Entomology
Orders Worksheet

In the entomology lab, you were given the characteristics for eight Orders of insects, and you were taught proper curatorial techniques. You will be expected to identify insects to the level of Order, without the use of a key. Here are two ways to learn the orders (not just memorize the salient features).

1. Create a dichotomous key that allows you to key out only the eight orders for which you are responsible. The key in your lab manual deals with over double that number.

2. A similar approach would be to fill in this table with descriptive terms. Note that rarely will one feature alone (e.g. sucking mouth parts) allow for unambiguously defining an Order.
 

Order
Mouth Parts
(sucking / chewing)
Wings
(size/texture/number)
Other salient features
Metamorphosis
(in- / complete)
Odonata
 
  video of nymph feeding on adult hemipterans
Orthoptera

note the wing buds on the nymph

Hemimetabolous = incomplete

Hemiptera

usually a large scutellum
Homoptera

  Adult emerging from nymphal exoskeleton
Coleoptera

 

 carrion beetle

 
Diptera
 

Lepidoptera

Hymenoptera wasp  



 
For Grasshopper images, click on the image below.
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R.F. Lauff
Department of Biology
St. Francis Xavier University
Antigonish, NS Canada
B2G 2W5