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SUB-TOIC: Classification based on mouth parts and Location
CONTENT
- Meaning of pest.
- Type of pests.
- Classification based on mouth parts and Location
Sub- Topic 1:
Meaning of pest.
Introduction: Pest can be defined simply as any living organism, plant or animal, which can cause damage to cultivated crops, animals and human beings.
Human beings can also be called pests if they cause damage to crops or livestock.
Pests can carry organisms that cause diseases and constitute nuisance to agricultural products.
Majority of crop pests are invertebrates e.g insects and eelworms.
Classification of Agricultural Pests
Insect pests:
These are the most common pests of crops all over the world. Insects are animals without backbone and they belong to a group of animals called arthropods (animals with segmented bodies).
Pests eat up whole parts of plants, for example grasshoppers eat up the leaves of crops and so they are described as defoliators.
Insects destroy crops by feeding on them.
Insect pests can be classified based on
- their mouth parts (feeding habit)
- location
- Classification of Insect pests based on Mouthparts
Based on their mode of feeding, insect pests can be divided into three groups:
- Piercing and sucking insect pests
- Biting and chewing insect pests
- Boring insect pests
i .Piercing and sucking insect pests
These insects have mouth parts modified to pierce and suck the sap from tissue of tender crop plants. They possess stylets and proboscis with which they pierce and suck plant sap or juice. In the process, they are transmit diseases to them and reduce the growth of the plants.
Examples are white flies, aphids, mealy bug, cotton stainer, thrips, moth, scale insects, capsids, green spider mites etc.
- Biting and chewing insect pests
The mouth parts consist of mandibles, maxillae, labium and labrum. They feed on the leaves and young stems of plants by biting and chewing.
Examples are locusts, grasshoppers, termites, mantis, army worms, caterpillars (larva stage of butter flies), crickets.
CLASSIFICATION OF INSECT PEST-BASED ON LOCATION: ……….
