitted greater exploitation of insects for his
own good. Insects have served as excellent models for artisans, architects, engineers,
craftsmen and designers. Insects also have great aesthetic value. Colourful butterflies,
beetles and industrious ants and bees have attracted the attention of man since time
immemorial. They have inspired litterateurs the world over.

One other ingenious way by which man is trying to exploit his knowledge about them
is in the forensic medicine. Many species of insects breed on carcass. Knowledge of the
species that breed on a carcass and the growth pattern of the different associated stages
has been of great use in solving murder mysteries and the science of Forensic Entomology
is gaining a strong foot hold. An unusual utility of insects is in perfectly cleaning the
museum specimens, especially the skeletons of higher organisms, which are extremely
difficult to clean manually or by using any mechanized device.

Insects are also small and easy to maintain on small resources, in small space and their
generation turn over rates can be very high. Further, they are generally abundant in many
terrestrial ecosystems. These features have been of great use in understanding many
principles of science. Perhaps the best example for this would be the Redi’s experiments
on spontaneous generation of life. Much of our knowledge of genetics stems from the
studies on the pomace flies, Drosophila melanogaster complex of species. Besides, their
unusual life styles have helped develop many evolutionary theories. Theories of kin
selection and sexual selection are perhaps the best examples. Sociobiology and Island
biogeography are the other fields that owe a lot for studies on insects.

The grotesque and bizarre forms and weird life of insects have attracted scientists and
the common man alike. Insect collection has been a hobby and a great pastime to this day.
Talking of pastimes, flea circus of the medieval Europe and the fights of horned beetles of
South East Asia, seen even today, provide other examples.

Thus insects are important to be studied for many a number of reasons and the science
of Entomology has grown over the years in to a major field of biology. So much so that
today a number of sub disciplines have evolved as a result of detailed studies of insects.
Agricultural Entomology is perhaps the most important of them all.

Agricultural Entomology covers most of the aspects of insects relevant to agriculture,

forestry and allied fields of biology. By and large, it deals with utility of insects in the
A.R.V. Kumar : Introduction to Entomology 5
production of crops and ways and means of protecting these crops from the ravages of
insect pests both on the field and in the stores. Study of insects for productive purposes is
also a part of this field.

A.R.V. Kumar : Introduction to Entomology 6

Careers in Entomology
Entomology offers great job opportunities. Trained Entomologists will find future
employment in universities and museums as teachers, researchers and technicians. The
undergraduate subject stream for a major in entomology provides students with a
comprehensive background in biology suitable for a career as high school biology teachers.
Most graduates will work with insects important in human affairs, and be employed by
institutions such as ICAR, CSIR, State Departments of Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry,
Health, Conservation and Land Management. The larger urban and agricultural pest
control companies employ graduate entomologists in advisory and training positions.
International and national manufacturers of agricultural and veterinary insecticides provide
avenues for employment. Private consultancy on crop pest management and urban pest
control programmes is something of a great opportunity that trained entomologists have
not tapped in India. Crop scouting and advising farmers on levels of pest infestations and
appropriate times to use chemical or other control measures is the job of such private
consultants. Private companies, such as those concerned with biological control and the
mass production of beneficial insects also employ graduate entomologists. Because
graduates of the Department of Entomology receive training in ecology and biodiversity,
they have the necessary expertise to be involved in environmental impact studies, and
conservation of biodiversity.
Many emerging fields of study such as conservation biology and environmental biology
have found the need for expertise in Entomology for assessing the quality of environments
and to study the impact of human activities, like mining, etc. besides the introduction of
crops such as transgenic crops.

A.R.V. Kumar : Introduction to Entomology 7