Chapter Eight

Arthropoda
 Introduction to Arthropoda
• The arthropods are by far the most
successful phylum of animals, both in
diversity of distribution and in numbers of
species and individuals.
• They have adapted successfully to life in
water, on land and in the air.
• About 80% of all known animal species
belong to the Arthropoda - about 800,000
species have been described, and recent
estimates put the total number of species in
the phylum at about 6 million.
• Arthropods are found in a greater variety
of habitats than any other animal group; on
top of mountains, at great depths in the
ocean and in the icy wilderness of
Antarctica.
• They can survive great extremes of
temperature, toxicity, acidity and salinity.
 Characteristics of the phylum
Arthropoda include:
1. Metamerism modified by the specialization of
body regions for specific functions
(tagmatization)
2. Chitinous exoskeleton that provides support
and protection and is modified to form sensory
structures
3. Paired, jointed appendages
4. Growth accompanied by ecdysis or molting
5. Ventral nervous system
6. Coelom reduced to cavities surrounding gonads
and sometimes excretory organs

7. Open circulatory system in which blood is released

into tissue spaces (hemocoel) derived from the
blastocoel

8. Complete digestive tract

9. Metamorphosis often present; reduces competition

between immature and adult stages
 Metamerism
Metamerism- This is regional specialization,
the body regions, called tagmata (sing.,
tagma), are specialized for feeding and
sensory perception, locomotion, and
visceral functions.
 The Exoskeleton
• Exoskeleton- body covered with a hard
external skeleton
• Why an exoskeleton?
• Why not bones? Exoskeleton good for
small things, protects body from damage
(rainfall, falling, etc.).
• Bones better for large things
 The exoskeleton is an external, jointed skeleton
or cuticle, encloses arthropods.
 The exoskeleton is often cited as the major reason
for arthropod success.
 It provides structural support, protection,
impermeable surfaces for the prevention of water
loss, and a system of levers for muscle attachment
and movement.
The exoskeleton has two layers:
1)The epicuticle: it is the outermost layer, made
of a waxy lipoprotein, it is impermeable to
water and a barrier to microorganisms and
pesticides.
2)The procuticle: it is the bulk of the
exoskeleton below the epicuticle.
• The procuticle is composed of chitin, a tough,
leathery polysaccharide, and several kinds of
proteins.
 The growth of an arthropod would be
virtually impossible unless the exoskeleton
were periodically shed, such as in the
molting process called ecdysis (Gr.
ekdysis, getting out).
 Ecdysis is divided into four stages:
1) Enzymes, secreted from hypodermal
glands, begin digesting the old procuticle
to separate the hypodermis and the
exoskeleton
2) New procuticle and epicuticle are secreted
3) The old exoskeleton splits open along
predetermined ecdysal lines when the
animal stretches by air or water intake;
pores in the procuticle secrete additional
epicuticle and
4) Finally, calcium carbonate deposits and/or
sclerotization harden the new exoskeleton.

During the few hours or days of the hardening

process, the arthropod is vulnerable to

predators and remains hidden.
 METAMORPHOSIS
• Metamorphosis is a radical change in body form and
physiology as an immature stage, usually called a
larva, becomes an adult.
• This characteristic has contributed to arthropod
success in reduction of competition between adults
and immature

stages because of metamorphosis.

 Classes of Arthropods
1) Class Hexapoda: Insects, six, jointed
appendages
2) Class Chilopoda: Centipedes, one pair of legs
per body segment, multiple body segments
3) Class Diplapoda: Millipedes, two pairs of legs
per body segment, multiple body segments
4) Class Crustacea: Lobsters five pairs of jointed
appendages
5) Class Arachnida: Spiders, four pairs of jointed
appendages
 Class Hexapoda
 Class Insecta Includes:
– Beetles, grasshoppers, butterflies, flies, bees

 Most abundant and diverse animal class

 1,000,000+ species identified

– May as many as 10,000,000

 More than all other animals combined

 Distribution of
Insects
 Air
 land
 In the soil
 Parasites
- Plants
- Animals
 Freshwater
Reasons for insect success
 Small size

 Reproductive potential

 Co-evolution with plants

 Evolution of flight

 Metamorphosis
Characteristics of Insects
 Three body regions
-Head
-Thorax
-Abdomen
 Three pair of legs
 wings
-Absent in some
 Pair of compound eyes
 Spiracles for respiration
External Structure of a Generalized
Insect
 External Structure of a Generalized
Insect
Head
 One pair of antennae

 Pair of compound eyes (detect movement)

 Several sets of simple eyes= ocelli (probably detect

changes in light intensity)
 Antennae can be highly variable
 External Structure of a Generalized
Insect

 Mouthparts are highly modified depending on the

type of insect
– for piercing and sucking like mosquitoes

– for chewing like grasshoppers

– for siphoning like butterflies

– for sponging like flies

 Thorax
 Consists of three regions:
– Prothorax (anterior-most segment)
– Mesothorax
– Metathorax
 One pair of legs attaches along ventral
margin of each thoracic region
• Insects may have 1 pair, 2 pair, or no wings
• Insects are the only invertebrates that can fly
 Wings of insects= modified exoskeleton

 1st pair is often tough and leathery

(protection) fold over the inner pair
 Attach to mesothorax and metathorax

 Have thickened, hollow veins for increased

strength
Abdomen

 does not have appendages

 terminal portions harbor
the reproductive structures
Insects undergo metamorphosis
 Metamorphosis

 Change in form from one developmental

stage to another
 Immature and adult body forms

 May not compete

 May be incomplete or complete

 Incomplete Metamorphosis
 Early developmental stages very similar to
adults
 only the wings and reproductive structures
gradually develop
 The immature stages = nymphs
– egg---> nymphs ----> adult
 Complete metamorphosis

 Each stage is structurally and functionally very

different
 The egg develops into an immature larva; eats
voraciously
 Followed by a transitional stage - pupa,
contained within cocoon
 Metamorphosis occurs within the pupal
exoskeleton, yielding a sexually mature
adult
Complete metamorphosis
 Beneficial Insects
 Honey bee: (Honey production and
Pollinates crops)
 Silkworm moth: Lava produces silk
 Breakdown dung
 Decompose dead bodies
 Lady bug : Eats harmful insects
 Some wasps : Kill harmful insects
 Drosophila: Genetics research
 Harmful Insects

 Boll weevil: Destroys cotton

 Tent caterpillar: Pest of many trees and

shrubs
 Mosquitos : Vector for Malaria

 Flea: Vector for Bubonic plague(Black Death)

 Enotmology
• Entomology is a branch of zoology that deals
with the study of insects, the most abundant
form of animal life on earth.
• Three quarters of a million species of insect
have already been described and estimates for
the number of species awaiting discovery
range from 1 million to 30 million.
• Given that there are so many species of
insect, it follows that insects are a major
component of the earth's biodiversity
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 Conti………
• They inhabit every terrestrial and freshwater
ecosystem and by studying the ecological
roles insects play we can have a better
understanding of how those ecosystems
function.
• Insects have important roles as plant
consumers and herbivores, a food source for
other organisms, scavengers, predators and
parasites

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 Cont………..
• Insects also directly affect human welfare
by competing with us for food and
transmitting diseases. However, not all
insects are detrimental to human welfare.
For example, bees are used to produce
honey, silkworms to produce silk and
many predatory species are used to control
crop pests.
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 Conti………..
• Insects have incredibly diverse
morphological, physiological, and
behavioral adaptations to their
surroundings which makes the
study of insects a fascinating
subject.
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 Conti…….
• Many features of insect biology also make
them ideal to use as model biological systems.
Their abundance, short life cycle, reproductive
potential and small size allow scientific
experiments to be set up, monitored and
duplicated with relative ease in almost any
location. Much of our basic understanding of
genetics, population ecology, and evolution has
resulted from experimentation with insects.
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 Importance of Entomology
1) Environmental importance
Both the number of insects and their
diversity has led to the importance of
insects in most aquatic and terrestrial food
webs. They have roles as prey, predators,
parasites and recyclers of dead matter, and
many organisms, including most higher
plants, could not exist without them.
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 2) Economic importance - how
do insects affect us?
An insect may be of benefit to us or be regarded as a
pest.
Most are beneficial or have an indirect influence.
Fewer than 0.1% are regarded as pests
Advantageous effects
• Plant Pollination - Pollination by animals is more
effective than by wind. Most higher plants are
pollinated by animals, usually insects such as bees,
wasps, flies and beetles.

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 Conti……..
• Production of products - honey, bees
wax and royal jelly (an export
industry for Australia), silk (produced
by the caterpillar, Bombyx mori),
shellac (a varnish produced by a plant
bug), cochineal (red food colouring
produced by a plant bug) etc.
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 Conti…..
• Human food - over 500 species of insects
are used as food by humans -usually
crickets, grasshoppers, beetle and moth
larvae and termites.

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 Conti……..
• Detrimental effects
• Destruction or spoilage of food (both fresh and
stored) and crops (including forests)
• Damage to goods - leather, paper, textiles, (by
beetles, cockroaches, silverfish or moths), timber
(by termites and different sorts of borers)
• Direct disease of humans or livestock
• Disease vectors
• Venoms, allergies, urtication
• Phobias - such as arachnophobia

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 GENERAL
CLASSIFICATIONANDNOMENCLATURE
Living organisms are divided into an
hierarchical system of classification. For
instance, the Animal Kingdom is divided into
several phyla (sing. phylum). Each phylum is
further divided into classes, one of which is
Insecta.
Classes are further divided into orders, families,
genera (sing. genus) and finally species

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 Conti………
• Each recognised species of organism is known by a
scientific name which consists of two parts - its
genus name and its species name. So the common
house fly is called Musca domestica. This is known
as binomial nomenclature. This name is always
shown in italics or alternatively is underlined.
• Common names do not have scientific validity.
Some organisms have no common name - others
have several.

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 EXTERNAL MORPHOLOGY
Features of Arthropods
All arthropods possess
• Exoskeleton - a hard protective covering
around the outside of the body (divided
by sutures into plates called sclerites)
• Segmented body - that allows movement
• Jointed limbs and jointed mouthparts -
that allow extensive specialization
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 Features of Arthropods
• Bilateral symmetry - whereby a
central line can divide the body into
two identical halves, left and right
• Ventral nerve chord - as opposed to a
vertebrate nerve chord which is dorsal
• Dorsal blood vessel

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 Important Classes
Five important extant classes of Arthropods
are:
• Arachnids,
• Chilopods,
• Diplopods,
• Crustaceans and
• Hexapods (insects)

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 1.Arachnids

• Arachnids include spiders, scorpions, ticks

and mites. They all have
• 2 body segments - cephalothorax and abdomen
• 8 jointed legs
• no antennae
• 8 simple eyes
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 2.Chilopods

• Chilopods, which include centipedes, all have

• Elongated body and slightly flatened.
• many body segments
• 1 pair legs /body segment
• 1 pair of antennae
• poison jaws/claws
• Carnivores
• Breath through spircles
• Simple or compound eyes.

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 3.Diplopods
• Diplopods, which include millipedes, all
possess
• Elongated and cylindrical bodies
• Many body segments
• 2 pair legs /body segment
• 1 pair antennae
• Herbivores mode of feeding
• Roll or coil up their bodies when touched
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 4.Crustaceans
• Crustaceans include crabs, prawns, slaters,
barnacles etc. Their features are
• Varied number of body segments - usually
there is a head, thorax and abdomen but there
is much fusion, reduction and modification of
segments
• Varied number of legs
• 2 pair antennae
• Breath through external gills.
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 5.Hexapods (Insects)

Insects such as house flies ,bees, ants, butte fly,

moths, grasshopper, beetles, wasps and
cockroaches etc. all have
• 3 body segments(head, thorax and abdomen)
• 6 legs
• 1 pair antennae
• Breath through spircles
• 1pair of compound eyes
• Some have two wings.
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 EXTERNAL MORPHOLOGY of
Hexapods
The Insect Head
The insect head is a sclerotised capsule of
mainly rigid sclerites. It houses the
compound eyes, simple eyes (ocelli),
antennae and mouthparts.
ocelli (either 2 or 3), detect low light or
small changes in light intensity.

Compound eye
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 Antennae
• Insect antennae vary morphologically.
• Antennae can detect very low levels of
chemicals and are used in insect
communication, finding host plants or
mates. The first antennal segment (closest to
the head) is called the scape.
• The second antennal segment is called the
pedicel.
• The remainder of the antenna is collectively
called the flagellum
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 Mouthparts
• The 4 mouthparts are the labrum, mandibles,
maxillae and labium.
• The labrum is a simple fused sclerite, often
called the upper lip, and moves longitudinally.
It is hinged to the clypeus
• Some insects have highly modified
mouthparts for specialized feeding.
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