Insects Honor - Advanced

Nature Study

Requirements

1. Have the Insects honor.

   Answer: You must present to the instructor the duly signed card of the Insects honor (basic) as a prerequisite to start Advanced Insects, proving that the basic concepts of entomology (insect anatomy, main orders, life cycle, collection, and identification) have already been studied and approved previously, as required by the official Adventist Pathfinder program currently in effect. — Advanced Insects assumes mastery of the fundamentals: head-thorax-abdomen, three pairs of legs, antennae, wings (when present). The collection from the basic honor provides the practical foundation for the advanced one, which requires more different orders (10 vs 5) and more sophisticated techniques. Without it, the Pathfinder would not know how to distinguish Coleoptera from Hemiptera or to identify a family within an order.

2. Do one of the following (moths and butterflies will not be accepted for this honor):
   • Add 50 insects to your collection. The complete collection must contain insects from at least 10 different orders. Under each specimen, place a label containing the collection location, collection date, and the name of the collector. On another label, which must be placed below the first, identify the order and family of each collected specimen. (When fulfilling this requirement, be sure you are not breaking any law of your country).
   • Add 50 colored drawings or paintings of insect species to your insect Honor album. The complete album must contain species from at least 10 different orders. The drawings or paintings need to be life-size or larger, in order to show the details of small insects, and in natural coloring. Identify the order and family of the depicted specimens.
   • Add 50 photographs of insect species to your Insect Honor album. The complete album must contain species from at least 10 different orders. Each image must be in focus and properly identified, containing the location and date where the photo was taken and the order and family of the photographed specimen.

   Answer: You must present to the instructor one of the three options: (1) a physical collection with 50 additional specimens (moths and butterflies excluded), from at least 10 different orders, each with a label of the collection site, date, and collector, and a second label with the order and family; (2) an album with 50 colored drawings at life size or enlarged, from 10 orders, identified. (3) an album with 50 in-focus photographs, each with the date, location, order, and family. You complete only ONE of the three options (moths and butterflies do not count). — The honor excludes Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies) because it has its own honor. The 10 orders may include Coleoptera (beetles), Diptera (flies), Hymenoptera (bees and ants), Hemiptera (true bugs), Orthoptera (grasshoppers), Odonata (dragonflies), among others. Labels follow the standard of entomological museums worldwide. In Brazil, IBAMA regulates scientific collection under Law 9,605/98.

3. How do the special structures and habits of insects so remarkably prepare them for life?

   Answer: You must show the instructor that insects have special structures such as a chitin exoskeleton (protection and support), three pairs of jointed legs (efficient locomotion), wings (most fly, allowing rapid dispersal), antennae (sensory — smell, touch, hearing), compound eyes (360-degree vision in some species), and a specialized mouthpart (sucking, chewing, sponging). — Insects represent more than 75% of known animal species (more than 1 million catalogued). A lightweight exoskeleton allows them to fly; metamorphosis avoids competition between larva and adult for the same resource. Abundant reproduction (a termite queen lays thousands of eggs per day) compensates for high individual mortality. The evolutionary success of insects is evidence of the Creator's wisdom according to the Church's Adventist faith.

4. Distinguish between ametabolous, hemimetabolous, and holometabolous insects and give 2 examples of each. Illustrate the life cycle of 4 insects from different orders, 2 of them hemimetabolous and 2 holometabolous.

   Answer: Ametabolous: they do not undergo metamorphosis - they are born with the adult form and only grow (e.g., silverfish/Lepisma, springtails). Hemimetabolous (incomplete metamorphosis): egg -> nymph -> adult; the nymph already resembles the adult, but without developed wings and without reproductive maturity (e.g., grasshopper, true bug, dragonfly, cockroach). Holometabolous (complete metamorphosis): egg -> larva -> pupa -> adult; the larva is completely different from the adult and there is a pupal stage (e.g., beetle, butterfly, fly, bee). For the illustration, draw the complete cycle of 4 insects from different orders: 2 hemimetabolous (e.g., grasshopper - egg/nymph/adult; dragonfly - egg/aquatic naiad/adult) and 2 holometabolous (e.g., beetle - egg/larva/pupa/adult; butterfly - egg/caterpillar/chrysalis/adult). — Holometabolous metamorphosis was an evolutionary success — it separates the stages (the larva feeds in one niche, the adult in another, without competition). Hemimetabolous and holometabolous insects represent more than 95% of modern species. Ametabolous ones are primitive. The butterfly cycle (egg→caterpillar→cocoon→adult) is the best-known didactic example in Brazilian early childhood schools.

5. What are eusocial insects? How do they differ from solitary and subsocial insects? Give 2 examples of eusocial insects.

   Answer: Insetos eusociais vivem em sociedades organizadas com três características: divisão de trabalho em castas (rainha, operárias, soldados, machos reprodutores), sobreposição de gerações convivendo no mesmo ninho e cuidado cooperativo da prole (irmãos cuidam de irmãos). Insociais (solitários) vivem isolados, sem cuidado da prole após a postura - cada indivíduo se vira sozinho (a maioria dos besouros e moscas). Subsociais são intermediários: os pais (geralmente a fêmea) cuidam dos filhotes por um tempo, mas NÃO há castas nem sobreposição permanente de gerações (ex: alguns percevejos e besouros que protegem os ovos/ninfas). Dois exemplos de eusociais: abelha (Apis mellifera) e cupim (termitas); também formigas e algumas vespas. — Eusociality is the highest level of social organization in the animal kingdom, found mainly in the Hymenoptera (ants, bees, wasps) and in the Isoptera (termites). A termite colony can reach millions of individuals, all descended from a single queen. Studies of eusociality earned Karl von Frisch the 1973 Nobel Prize (the bees' dance).

6. Give the name of at least 4 insects that transmit diseases to humans and give the name of at least one disease transmitted by each of those insects.

   Answer: You must present to the instructor at least 4 vector insects and their diseases: 1) Aedes aegypti (mosquito) — dengue, zika, chikungunya, urban yellow fever; 2) Anopheles (anopheline mosquito) — malaria; 3) Triatominae (kissing bug/Triatoma infestans) — Chagas disease; 4) Phlebotominae (sand fly) — visceral and cutaneous leishmaniasis; others: flea (bubonic plague), louse (epidemic typhus), tsetse fly (sleeping sickness in Africa). — Vector insects are responsible for more than 17% of infectious diseases in the world, according to the WHO. In Brazil, dengue is the most frequent — millions of cases per year. Chagas disease affects 6-7 million people across Latin America. Vector control (eliminating standing water, screens, repellents) is the most effective and inexpensive strategy to prevent population outbreaks regionally.

7. Build an entomological net. The net may be an aerial, sweep, or aquatic net.

   Answer: You must present to the instructor an entomological net built by yourself: aerial (a 1 m wooden handle, a circular wire hoop of 30-40 cm, a bag of light, fine fabric such as organza, 60-80 cm deep — to capture flying insects); or sweep (a more robust bag of thick cloth, to pass through low vegetation and capture grasshoppers and true bugs). — Each type of net has a specific application. Aerial for butterflies and dragonflies in flight; sweep for insects in the grass; aquatic for larvae and nymphs in water. The wooden handle is light and balanced; the wire hoop keeps the hoop's circular shape. An organza or tulle bag in an aerial net is light so as not to hurt the insect during capture.

8. Build a trap for nocturnal insects, use it, and write a report on the insects that were captured.

   Answer: Nocturnal insects such as moths, beetles, and lacewings are attracted to light by visual disorientation — they confuse it with natural references (the moon, the stars). Light traps are standard in entomology for sampling nocturnal fauna. A full moon reduces capture because it competes with the artificial light. UV is more effective than white light for attracting many taxonomic groups at night.

9. Do one of the following:
   • Name at least one insect corresponding to each of the following:
   • Describe the castes of termites and bees
   • Compare the degrees of intelligence displayed by a grasshopper or beetle with the ant, bee, or wasp.

   Answer: You must present to the instructor one of the options: (1) mention one insect from each category (predator — praying mantis; pollinator — bee; decomposer — dung beetle; disease vector — Aedes mosquito; agricultural pest — grasshopper); or (2) describe the castes of social insects — termites (queen, king, soldiers, workers, and young reproductives) and bees (queen, sterile workers, and drones); or (3) compare the degrees of intelligence — grasshoppers and beetles act on simple instinct (a direct response to stimuli), while ants, bees, and wasps (social insects) show much greater collective intelligence: communication (such as the bees' dance), division of labor, complex construction, and cooperation. Choose one of the options and present it to the instructor. — The 'intelligence' of eusocial insects appears in collective behaviors: the bee's dance (Karl von Frisch, Nobel 1973) communicates the direction and distance of flowers; ants follow pheromone trails and optimize routes like algorithms. Castes exist because of functional division — a colony works like a superorganism. Termites build nests with natural ventilation through efficient thermal convection.

10. Give 3 examples of insects that can be considered both beneficial and harmful.

    Answer: Três insetos que são ao mesmo tempo benéficos e prejudiciais: (1) Abelha - benéfica pela polinização das plantas e produção de mel e cera; prejudicial porque pode picar e causar reações alérgicas graves (e ataques de enxames). (2) Formiga - benéfica por arejar o solo, dispersar sementes e controlar outras pragas; prejudicial porque as saúvas/cortadeiras destroem plantações e jardins, e algumas invadem casas e alimentos. (3) Vespa - benéfica como predadora natural de lagartas e pragas agrícolas (controle biológico) e polinizadora; prejudicial pela ferroada dolorosa e por construir ninhos perto de pessoas. (Outro exemplo: o besouro joaninha é benéfico comendo pulgões, mas certos besouros são pragas de grãos armazenados.) — Nature is full of beings with context-dependent effects — a bee can save a crop or kill an allergic person. The Atta ant (leafcutter) is a serious agricultural pest in Brazil, but the mole cricket is beneficial to the soil. It is important to understand the context before classifying something as a pest or an ally. Integrated pest management always works with this knowledge professionally.