PESTS AND ITS HARM
TERMITES
The termites are a group of social insect usually classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera. As truly social animals, they are termed eusocial along with the ants and some bees and wasps which are all placed in the separate order Hymenoptera. Termites mostly feed on dead plant material, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, soil, or animal dung, and about 10% of the estimated 4,000 species (about 2,600 taxonomically known) are economically significant as pests that can cause serious structural damage to buildings, crops or plantation forests. Termites are major detrivores, particularly in the subtropical and tropical regions, and their recycling of wood and other plant matter is of considerable ecological importance. As eusocial insect, termites live in colonies that, at maturity, number from several hundred to several million individuals. They are a prime example of decentralized, self organized systems using swarm intelligence and use this cooperation to exploit food sources and environments that could not be available to any single insect acting alone. A typical colony contains nymphs (semi-mature young), workers, soldiers, and reproductive individuals of both genders, sometimes containing several egg-laying queens. Termites are sometimes called "white ants", though they are not closely related to true ants. |
Rats
Rats are various medium-sized, long-tailed rodents of the super family Muroidea. "True rats" are members of the genus Rattus, the most important of which to humans are the black rat, Rattus rattus, and the brown rat, Rattus norvegicus. Many members of other rodent genera and families are also called rats and share many characteristics with true rats. Rats are typically distinguished from mice by their size; rats are generally large muroid rodents, while mice are generally small muroid rodents. The muroid family is very large and complex, and the common terms ratmouseare not taxonomically specific. Generally, when someone discovers a large muroid, its common name includes the term rat, while if it is small, the name includes the term mouse - scientifically, the terms are not confined to members of the Rattus and Mus genera. Compare the taxonomic classification of the Pack rat and cotton mouse. |
MOSQUITOMosquito (from the Spanish meaning little fly is a common insect in the family Culicidae (from the latinculex meaning midge or gnat. Mosquitoes resemble crane flies (family Tipulidae) and chironomid flies. Mosquitoes go through four stages in their life cycle: egg, larva, pupa and adult or imago. The adult females lay their eggs in water, which can be a salt-marsh, a lake, a puddle, a natural reservoir on a plant, or an artificial water container such as a plastic bucket. The first three stages are aquatic and last 5–14 days, depending on the species and the ambient temperature; eggs hatch to become larvae, then pupae. The adult mosquito emerges from the pupa as it floats at the water surface. The adult females can live up to a month (or more in captivity) but most probably do not live more than 1–2 weeks in nature.
Mosquitoes have mouth parts which are adapted for piercing the skin of plants and animals. They typically feed on nectar and plant juices. In some species, the female needs to obtain nutrients from a "blood meal" before she can produce eggs. There are about 3,500 species of mosquitoes found throughout the world. In some species of mosquito, the females feed on humans, and are therefore vectors for a number of infectious diseases affecting millions of people per year. |
FLIES
True flies are insects of the order Diptera (Greek: di= two, and pteron = wing), possessing a single pair of wings on the mesothorax and a pair of halteres, derived from the hind wings, on the metathorax. The presence of a single pair of wings distinguishes true flies from other insects with "fly" in their name, such as mayflies, dragonflies, damselflies, stoneflies, whiteflies, fireflies, alderflies, dobsonflies, snakeflies, sawflies, caddisflies, butterflies or scorpionflies. Some true flies have become secondarily wingless, especially in the superfamily Hippoboscoidea, or among those that are inquilines in social insect colonies. Diptera is a large order, containing an estimated 240,000 species of moquitos, gnats, midges and others, although under half of these (about 120,000 species) have been described. It is one of the major insect orders both in terms of ecological and human (medical and economic) importance. The Diptera, in particular the mosquitoes (Culicidae), are of great importance as disease transmitters, acting as vectors for malaria, dengue, West Nile virus, yellow fever, encephalitis and other infectious diseases. |
BED BUG
Bed bugs are small wingless insects that feed solely upon the blood of warm-blooded animals. Bed bugs and their relatives have evolved as nest parasites. Certain kinds inhabit bird nests and bat roosts and await the return of their hosts; others have adapted well to living in the ‘nests’ (homes) of people. |
ANTS
Ants are social insects of the family Formicidae (pronounced), and along with the related wasps and bees, they belong to the order Hymenoptera. Ants evolved from wasp-like ancestors in the mid-Cretaceous period between 110 and 130 million years ago and diversified after the rise of flowering plants. Today, more than 12,000 species are classified with upper estimates of about 14,000 species.[3][4] They are easily identified by their elbowed antennae and a distinctive node-like structure that forms a slender waist. |
WOOD BORDER BEETLES (BUKBUK)
Powder-post beetles can be serious pests of structures . The larvae of these beetles live in and consume dry, seasoned wood. The most common types of powder-post beetles are Anobiid, Lyctid, and Bostrichid beetles. Other wood infesting pests are oldhouse borers and carpenter bees. |