Syllabus Collection Lectures Announcements Lab
Biology 3601/5307:S01&S02 – General Entomology – Summer II 2009
Lecture M-F 9:00-10:15 Lab 10:30-1:15 WSB 109
Syllabus
Instructor: Dr. Chris M. Ritzi
Office: Warnock Science Building –216
Phone: 837- 8420
Email: critzi@sulross.edu
Office hours: Most afternoons or by appt.
Class Website: http://bbsrsu.sulross.edu/ & http://faculty.sulross.edu/critzi/
Text: Triplehorn, C.A. and N.F. Johnson. 2005. Borror and Delong’s Introduction to the Study of Insects. 7th edition. Other books of possible interest include Bland’s How to Know the Insects, Castner’s Photographic Atlas to Entomology and Guide to Insect Identification, as well as a handy field guide (Kaufman, Peterson, Audubon, etc.)
Course Description: This course will focus on classification, identification, ecology, evolution, physiology, conservation, and the economic importance of insects.
Course Objectives: Over the course of this class, I hope the following objectives will be met:
1. To instill a sense of awe and excitement about insects and other arthropods.
2. To train the student in the skills required by a professional research
entomologist, who develops and transmits new knowledge.
3. To familiarize the student with the student with the scientific method, and
approaches used in the development of theory in entomology.
4. To improve the student’s skills in quantitative biology.
5. To train the student in the identification of insects, to at least the family level.
Course Structure: In order to accomplish the above objectives, the following activities will be integrated by the student into an understanding of the science of entomology:
1. Lectures will cover the basic biology of insects and key topics of current
concern and study.
2. Laboratories will provide practical experience with insect form and function,
identification, and ecology.
3. A required insect collection will aid the student in learning about habitats in
which insects live, their lifestyles, and other aspects of their lives.
4. Several field trips will be offered over the course of the term. These are
intended to prove field experience as a group, and introduce students to a
variety of means of insect collecting.
5. Tests and examines will enable students to gauge progress in learning the
material.
6. Reading the textbook should be considered required for preparation for the
class. The recommended book provides a very interesting coverage of
insect life and taxonomy, and it is highly suggested that students consult
the book often when identifying insects. The reading and studying of this
material is to be self-paced, and students are individually responsible for
the content covered in this course.
7. Students must appreciate that this is a lecture and laboratory course. Learning
is the responsibility of the student, while the instructor aids by presenting
information for the student to assimilate.
Grading: Your grade will be assigned based on the percentage of points you get out of a total possible 600 points. (100pt exams (2), 50pt Lab notebook, 50pt preview collection, 25pt lab quizzes (4), 200pts from insect collection). Grad student grades will be calculated including the additional study collection and paper detailed below.
Tests: There will be a total of 2 exams, each worth 100 points. Quizzes will be given throughout the semester to assess material between exams. If you miss an exam or quiz and have a legitimate excuse, contact me within 24 hours of the test and we will arrange a make-up test. If you do not contact me within 24 hours, you will receive a zero on that exam.
Collection: The collection will consist of at least 100 separate families in at least 20 orders. Only 10% of the collection may include other arthropod specimens (i.e. spiders, scorpions, centipedes, solfugids, etc.). Each specimen must be correctly prepared, labeled, and in good condition. More information about collections will be presented later.
Note – Collections are very time consuming and tend to be the biggest stumbling block for completing the course. To avoid a lot of stress trying to find enough different types of insects, it is imperative to start collecting NOW.
Preview Collection: To make sure you are off to a good start, a subset of your collection will be due on Jul 17. This preview of at least 15 specimens will be graded on correct pinning, pointing, spreading, labeling and preservation techniques. Identifications are not required (but will be considered if provided). Species should consist of 5 pointed, 5 pinned, 2 spread winged, and 3 alcohol specimens.
Attendance: Students missing 20% of lectures (5 lectures) shall be dropped from the class per the SRSU catalog. Any student dropped for excessive absences will receive an F for the course grade. Please notify your instructor BEFORE missing class for authorized activities, death in the family, or illness. Excused exams or quizzes may be made up on the day of the final exam.
Students with disabilities will be provided reasonable accommodations. If you would like to request such accommodations because of physical, mental, or learning disability, please contact the ADA Coordinator for Program Accessibility at 837-8178, UC 211.
Lecture courtesy: The general rules of classroom etiquette are below.
1) Please do not talk to others in class while the instructor is lecturing. If you have a question, ASK THE INSTRUCTOR! That’s what I’m here for.
2) No eating, chewing, dipping, etc.
3) If you are going to attend class, please do so. Leaving and returning to class repeatedly is disruptive, as well as showing up after half the period is over.
4) Please turn cell phones and pagers to silent while in class. They are disruptive to the entire class, and distract others as well.
Tentative Lecture Outline
Date Lecture topic Chapter
July 6-10 Introduction, Arthropod characteristics and classification,
External Morphology, Insect Form and Function
Collecting, preserving, and mounting insects
July 13-17 Diversity and identification of common insect orders
Feeding adaptations and mouthparts
Internal anatomy of insects
Life cycles, growth and development
July 20-24 16- Midterm Exam
Insect ecology, behavior, and social systems
Entognathous hexapods: Protura, Diplura, and Collembola
Apterygotes: Primitive wingless insects
Paleoptera: Dragonflies and mayflies
July 27-31 Orthopteroids: Grasshoppers and allies
Hemipteroids: Bugs, Homoptera, book lice and lice
Neuropteroids: Neuroptera, Coleoptera, Hymenoptera
Panorpoids: Diptera, Lepidoptera, Trichoptera, and others
Aug 3-7 Systematic Entomology
Medical Entomology
Applied Entomology
Aug 7 9:00am Final Lecture Exam ____ ______
Note – This outline is subject to change for reasons of course interest, time constraint, or instructor whim. The exams will be administered on the dates given, unless material relevant for a given exam has not been covered. Under such cases, an exam may be moved a class period or two to aid in the clarity and understanding of the material.
Graduate Course Credit Requirement: As with all modified undergraduate for graduate course credit classes, this course has extra requirements above and beyond those for the undergraduates. The extra length in which must be taken will include a small scale research project and write-up to be included with your insect collection. The research project must be approved by your instructor prior to beginning, and should work to understand a particular ecological or geographical aspect of entomology. Examples of potential projects (yet not limited to these) include the pollinators of a specific plant species or community, the pests of a specific plant or community, a survey of particular ecological habitat (sand dunes, wetland, or other unique vegetative area), a survey of a particular niche (nocturnal insects, fossorial arthropods, aquatic insects), or a intensive survey of a group not emphasized in this course (scorpions, solfugids, whip-scorpions, pseudoscorpions, spiders, ticks, etc.). Please keep this separate project independent of your primary course collection, although you may use spacer tags in your main collection to refer to your special project collection for grading and fulfilling your collection requirements.
The write-up for this project should be stylized as a note or short manuscript following the instructions to authors for the journal, Southwestern Naturalist. You must include relevant citations, and document why you choose this particular study, the methods and materials you employed to conduct your study, what you found/collected, and what you think it means or tells us about the question you asked.
For grading purposes, this special collection and write-up will be worth a combined 200 points (100 points for collection and 100 points for the final paper). These are due at the start of the final exam on Friday Aug 7th. If you complete your collection and paper earlier than this, early submissions are encouraged.
The Insect Collection
The collection will consist of at least 100 separate families in at least 20 orders. Specimens will include mature and immature insects and arthropods from both terrestrial and aquatic habitats. A large diversity of insect families should be represented. To achieve this, as many different habitats as possible should be sampled for the collection. Only 10% of the collection may include other arthropod specimens (i.e. spiders, scorpions, centipedes, solfugids, etc.). Each specimen must be correctly prepared, labeled, and in good condition. Collections will be accessioned into the Jim V. Richerson Invertebrate collection if they are of acceptable quality or rarity.
For basic collecting methods, insect preservation, and collection preparation, consult Chapter 35 in Triplehorn and Johnson (2005), and the methods given for each order at the end of relevant chapters. Similar instructions are in Bland and Jaques (1978) from pages 3 - 29. Additionally, a lab prepared handout on proper pinning and preservation will be presented later during the class.
Urgent Warning on Insect Collection
The collection is time consuming and tends to be the biggest hurdle for students completing this course. Start immediately and keep working on the collection every day until submission of the final collection at the end of week 5. If you require extra lab time, be aware that other than the scheduled lecture, the room is going to be available for work. That means mornings after lecture and all afternoons during the week. If you want to come in and work on a weekend, please arrange this with the instructor, and I will see if I can be available to open the room. Here are some general tips on doing your collection.
1. Collect small insects as well as large one. Most insects are in the 2-4 mm range in length, and are much more abundant that their larger cousins.
2. It is most interesting to collect insects by hand without a net, so you can see what each species is doing. This is meant to be a hands-on course, so have fun with it.
3. Search a wide variety of habitats: water, edge, under logs and rocks, under bark, in dung or carrion, and on plants and animals.
4. Put out baits such as meat, liver, mashed banana and other damaged fruits, road kill, tuna, ding, downed tree limbs, etc. and watch what insects arrive and when they colonize. That being said, also respect the not everyone will appreciate this, so be considerate of your neighbors.
5. Search in the day and at night, especially around bright lights when dark. We will do at least one black light trapping session during this course to help with this.
6. Collect early and rapidly in the semester when insects are abundant. Also try to collect heavily after rains, as many insects will be active in the cooler, more humid air following showers.
Preview Collection: To make sure you are off to a good start, a subset of your collection will be due on Jul 17. This preview of at least 15 specimens will be graded on correct pinning, pointing, spreading, labeling and preservation techniques. Identifications are not required (but will be considered if provided). Species should consist of 5 pointed, 5 pinned, 2 spread winged, and 3 alcohol specimens.
Requirements for Entomology Collection
(Number of Families)
Collembola (1) Trichoptera (1)
Orthoptera (4) Dermaptera (1)
Isoptera (1) Lepidoptera (10)
Thysanoptera (1) Diptera (20)
Hemiptera (12) Siphonaptera (1)
Phthiraptera (2) Coleoptera (20)
Ephemeroptera (1) Hymenoptera (10)
Odonata (4) Phasmatodea (1)
Neuroptera (2) Mantodea (1)
Mecoptera (1) Blattodea (1)
Plecoptera (1) At least (3) of the following orders (Isopoda,
Thysanura (1) Pseudoscorpiones, Solifugae, Acari,
Opiliones, Araneae, Uropygi, Scorpiones,
Class Diplopoda, Class Chilopoda)
The above are required groups and numbers. If you collect extra specimens (families, order, etc.) that are not on the above list, they will be counted toward extra points on the collection. Points will be deducted for missing orders and families, incorrect identifications, and poor mounting technique/missing collecting data. There should not be a problem in this area, but please consult the list of threatened and endangered insects for the area (handout provided) to make sure you do not violate any state or federal protection laws. Also, only collect in places you have permission to do so. Do not collect any specimens on state or federal park land without the appropriate permits.
Hexapod Orders Neuroptera and Lepidoptera
Flight and Movement (not ppt) Coleoptera
Reproduction and Development Hymenoptera
Insect Color (not ppt)
6-Jul Week in planning: Mon - Intro/Arthropods and External Anatomy, Tues - Insect Orders and Collection on the Mall, Wed - Continue Orders and Pinning Exercises, Thurs - Quiz and Insect Physiology, Fri - collecting trip to Kokernot Park.
13-Jul Week in planning: Mon - Flight & Movement/Keying Exercise, Tues - Collect by Welsey Center, Wed - Repro & Development, Thurs - Quiz 2/Insect Color , Fri - Afternoon trip to Salt Cedar Beetle site/preview collection due
20-Jul Week in planning: Mon - Midterm and lab work, Tues - Start insect orders/families - Simple Insects, Wed - Lecture or Collecting trip ???, Thurs - Hemiptera (possible night trip to vineyard to blacklight), Friday - Collecting trip to CDRI.
27-Jul Week in Planning: Mon - Quiz and Neuro/Lep, Tues - Diptera (Night trip to CDRI), Wed - Quiz and Coleoptera, Thurs - Trip to Balmorhea or Diamond Y Springs???, Friday - Quiz and Hymenoptera.
3-Aug Week in Planning: Mon through Wed - open lab to identify specimens. Tues - Quiz. Collections (and ALL collecting materials assigned) are due by 5pm on Wednesday the 1st. Only turn in collections and materials to me, to prove you did turn everything in! Final Exam over the families and orders at 9am on Aug 7rd.
Remember, the Preview Collection is Due July 17th.
Final Collection Due Aug 5st.
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