Optional Activities

To complete Unit 1, you must finish at least three of the following optional activities. This part of Unit I will expand your basic knowledge of entomology, while giving you as much free choice as possible. These activities should be done with the knowledge and approval of your 4-H project leader.

• Make an insect-collecting net. An insect-collecting net will allow you to collect flying and jumping insects without damaging their parts.
• Construct an insect storage box. An insect storage box provides a safe place to keep a long-term insect collection in usable form.
• Construct an insect display box. This activity will help you learn the parts of a display box suitable for exhibiting an insect collection. The box can also be used as a storage box.
• Rear a wild insect. Rearing a wild insect will help you learn some things about insect life cycles. Collect a young worm or bug from a natural host plant. Keep that insect in a quart glass jar and add new host plant material as needed. The jar can be covered with a paper towel held in place by a rubber band. Observe the insect feeding and the changes it goes through until it becomes an adult.
• Make an arthropod collection. Insects are a class in the Phylum Arthropoda. They are close relatives of the animals which are similar to, but not exactly like, insects. These animals make up the other classes of the Phylum Arthropoda. These classes are:
1. Arachnida--spiders, mites, ticks, daddy long legs, scorpions and tarantulas.
2. Chilopoda--centipedes--one pair of legs per segment.
3. Diplopoda--millipedes--two pairs of legs per segment.
4. Symphyla--tiny centipede-like organisms but only 11-12 pairs of legs.
5. Crustacea--crayfish, sowbugs, waterfleas, lobsters, etc.

You may have as many different specimens as you wish, but you must have one specimen from four of the classes. Symphyla are very small and hard to find, so it is not necessary to have them in your collection.