S.

1 INSECT NOTES

Competency: The learner should understand the characteristics of insects and relate structures to their
functions in some common insects, and appreciate that insects have a direct or indirect effect on the well-
being of other organisms.

Expected Solution to activity 1

Haumba Peter /0787884943 Insects 2023

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The Beneficial and Harmful Aspects of Insects

Task: In groups of 5 students each, complete the table below.

Insect How it is helpful How it is useful

Cockroach
Butterfly
Housefly
Termite
Mosquito
Bee
Economic importance of mosquitoes

They carry malarial parasites which cause malaria. These germs are carried by a female anopheles
mosquito. The disease-causing parasite is referred to as plasmodium.

Control of spread of malaria

Of these diseases malaria is probably becoming the most serious and is increasingly becoming a killer of
such great as AIDS. This is mainly because the parasites causing it are becoming resistant to drugs like
chloroquine which in the past have been very effective at old malaria. Currently, effective control of the
mosquito is as much prerequisite to control malaria as it is to combat the disease. Appropriate measures
include;

➢ Destroying the breeding places where larvae develop from by draining or applying a film of oil
over the water surface to prevent oxygen reaching the mosquito larva.
➢ Burning or burying all empty containers to prevent water from collecting during the rainy season.
➢ Clearing bushes around homestead. Mosquitoes like to rest and breed on them during the rainy
season.
➢ Biological control which involves the introduction of fish into water bodies which feed on the
larvae and pupa.
➢ Mosquitoes can be killed by spraying with insecticides using special sprayers.
➢ Removal of small water containers such as old tins, bottles, and drainage channels, so as to reduce
on breeding sites.
➢ protecting our bodies from mosquito bites by using mosquito nets at night as well as wearing
clothes which cover both legs and arms in the evening
➢ Parasites development in the human body can be controlled by taking modern prophylactic drugs
regularly.
➢ Applying mosquito repellant cream to the body.

Economic importance of bees

✓ Source of honey which is a rich food (carbohydrate)

✓ Pollinate plants most of which provide food for man.
✓ Provide wax used in industry to make candles, varnish, shoe polish etc.

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 ✓ Their honey is a drug for many diseases like cough.
✓ They are useful specimen for biological studies.
✓ The worker bees stings inflict irritation on our bodies.

Task:

Bees are said to have a variety of economic importance to the environment as shared above. In pairs,
discuss how you can advise the community to control the harmful effects of bees to the environment.
Present your findings to the rest of the class.

Economic importance of house flies

o They feed on faeces and manure heaps, hence help in garbage disposal.
o They are vectors of diseases i.e. spread or transmit diseases such as dysentery, cholera, red eyes,
trachoma, etc.
o It is a source of food for some organisms such as chameleons.
o They are specimens for study purposes.

Control of house flies and prevention of diseases they spread

❖ Spraying with an insecticide such as pyrethrum to kill the adult.

❖ Proper disposal of faeces in latrines with covers, so that flies cannot get to the waste to lay eggs.
❖ Washing hands with soap and clean water after visiting the latrine and before eating or preparing
food.
❖ Disposing of wastes in such a way that flies cannot reach them. E.g. burning or burying them.
❖ Covering or storing food properly so that flies cannot settle on it.

Economic importance of cockroaches

~ They destroy clothes, books, shoes, furniture and spoil food.

~ They spread disease causing germs such as cholera, dysentery etc. especially those in latrines.
~ They contaminate food if not properly covered.
~ They dirten places with their faeces as they move around especially when many.
~ They are food to some organisms like birds.
~ They are used in biological studies as specimens.

Control of cockroaches

» Improve personal and public hygiene.

» Use of environmentally friendly insecticides like doom, etc.
» Use of biological control methods.
» Polish the walls of the house to close the small crevices.

Economic importance of citrus butterfly

✓ From the cocoons of butterfly, silk threads are obtained for making silk clothes.
✓ The larvae spoil the leafy vegetable with fecal drops such as dodo.

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 ✓ The scales may be respiratory hazards when inhaled.
✓ The caterpillar stage of a butterfly is significantly destructive on vegetables including crops such
as cabbages, maize, millet sorghum etc. . . .
✓ Some caterpillars feed on insects thus helps in destroying insect pests.
✓ Butterflies can also be used as decorations because of their beautiful color patterns (ornamental
purpose) used in art industry.
✓ The butterflies also are of much importance to the farmers in pollinating flowers of the crops.

Control measures against butterflies

» Apply environmentally friendly insecticides

» Use of biological control methods
» By hand picking of the infected leaves and burning or burying them. This destroys the eggs and
some leaves.

WHY INSECTS ARE BIOLOGICALLY SUCCESSFUL

• Insects are mainly terrestrial arthropods that have specialized features and behaviors. These
features have enabled the insects to live almost in any part of the world. There are approximately
70,000 different species of insects.
• Insects have a high rate of fertility and reproduction. They lay many eggs at once such that when
some are destroyed, many survive and develop into adults. They increase in number very rapidly
because their life cycles are short. i.e. they take few months or days.
• Their bodies are covered with waxy cuticle made of chitin which does not allow water to pass
through hence reducing dehydration of insects in different environments.
• Insects have a wide range of modification in their mouth parts that are adapted to feeding on
different foods. E.g. the adult butterflies feed on nectar while the caterpillars feed on plant leaves.
This reduces competition for food.
• Some insects have developed wings for flying and all have legs for walking, thus enables the
insects to disperse successfully, easily escape from enemies (predators) and as a means of looking
for food.
• Possession of exoskeleton and some have fore wings hardened to provide mechanical support.
• Majority are small in size. Hence, they take in little food, occupy small space and escape easily
from enemies. Others have variable shapes to fit their mode of life in the locality they live in e.g.
cock roaches’ body is dorsal-ventrally flattened for easy passage in narrow path ways (crevices).
• Some insects have a variety of colours for camouflage and some spots that have false aggressive
and warning appearance to predators e.g. false eyes on the wings of butterflies.

Activity of Integration.

The following is an extract from a media brief on control of the Fall Armyworm in Uganda by the Minister
for Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries. Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.

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As a result of the climate change and climate variability, Uganda is experiencing an outbreak of new pests
and diseases such as the coffee twig borer, banana bacterial wilt, cassava brown streak disease, tomato
leaf miner, maize lethal necrosis and now the Fall Armyworm. This will negatively impact the nation’s food
and nutrition security and wealth creation efforts.

In the second season of 2016, the Ministry of Agriculture received reports of a severe outbreak of
“caterpillars” on maize plants in the districts of Kasese, Kayunga and Bukedea. A visit made to these
districts found that almost 40% of the maize crops in the fields visited were attacked by an unknown pest.
The National Agricultural Research Organization (NARO) has confirmed identity of the pest as a moth
commonly known as the Fall Army Worm. The fall army worm is native to tropical and subtropical regions
of the Americas. How it arrived in Africa is not clear. There is suspicion, however, that the pest could have
been introduced as a result of increase in trade (imports) of Agricultural commodities across continents
and the pest’s migratory nature of 2000km per annum could have facilitated its entry into Uganda.

First observed in Nigeria in January 2016, the pest is now reported in several other countries including
Togo, Ghana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia and Kenya. In Uganda to
date, the pest has been confirmed in over 54 districts. The pest is known to feed on more than 80 plant
species, including cereals (maize, millet, sorghum, sugarcane, rice and wheat), legumes (cowpea,
groundnuts and soybean), cotton and many pasture grasses (Rhodes grass, Kikuyu grass, Lucerne and
other pasture grasses).

The destructive stage of the pest is the caterpillar. The caterpillar feeds aggressively on most parts of the
plant including the leaves, stems of maize, sorghum, rice, Kikuyu grass, Napia grass and sugarcane crops.
This feeding damage results in a reduction in both yield and grain quality. The adult moths move in large
swarms at night with each female laying up to 2000 eggs and the emerging caterpillars are aggressive
feeders with the potential to destroy a hectare within 72 hours in its later stages. The moths are strong
flyers, when the wind conditions are right; they are capable of covering over 2000 km per year.

Tasks:

1. Suggest, giving reasons, whether the fall armyworm is an insect or not.

2. Apart from man, write down other organisms that are affected by the destruction of crops due to
the fall armyworm. Give a reason for your answer.
3. Write a speech to explain why the fall armyworm is a hard/difficult pest to control.

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