entomology - Applied entomology, Identification of insects, Taxonomic specialization, Museums

The branch of biology dealing with all aspects of the study of insects. Insects are the most diverse group of organisms on Earth, and their importance has led to the development of several specialized areas of entomology. Many insects are beneficial to humans, such as those responsible for the pollination of crop plants, but others are harmful, by feeding on the crops or their stored products, or by transmitting fungal, bacterial, and viral diseases to the plants. They can cause enormous economic losses. The development of insecticides and alternative techniques for controlling pest insects forms the basis of applied economic entomology. Medical entomology is a specialized field dealing with the study of insect carriers of numerous diseases (eg typhus, malaria, sleeping sickness) and with the methods of controlling them. Insects have also been used as tools in scientific studies, and many significant discoveries have been made, for example in genetic research using the fruit fly Drosophila.

unlike many other fields, however, entomologists include both persons studying insects for their own sake, and those employed by commercial concerns interested in the control of insects. Like other fields of zoology, however, nearly any field of biology can, when using insects as the study organisms, be said to have an entomology-based subdiscipline (e.g., insect ecology, insect taxonomy, insect ethology, insect neurobiology, insect biochemistry, insect embryology, etc.)

Though technically inappropriate, the definition is sometimes widened to include the study of terrestrial animals in other arthropod groups or other phyla, such as arachnids, myriapods, earthworms, and slugs.

Applied entomology

Many entomologists are employed in the study of insects that are directly beneficial or harmful to humans.

Conversely, much of the study of insects (and related arthropods) that directly harm human beings or their domestic animals (called medical entomology and veterinary entomology) is focused on their physiology, with the goal of developing insect controls that are effective while minimizing undesirable side effects.

Forensic entomology specializes in the study of insect ecology for use in the legal system, as knowledge of insect behavior can yield useful information about crimes.

Identification of insects

Insects other than Lepidoptera are typically identifiable only through the use of Identification keys and Monographs. American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico CRC Press, 2000 ISBN: 0-8493-0212-9

Insect identification is an increasingly common hobby, with butterflies and dragonflies being the most popular. Sites such as BugGuide.net, What's That Bug?, InsectAsylum and Diptera.info cater to those wanting to find out about an insect they have seen or captured by posting insect photographs and responding to requests for identification help.

Taxonomic specialization

Many entomologists specialize in a single order or even a family of insects, and a number of these subspecialties are given their own informal names, typically (but not always) derived from the scientific name of the group:

Apiology (or melittology) - bees Coleopterology - beetles Dipterology - flies Heteropterology - true bugs Lepidopterology - moths and butterflies Myrmecology - ants Orthopterology - grasshoppers, crickets, etc.

Amateur Entomologists' Society Deutsches Entomologisches Institut Entomological Society of America Entomological Society of Canada Royal Belgian Entomological Society Royal Entomological Society of London Société Entomologique de France International Union for the Study of Social Insects

For a complete list, see the Entomology Index.

Museums

Many museums contain very large and important insect collections.

Europe

Natural History Museum, Vienna Naturhistorisches Museum. Natural History Museum, Paris Muséum national d'histoire naturelle Natural History Museum, Berlin Humboldt Museum Natural History Museum, London Natural History Museum Royal Museum for Central Africa, Brussels Royal Museum for Central Africa Natural History Museum, Leiden Natural History Museum, Leiden Natural History Museum, Sweden Swedish Museum of Natural History Natural History Museum, St. Petersburg Zoological Collection of the Russian Academy of Science

United States

National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC American Museum of Natural History, New York California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia University of Kansas Natural History Museum, Lawrence, KS Cornell University Insect Collection, Ithaca, NY Harvard Museum of Natural History, Cambridge, MA Illinois Natural History Survey, Champaign, IL Bohart Museum of Entomology, University of California, Davis, Davis, CA Essig Museum of Entomology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley Entomology Research Museum, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA Florida State Collection of Arthropods, Gainesville University of Nebraska State Museum, Lincoln, NE Peabody Museum of Natural History, New Haven Texas A&M University Insect Collection, College Station, TX

Canada

Canadian National Collection, Ottawa Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa Montreal Insectarium, Montreal

For information on other insect collections see

Biographies and Collection Repositories of World Entomologists Biological Collections Access System Central Registry German Biological Collections or ZEFOD