ENT 321: Beneficial Insects

Insects are the only animals giving challenge to man for his supremacy. They
occupy more than 2/3 of the known species of animals. They have been upon earth
for 300 million years. Insects have great potential for rapid rise in population
through a variety of ways. Insects affect man’s interests in many ways. Insects
become ‘pests’, when their existence conflicts with man’s profit, convenience and
welfare. Insects feed on crop plants raised by man, feed on food and other materials
stored by man. Some insects act as vectors of some diseases and some also attack
woodworking, stationary articles and museum specimens. Some other insects affects
man’s health, mosquitoes, housefly and rat flea are some insects transmit diseases to
man. However, many insects are harmless beneficial to human beings. They are
productive insects like honey bees, silk worm and lac insects, predators, parasites,
wood killers, pollinators, scavengers etc. A study of insect, which affects the
interests of man in various ways is referred to as “ Economic Entomology”. The
benecifial insects are classified as follows.

A Productive insects
a. Secretion of insects.
Silk by silk worm
Lac by lac insects
Wax by honey bees
b. Bodies useful or contain
Dye (Cochneal insect)
Cantharidin – medicine (Blister loeetle)
Fist hair-stone fly nymph
c. Collect elaborate and store plant product.
d. Honey (nectar collected by honey bees)
e. Products from plant galls caused by insects- Tannic acid, inks, dyes.
f. Insects as food for animals and human beings-termites, white grubs, silk worms,
pupae, grasshoppers.
B. Helpful insects
a. Aids in pollination-Honey bees , butterflies, fig wasp.
b. Predators and parasitoids (Dragon fly, preying mantis, chrsoperla, Trichogramma
sp., Bracon sp. etc)
c. Destroy weeds – Mexican beetle, Zygogramma bicolorata feeding on parthenium.
d. Improve soil fertility-ants, crikets, ground beetle, termites,
e. As scavengers- dung rollers, fly maggots, beetles
f. Ideal material for scientific investigations.- Drosphila melanogaster.
g. Aesthetic value-Butterflies, Jewel beetle.
Natural enemies in pest management:

Biological Control is the use of living organisms to suppress the population of

a specific pest organism, making it less abundant or less damaging than it would
otherwise be.
Predator: It is an animal that eats more than one other animal during its life.
Dragonflies and Damselflies (adults and aquatic nymphs), Praying Mantids, Some
True Bugs (Hemiptera) are very effective predators. Examples are: ambush bugs,
damsel bugs, leaf bugs, leaf-footed bugs, stink bugs (particularly spined soldier
bugs), assassin bugs, and water striders, dobsonfly larvae (in water) snake flies,
lacewings and ant lions (immatures), Many beetles, such as ladybugs, fireflies,
ground beetles, tiger beetles and rove beetles are predatory. In some species, the
larvae are also predatory.

Predation Methods: Insect and invertebrate predators get their meals in several
different ways:

Hunters, Chasers:

On the ground, long-legged tiger beetles run down prey (sometimes

interspersing short bursts of flight) and snatch it in their strong, curved jaws. In the
air, dragonflies with excellent eyesight, shape their spiny legs into basket nets and
snare their prey on the wing. Dragonflies are very fast flyers. In the water, a number
of beetles (e.g., diving, whirligig) and water striders (true bugs) seek and seize insect
larvae, small aquatic insects, and mites. Giant diving beetle larvae are ferocious
predators. They have sickle-shaped jaws and will attack small fish and tadpoles.
Hunters, Waiters: Slow moving praying mantids, slow-moving, get most of their
meals by waiting. Their shape and colouring acts as camouflage. They are attracted
by movement. When prey comes near, they reach out with their spiny forelegs.
Dragonfly naiads (juveniles) hide in the bottoms of ponds. Their lower lips are
tipped with a fang. When prey comes near, they try to snag it with their fangs, and
pull it into their jaws. Some spiders (jumping, trap door) spring or dart out from
hiding places to snag prey.

Hunters, Collective Attack: Ants work collectively and will use chemical signals to
call other workers to the attack.

Trappers: The spiders are well known for their use of traps. Almost everyone has
fixed to a rock in flowing water. Nets may resemble a thimble, trumpet, or finger of a
glove. The larva lurks nearby and eats the organic matter that is caught in the net.
Hanging flies (related to scorpion flies) become live traps by hanging by their front
-sided
conical pits in sandy soil. They usually also seek a place protected from rain. They
hide in the sand and wait for ants and other small insects to fall into the trap. There,
they wait with sickle-shaped jaws. If a victim tries to climb out, an ant lion will pelt it
with little scoops of sand dug out with its flat, shovel-shaped head.

Finding Prey: Dragonflies, as noted, use vision, and predatory animals often have
better vision than their prey. Movement alerts many predators, including trappers
and lurkers such as praying mantids. Predators also use odour. This is particularly
important to non-flyers such as ants and other invertebrates. No doubt, sounds and
vibrations also signals for some predators, e.g., spiders.

Characteristics of Predators
 An immature predator will consume a number of prey in the process of
completing development to the adult stage.
 The predator is free living in all life stages except the egg.
 The eggs are usually laid in the vicinity of the prey.
 Upon hatching from the egg, predator nymphs or larvae actively seek out,
capture, kill, and consume prey.
 Many predators are carnivorous in both the immature and adult stages (but
there are exceptions [e.g., syrphid flies]).

Feeding Habits
A. Predators may be categorized based on feeding mechanisms:

Those with chewing mouth parts which simply chew up and swallow their
victims. This includes ladybird beetles, ground beetles and preying mantis; and
those with piercing-sucking mouthparts which stick the mouthpart into the prey and
suck out the body contents. These predators often have powerful toxins and
digestive enzymes that immobilize the prey. This group includes the assassin bugs,
lacewing larvae, and syrphid larvae.

B. Predators may be grouped with respect to host range:

i. Monophagous: those species that are highly restricted in their host range.
Sometimes limited to one species of prey (e.g., the vedalia beetle);
 ii. Oligophagous: those species with a somewhat restricted host range. Limited
to a few species (e.g., aphid-feeding coccinellids and syrphids);
iii. Polyphagous: those species with a broad host range (e.g., green lacewing,
preying mantis).

Parasites: In general, parasites live on the body of the animal they feed upon. Their
hosts are generally animals with permanent dens, nests, or homes where the parasite
may deposit its eggs. Parasites include mites (arachnids) and a number of orders of
tiny insects. The chewing and biting lice, fleas and mites all live on the surface of a
host animal for most, if not all, of their lives, and suck blood from it. But, these
animals do not kill their hosts because survival of the host benefits parasite
populations.

Parasitoids: Parasitoids are insects that feed on the body of another insect or
arthropod during the larval stage of their life cycle. The host organism will die as a
result. When the parasitoid completes its life cycle, it becomes a free-living insect, no
longer dependent on the host. Parasitoid insects include wasps, a few flies, beetles,
and the twisted wing insects. Typically, the female wasp deposits her eggs near, on,
or in the larva of another insect or arthropod. The wasp larva feeds on it, eventually
killing it. Usually the larva emerges before the insect dies or pupates. Some wasps
insert their own eggs into the eggs or pupae of other insects. Some wasps (e.g., mud
daubers) paralyze insects and seal them in a nest with an egg. The emerging larva
then feeds on the paralyzed victim. The wasp usually seeks out a specific prey,
which might be a kind of spider, weevil, or long-horned grasshopper.

Female tachinid flies lay their egg on the body of other insects. The larvae
burrow inside and live as internal parasites, eventually killing the host. Different
species of these flies prefer different hosts, but their most common victims are true
bugs and caterpillars. Like parasitoid wasps, they are used for insect control.
Stylopids (Strepsiptera) enter their hosts as larvae and females may never leave the
external skin.

General comparison of an insect parasite and a parasitoid

 Parasitoids usually destroy their hosts during development; parasites do not.
 The parasitoid's host is usually in the same taxonomic class (Insecta); not the
case for parasites.
 Parasitoid adults are freeliving while only the immature stages are parasitic;
not the case for parasites.
 Parasitoids develop on only one host individual during the immature stages;
parasites change hosts.
  With respect to population dynamics, parasitoids are similar to predatory
insects; not the case for parasites.

Most parasitoids are found in the orders Diptera and Hymenoptera, with
hymenopteran parasitoids the most diverse group. Parasitoids can be classified
based on their mode of parasitism and type of host as follows.

Endoparasitoid: Females deposit eggs within the host's body and many
endoparasitoids develop within the hosts, but emerge from them for pupation. Some
endoparasitoids pupate within the host, which becomes mummified.

An endoparasitoid examining, attacking and parasitizing a larval host

Ectoparasitoid: They deposit their eggs on the outside of their hosts and the
immature stages feed there. Ectoparasitoids generally paralyze their hosts with
venom before oviposition to prevent the host from removing the eggs.
Ectoparasitoids generally attack hosts that occur in concealed habitats such as stem
or seeds.

An ectoparasite ovipositing externally on scarabid larva

Solitary parasitoid: If only one individual develops per host insect, it is termed as
solitary. It may be an endoparasitoid or ectoparasitoid.
Gregarious parasitoid: If several individuals develop per host insect, it is termed as
solitary. It may be an endoparasitoid or ectoparasitoid.They measure the size of host
and accordingly lay the eggs. In polyembryonic species of parasitoids, a single egg
divides to produce several hundred identical progeny.
Simple parasitism: Single attack of the parasitoid on the host irrespective of the
number of eggs laid. Eg. Parasierola nephantidis on Opisina arenosella
Superparasitism: When an individual host is attacked by more parasitoids of the
same species, that can develop successfully, it is called superparasitism. The
intraspecific competition is always associated with superparasitism which leads to
small adults or death of some progeny. eg. Trichospilus pupivora on the pupae of
Opisina arenosella.
Multiple parasitism: This occurs when a host is parasitized with more than one
species of parasitoid. In this case, interspecific competition occurs which leads to
death of some or all of the progeny. eg. Bethylids and braconids on Opisina arenosella
Hyperparasitism: This occurs when a parasitoid lives at the expense of another
parasitoid.
Cleptoparasitoids: They require a paralyzed host for their progeny to develop, but
they are themselves unable to paralyze the host. They use the hosts paralyzed by
other parasitoids after eliminating the progeny of the first species. They are
considered undesirable in biological control programmes.

Desirable attributes of effective natural enemies

a. High searching capacity: Searching ability is a composite of several qualities of the

parasite which include:
1. Its power of locomotion;
2. Its power of perception (of the host);
3. Its power of survival; and
4. Its aggressiveness and persistence.
b. Limited host specificity: Most biocontrol successes have resulted from the
introduction of host-specific entomophagous species. A high degree of host-
specificity indicates good bio-physiological adaptation to the host and a fairly
direct dependence on changes in the host's population.
c. High reproductive potential: This includes a short developmental period and a
relatively high fecundity.
d. Wide environmental tolerance: Ideally, the host and parasite would have
absolutely equivalent distributions. This in turn means that the parasite would be
well adapted to a broad range of climatic conditions.
e. Restriction of oviposition to suitable hosts: Oviposition in previously parasitized
hosts or unhealthy hosts would limit the effectiveness of the parasite.
f. Amenability to insectary rearing: This would facilitate the breeding of material for
colonization and distribution, and thus would make the early control of the pest
more probable.
g. Density-dependent performer: Only those natural enemies that increase mortality
levels in their host or prey populations as their populations increase are effective
natural enemies. The cause of mortality alone does not mean that a natural enemy
will ‘regulate’ a host or prey population.
h. Good competitive ability: Many natural enemy species may compete for the same
host. A good natural enemy may be outcompeted resulting in inefficient control if
less effective natural enemies lay their eggs first in suitbable hosts.
i. Synchronization with the host and its habitat. Some natural enemies may not
appear in sufficient numbers at crucial times of the year such as spring time,
allowing the host to increase in their numbers.