ARTHROPODS

Arthropods have segmented bodies that are bilaterally symmetrical. There are paired, jointed appendages that usually end in claws. The hard exoskeleton is mostly chitin. There is a ventral nerve cord and a simple dorsal heart.

We want to be able to recognize 5 classes of Arthropods

• Diplopoda - Millipedes or "thousand-legged-worms
  • 1 pair of antennae
  • 1 chewing mouthparts
  • 2 pair of legs per body segment
  • body segments round cross section
  • usually feed on decaying organic matter but may feed on roots or leaves touching the ground

• Chilopoda - Centipedes
  • 1 pair of antennae
  • 1 pair of fangs or "poison legs"
  • 1 pair of legs per body segment
  • body segments flat in cross section
  • predators - generally beneficial

  Crustacea Pillbugs, sowbugs crayfish (crawdads), shrimp, lobsters, and crabs.

  • 2 pairs of antennae
  • 2 main body regions
  • 5 pairs of walking legs
  • breathe with gills, sowbugs and pillbugs are the main terrestrial forms- need high humidity
  • usually feed on deacying organic matter but may feed on roots or leaves touching the ground

• Arachnida - spiders, ticks, mites, scorpions, daddy-longlegs
  • no antennae
  • head and thorax joined into 1 section (cephalothorax)
  • 4 pairs of walking legs
  • venemous jaws
    • Spiders - all are predators, they use silk in some way - web, protective sacs, etc.
    • Scorpions
    • Mites and Ticks
    • Harvestmen and Daddylonglegs - look a lot like spiders but have one main body part.

• Insecta
  • 1 pair of antennae
  • 3 body parts
  • 3 pairs of legs
  • chewing, rasping, or pirecing-sucking mouthparts
  • some have wings in the adult stage

Orders we are covering include

• Thysanoptera thrips
• Orthoptera -crickets, long and shorthorned grasshoppers
• Hemiptera - true bugs - stink bugs, etc.
• Hompotera - aphids, leafhoppers, cicadas
• Neuroptera - lacewings
• Lepidoptera - butterflies and moths
• Coleoptera - beetles
• Diptera - flies
• Hymenoptera - wasps, bees, ants, parasitic wasps