ENY 4161/6166 Campus/Distance Education Syllabus

Insect Classification / 3 credits

Students frequently think this course is only involves insect identification, but Insect classification involves many other things, including the arrangement of taxa according to their degree of relatedness (phylogenetic relations). Insect identification is the application of scientific names to insect taxa (naming and identifying species). These two terms are often used interchangeably, giving rise to confusion. Note that this course is called Insect Classification. In order to determine relationships between species we must be able to identify them and learn to recognize important characters that may be used to imply relationships. Therefore, the majority of time in this course is spent dealing with the techniques for researching and identifying species, learning to use identification keys, researching literature and formatting reference lists, recognizing key families of a variety of insect orders, making collections, and learning the basic tools that will enable you to produce a classification scheme for a group of insects. The ultimate goal of a taxonomist is to produce a classification system for a particular group of insects. This is only possible after all species have been defined and able to be identified. This leads us to a theoretical discussion of what constitutes a species. This is an open-ended question. Perhaps by the end of the semester you will have an idea of the complexity of this question. Also recognize that while a classification scheme may be based upon many things, including ecology, molecular information, chronology, and others, the starting point is most often based on external adult morphology. Therefore, you will be using morphology throughout the semester when learning to identify insects, but keep in mind that when it comes to defining species, morphology is only one of many useful characters.

There will be deadlines for you to meet regarding each weekly exercise. Most exercises will be competed and turned in at the end of the week they are presented. If at any time you are unable to access our web site, please notify me immediately.

Outline of Topics Covered - Each topic will usually have an exercise or exercises that will introduce you to concepts which you will apply to particular problems.

• Introduction to course content, handouts;
• Sight ID diagnostic test of insect
• Curation techniques, collecting techniques and collection requirements (
• Curate specimens, labeling, mounting, arranging specimens
• Fill out online student profile at: http://photoweb.entnem.ufl.edu/id/ent_student_info.htm)
• Fill out and submit form at http://photoweb.entnem.ufl.edu/id/define_species.htm). Complete these before second class meeting class. If you encounter difficulties please email me at once at pmc@mail.ifas.ufl.edu
• Week 2 - (read Textbook - Chapter 5 - Classification, Nomenclature, and Identification) Adult Insect Morphology; characters, sexual dimorphism, insect body parts
• "Primitive" insect Orders (Textbook - Chapter 8 - Entognathous Hexapods, Protura, Collembola, Diplura)
• Collection supplies passed out
• Curating/collecting introduction
• Week 3 - - A Mini collection will be due - specimens representing 10 Orders, properly curated, labeled, and identified. Arranged phylogenetically according to your textbook classification.
• Defining species. Species? What is a species?
• Rules of Zoological nomenclature.
• Morphology and nomenclature quiz
• Week 4 - Researching an insect - distribution, literature, diagnostics
• Creating Dichotomous identification keys;
• Week 5 - Exchange team generated keys; Descriptions, diagnosis, diagnostic characters; describing species
• Original species description; Journal titles and abbreviations; proper citation; locating author's name and date of publication of species description
• Week 6 - Exam 1; Semester project defined - research designated family of insects, produce Florida species checklist, key to species, and bibliography of relevant references. Each person will work on a different family.
• Wednesday - Exam 1 - (identification and written exercise). This date will be finalized
• Week 7 - Orthopteroid insects (Orthoptera, Blattaria, Mantodea, Phasmida) (The remainder of the semester will involve all techniques you have been introduced to develop identification keys to various Florida insects, and to develop a classification system for these insects)
• Week 8 - Orthopteroid Insect taxa; Hemiptera
• Week 9 - - Hemiptera; Neuroptera, Coleoptera
• Week 10 - - Coleoptera and Neuroptera; begin Diptera and Hymenoptera
• Week 11 - - Diptera and Hymenoptera (cont.) Collection 2 due, check for proper identification, labeling, curating
• Week 12 - - Quiz on Diptera and Hymenoptera;
• Week 13 - - All Collections due
• Week 14 -, Misc. Orders;,
• Week 15 - - Semester reports due
• Week 16 -. Last class meeting, evaluations exchange reports
• Final Exam is scheduled for (this maybe changed to meet travel plans for the holidays)

Insect Collection Requirements - ENY 4161/6166

In the past students have failed to realize the tremendous time required to complete collections, and have tended to procrastinate until the last possible minute. Results have generally been disastrous, so to prevent this, we will have intermediate due dates for portions of your collections. Note the above due dates:

* January 29 - First mini-collection due (10 orders, pinned and labeled, arranged in phylogenetic order, with printed list) -

* February 17 - Second mini-collection due - Each collection should have at least 25 families identified, and properly arranged. By this point in the semester you should have at least one half of your collection finished (curated, labeled, arranged phylogenetically, with printed list). If not, you will be frantically trying to finish by the course deadline for all collections due November 21.

* April - All collections due, curated, labeled, arranged phylogenetically, with printed list and with list of references used to make species determinations.

All students participating in this course are required to make a collection of adult insects. (No immature specimens will be accepted). The number of specimens required to satisfy exercise requirements is described below. Note the added requirements for Graduate students. Collections are worth 100 points, or one exam.

Undergraduate students are to collect, properly curate and identify 100 different families, with 20 identified to species. These must also include at least 10 pointed specimens. Each specimen will be worth 1pt. No partial credit will be given. If the specimen is properly curated, labeled, and identified, it will be worth 1 pt. If any portion of the specimen is incorrect, no point will be given. Grading of collections will proceed as follows:

100 pts if the required number of families and correctly identified species, arranged properly, along with a printed list with all names properly spelled. Improperly spelled names will be considered incorrect identifications and a full point will be deducted for each such mistake. If you fail to meet the minimum number of families and species, the grade will be calculated on the basis of percentage completed, so for example if you only submit 50 identified specimens, and your requirement is 100, then your collection will receive a grade of 50 out of 100. Since this is counted as an exam grade and 20% of your final grade, you can see the merit of meeting full collection requirements.

Graduate students - must have 130 families, including 40 different specimens identified to species. Each specimen will be worth 1pt., and all curating must be correct for credit. As with the other species determinations, pertinent literature must be provided or cited when the collection is turned in.

The following will not be accepted in your collections. These are either too easily collected, beneficial, or not needed.

Species Identifications - are to be accompanied by a formatted list of references and copy of (if not too large) or citation of key(s) that you used to make your determinations. Naming an expert in the field that you consulted will not be acceptable, nor will walking down the aisles of a museum, comparing specimens. If you use the Internet, cite the full web address.

References - each student will prepare an alphabetical list of references used to make their determinations. The format will be that we will introduce you to. This list will be printed (and document will also be handed in as a computer file on a floppy disk, with references arranged alphabetically by author, then by year. Each reference paragraph shall be formatted with a hanging indent. All journal names will be cited with full title, no abbreviations. Scientific names shall be italicized and include author's name on labels and when included in reference titles.

Your collections should be a matter of pride to you, so do a good job curating and identifying. When collections are turned in, hand in a printed list of all specimens arranged phylogenetically by order, family, genus and species (if appropriate). Arrange Orders according to the classification scheme used in your textbook. Number each specimen to correspond to number on printed list. This will make it easier to grade and to locate named specimens.

Completed Collection Due Date - 2 weeks before end of classes. Earlier submissions will be appreciated and accepted.

In addition to a collection, each student will be assigned an insect family to research. The objective of this exercise is to produce a literature based checklist of species that probably occur in Florida, a key to those species, and a comprehensive reference list for that family which will include old references as well as the latest revisions if such exist. Words of caution, DO NOT RELY ON THE INTERNET TO COMPLETE THIS. You will almost certainly have to spend some time in the library looking up reference in old journals. I will provide you with an example of what your finished project should look like. Do not wait until the end of the semester to complete this. You are to turn in a printed copy as well as a copy of the file and any figures on a floppy disk. You may use MS Word or WordPerfect for this assignment. Be sure to number the pages, and include your name in the header on each page. Use 12 pt font, and 1.5 line spacing. Italicize all Latin names, and be sure to include authors names with species names. The references should be alphabetized, and each citation should be a separate paragraph with a hanging indent. See example provided by me.

Your project should include an introductory section describing in general terms what this family is known for, or something of its biology. If it includes medically important species be sure to mention that.

Course Web Pages - Additional notes, exercises, and course content may be posted here. You are expected to check these pages each week before classtime.

ENY 3005, Principles of Entomology, or a course dealing with classification of insects or other arthropod taxa. It is desirable for students to already have a familiarity with common insect orders.

Each student must have an Active E-mail account with reliable Internet access. Your computer must have a functioning CD ROM drive.

Borror, White, and Triplehorn, Introduction to the Study of Insects, 6th edition.

Numerous additional reference materials are found on this disk and also posted online at our class web site. Many identification pages at our dept web site.

Additional Selected References:

• Arnett, R.H., Jr. 1993. American Insects. A handbook of the insects of America north of Mexico. The Sandhill Crane Press, Inc., Gainesville, FL. 850 p.
• Bondreaux, H.B. 1979. Arthropod phylogeny, with special references to insects.
• Brues, C.T., A.L. Melander, and F.M. Carpenter. 1954. Classification of insects. Keys to the living and extinct families of insects, and to the living families of the terrestrial arthropods. Bulletin of the Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard. Vol. 108, 917 p.
• Crowson, R.A. 1970. Classification and biology. Aldine Pub. Co., Chicago. Vii + 350 p.
• Darwin, C.W. 1859. The origin of species. London.
• Ferris, G.F. 1928. The principles of systematic entomology. Stanford Univ. Publications, University Series. Biological Sciences V, no. 3.
• Gupta, A.P. 1979. Arthropod phylogeny. Van Nostrand Reinhold Company, New York. xx + 762 p.
• Hennig, W. 1968. Phylogenetic systematics. Univ. Illinois Press.
• Ross, H.H. 1974. Biological systematics. Addison Wesley Publ. Co., Inc.. Reading, Mass. 345 p.

Grading: Your grade will be determined by an accumulation of points earned from all assignments, exams, exercises. Your adult insect collection will count for 20% of your overall grade. Exercises will count for 30%; exams and semester project will count 50%. (See details on collection requirements). Each lesson will have a short exercise to be completed. (these may include crossword puzzles involving terminology of weekly topics). You must turn these in on time (usually by end week), to receive credit. Each exercise will be worth from 5-10 points. Late submissions will receive no credit. Exams will be announced a week in advance, and will consist of short identification exercises, short essays, or practical exercises related to class topics. All tests and exercises will be comprehensive. In all exercises, collections, and written assignments, spelling will count. A misspelled name is incorrect, and on an exam or ID will be treated as a wrong answer.

Additional Information: Lectures will NOT be the delivery method of choice. Each week will involve exercises designed to introduce you to a particular topic. These topics may be introduced in short online (Web Pages) scored exercises. This is intended to make you aware of the week's topic, to provide you with background information, and to stimulate ideas and thinking about the week's exercises.

Class exercises: We will utilize a variety of methods to introduce you to insect classification. Among the tasks that you will be expected to accomplish will be curating exercises using a variety of mounting techniques, identification of many of the families of insects that occur in Florida, using species keys to identify Florida insects, completing one or more written exercises including crossword puzzles, producing a variety of drawings to illustrate morphological characters, the creation and expansion of one or more dichotomous identification keys, compiling literature searches on one or more group of insects using computer searching of CD-ROM literature database to produce list of Florida species and tentative key to Florida species, and researching an original species description. These exercises should be turned in by week's end, and will be worth 5 points (or more).

Insect Collection: Develop and use a variety of collection techniques that will assist you in collecting a greater diversity of insects; Develop curatorial skills that will teach you professional insect mounting and labeling techniques;

As a result of completing the registration form at the University of Florida, every student has signed the following statement: "I understand that the University of Florida expects its students to be honest in all their academic work. I agree to adhere to this commitment to academic honesty and understand that my failure to comply with this commitment may result in disciplinary action up to and including expulsion from the University.

Students requesting classroom accommodation must first register with the Dean of Students Office. The Dean of Students will provide documentation to the student who must then provide this documentation to the Instructor when requesting accommodation.

Resources are available on-campus for students having personal problems or lacking clear career and academic goals which interfere with their academic performance. These resources include:

University Counseling Center, 301 Peabody Hall, 392-1575, personal and career counseling;

Student Mental Health, Student Health Care Center, 392-1171, personal counseling;

Sexual Assault Recovery Services (SARS), Student Health Care Center, 392-1161, sexual counseling; and

Career Resource Center, Reitz Union, 392-1601, career development assistance and counseling.

All faculty, staff and students of the University are required and expected to obey the laws and legal agreements governing software use. Failure to do so can lead to monetary damage and/or criminal penalties for the individual violator. Because such violations are against University policies and rules, disciplinary action will be taken, as appropriate.

Students with disabilities are encouraged to register with the Office for Student Services to determine the appropriate classroom accomodations. Any student requesting classroom accomodations must be registered with the Dean of Students Office, P202 Peabody Hall, 392-1261 (TDD - 392-3008), and have documentation on file in the office of Student Services in order to receive classroom and/or examination accomodations. For students with hearing disabilities trying to contact an office that does not list a TDD, please contact Florida Relay Service at 1-800-955-8771.

"Official University business email will be communicated to students using the University GatorLink email account. That is, official email will be sent exclusively to GatorLink UserName@ufl.edu. The preferred email address recorded for all students will be the GatorLink address. This is the email address displayed in the online phonebook. Students may continue to use the forwarding mechanism to deliver their email to other mail services, if they wish. However, it is the student's responsibility to insure that the forwarding address is current so that they receive official communications from the University."