Economic entomology is a field of
entomology, which involves the study of
insects
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of j ...
that benefit or harm humans,
domestic animals, and
crops. Insects that cause losses are termed as
pests
PESTS was an anonymous American activist group formed in 1986 to critique racism, tokenism, and exclusion in the art world. PESTS produced newsletters, posters, and other print material highlighting examples of discrimination in gallery represent ...
. Some species can cause indirect damage by spreading diseases and these are termed as
vectors. Those that are beneficial include those reared for food such as
honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
, substances such as
lac
Lac is the resinous secretion of a number of species of lac insects, of which the most commonly cultivated is ''Kerria lacca''.
Cultivation begins when a farmer gets a stick that contains eggs ready to hatch and ties it to the tree to be infes ...
or pigments and for their role in
pollinating
Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds, a ...
crops and controlling pests.
The ''Journal of Economic Entomology'', published by the
Entomological Society of America, described itself in 2017 as the "most-cited entomological journal".
History
In the 18th century many works were published on agriculture. Many contained accounts of pest insects. In France
Claude Sionnest (1749–1820) was a notable figure.
19th century
![Curtis potato pests](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/Curtis_potato_pests.jpg)
In Britain,
John Curtis wrote the influential 1860 treatise ''Farm Insects'', dealing with the insect pests of corn, roots, grass and stored grain. Fruit and pests were described by authors such as Saunders,
Joseph Albert Lintner
Joseph Albert Lintner (8 February 1822 in Schoharie, New York – 5 May 1898 in Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of com ...
,
Eleanor Anne Ormerod
Eleanor Anne Ormerod (11 May 182819 July 1901) was a pioneer English entomologist. Based on her studies in agriculture, she became one of the first to define the field of agricultural entomology. She published an influential series of articles on ...
,
Charles Valentine Riley
Charles Valentine Riley (18 September 1843 – 14 September 1895) was a British-born American entomologist and artist. He was one of the first individuals to use biological pest control and authored over 2,400 publications. He convinced Congress ...
,
Mark Vernon Slingerland
Mark may refer to:
Currency
* Bosnia and Herzegovina convertible mark, the currency of Bosnia and Herzegovina
* East German mark, the currency of the German Democratic Republic
* Estonian mark, the currency of Estonia between 1918 and 1927
* Finn ...
in America and Canada. The pioneers in Europe were
Ernst Ludwig Taschenberg,
Sven Lampa
Sven Lampa ( 17 November 1839, Skaraborg – 2 December 1914, Lidingön) was a Swedish entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera
Lepidoptera ( ) is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths (both are called lepidopterans ...
(1839–1914),
Enzio Reuter
Enzio Rafael Reuter (30 March 1867, in Turku – 11 February 1951, in Helsinki) was a Finnish entomologist who specialised in Lepidoptera.
He wrote ''Über die Palpen der Rhopalocera: Ein Beitrag zur Erkenntnis der verwandtschaftlichen Beziehunge ...
(1867–1951) and
Vincenze Kollar
Vincenz Kollar (15 January 1797 in Kranowitz, Silesia – 30 May 1860 in Vienna) was an Austrian entomologist who specialised in Diptera. He was especially concerned with species of economic interest, particularly those of forests. Kollar descr ...
.
Charles French (1842–1933),
Walter Wilson Froggatt
Walter Wilson Froggatt (13 June 1858 – 18 March 1937) was an Australian economic entomologist.
Early life
Froggatt was born in Melbourne, Victoria, the son of George Wilson Froggatt, an English architect, and his wife Caroline, daughter of G ...
(1858–1937) and
Henry Tryon
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
* Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
(1856–1943) pioneered in Australia.
It was not until the last quarter of the 19th century that any real advance was made in the study of economic entomology. Among the early writings, besides the book of Curtis, there was a publication by Pohl and Kollar, entitled ''Insects Injurious to Gardeners, Foresters and Farmers'', published in 1837, and Taschenberg's ''Praktische Insecktenkunde''.
[ The article contains a detailed depiction of the damage and treatment as understood at the time.] During the 19th century
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
entomologists made significant progress in controlling diseases of the
silkworm moth, in the control of agricultural pests and in stored product entomology. Significant figures were:
Agostino Bassi
Agostino Bassi, sometimes called de Lodi (25 September 1773 – 8 February 1856), was an Italian entomologist. He preceded Louis Pasteur in the discovery that microorganisms can be the cause of disease (the germ theory of disease). He discovered ...
( 1773–1856),
Camillo Rondani (1808–1879),
Adolfo Targioni Tozzetti
Adolfo Targioni Tozzetti (13 February 1823 in Florence – 18 September 1902) was an Italian entomologist who specialised in Sternorrhyncha. He was Professor of Botany and Zoology in Florence, associated with Museo di Storia Naturale di Firenze w ...
(1823–1902), Pietro Stefanelli (1835, 1919),
Camillo Acqua
Camillo Acqua was an Italian entomologist, born 30 August 1863 at Velletri, Italy. He died 25 March 1936 at Ascoli Piceno.
Camillo Acqua was Directeur de l’Instituto Bacologico (Institut for sericulture) at Portici (near Naples) then at Stazione ...
(1863–1936)
Antonio Berlese
Antonio Berlese (26 June 1863, in Padua – 24 October 1927, in Florence) was an Italian entomologist.
Career
Berlese worked on pest insects notably of fruit trees. He published over 300 articles and a book ''Gli insetti loro organizzazione, sv ...
(1863–1927),
Gustavo Leonardi
Gustavo Leonardi (27 February 1869, Civezzano, County of Tyrol – 25 August 1918, Vintimille) was an Italian entomologist.
Leonardi was an entomology assistant in the universities of Padua and Portici before becoming a plant disease inspector ...
(1869–1918) and
Enrico Verson (1845–1927). In France
Etienne Laurent Joseph Hippolyte Boyer de Fonscolombe,
Charles Jean-Baptiste Amyot
Charles Jean-Baptiste Amyot (23 September 1799, in Vendreeuv – 13 October 1866, in Paris) was a French lawyer and entomologist especially interested in the Hemiptera.
After his father died, Amyot lived with a neighbor, a wealthy merchant, who ...
,
Émile Blanchard
Charles Émile Blanchard (6 March 1819 – 11 February 1900) was a French zoologist and entomologist.
Career
Blanchard was born in Paris. His father was an artist and naturalist and Émile began natural history very early in life. When he wa ...
,
Valéry Mayet and
Claude Charles Goureau
Claude Charles Goureau (15 April 1790, Pisy, Yonne – 6 February 1879, Santigny) was a French French Army, soldier and entomologist.
In 1808, he entered École Polytechnique, L'École Polytechnique, training there until 1810. He then spent two ye ...
were early workers, as was
Jean Victoire Audouin
Jean Victor Audouin (27 April 1797 – 9 November 1841), sometimes Victor Audouin, was a French naturalist, an entomologist, herpetologist, ornithologist, and malacologist.
Biography
Audouin was born in Paris and was educated in the field of me ...
, the author of ''Histoire des insectes nuisibles à la vigne et particulièrement de la Pyrale'',
Philippe Alexandre Jules Künckel d'Herculais Philippe Alexandre Jules Künckel d'Herculais (10 February 1843 Paris – 22 December 1918 Conflans-sur-Oise) was a French entomologist and zoologist.
He was the nephew of the French chemist Théophile-Jules Pelouze (1807–1867) and the son of a ...
,
Joseph Jean Baptiste Géhin
Joseph Jean Baptiste Géhin (1816, Remiremont - 1889, Remiremont) was a French naturalist and entomologist who specialised in Coleoptera. He also studied Diptera.
He was an apothecary in Metz.
His collections of Carabidae were purchased by René ...
and
Maurice Jean Auguste Girard
Maurice Jean Auguste Girard (13 September 1822 – 8 September 1886) was a French entomologist.
Girard was born in Givet, Ardennes, and entered École normale supérieure in 1844. In 1847 he taught physics in Périgueux. After having obtained his ...
. American literature began as far back as 1788, when a report on the
Hessian fly
The Hessian fly or barley midge, ''Mayetiola destructor'', is a species of fly that is a significant pest of cereal crops including wheat, barley and rye. Though a native of Asia, upon its discovery it was believed to have been transported into N ...
was issued by
Sir Joseph Banks
Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences.
Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James C ...
; in 1817
Thomas Say
Thomas Say (June 27, 1787 – October 10, 1834) was an American entomologist, conchologist, and herpetologist. His studies of insects and shells, numerous contributions to scientific journals, and scientific expeditions to Florida, Georgia, the R ...
began his writings; while in 1856
Asa Fitch
Asa Fitch (February 24, 1809 – April 8, 1879) was a natural historian and entomologist from Salem, New York.
His early studies were of both natural history and medicine, which he studied at the newly formed Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, ...
started his report on ''Noxious Insects of New York''.
Also in America,
Matthew Cooke wrote ''Treatise on the Insects Injurious to Fruit and Fruit Trees of the State of California, and Remedies Recommended for Their Extermination'', published in 1881.
The Englishman
Frederick Vincent Theobald
Frederick Vincent Theobald FES (15 May 1868 – 6 March 1930) was an English entomologist and "distinguished authority on mosquitoes". During his career, he was responsible for the economic zoology section of the Natural History ...
wrote A textbook of agricultural zoology in 1890. It became a standard text worldwide. Notable
foresters
A forester is a person who practises forestry, the science, art, and profession of managing forests. Foresters engage in a broad range of activities including ecological restoration and management of protected areas. Foresters manage forests to ...
were
Herman von Nördlinger (1818–1897) and
Julius Theodor Christian Ratzeburg
Julius Theodor Christian Ratzeburg (16 February 1801– 24 October 1871) was a German zoologist, botanist, entomologist, and forester.
Biography
Ratzeburg was born in Berlin, the son of a professor at the veterinary school of the University o ...
(1801–1871).
20th century
Among the most important reports early in the 20th century were those of
Charles Valentine Riley
Charles Valentine Riley (18 September 1843 – 14 September 1895) was a British-born American entomologist and artist. He was one of the first individuals to use biological pest control and authored over 2,400 publications. He convinced Congress ...
, published by the
U.S. Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the federal executive department responsible for developing and executing federal laws related to farming, forestry, rural economic development, and food. It aims to meet the needs of comme ...
, extending from 1878 to his death, in which is embodied an enormous amount of valuable material. At his death the work fell to Professor
Leland Ossian Howard
Leland Ossian Howard (June 11, 1857 – May 1, 1950) was a pioneer American entomologist who worked in the US Department of Agriculture. Serving as the chief of the bureau of entomology, a successor to C.V. Riley, he helped establish economic ent ...
, in the form of ''Bulletin of the U.S. Department of Agriculture''. The chief writings of
J. A. Lintner extend from 1882 to 1898, in yearly parts, under the title of ''Reports on the Injurious Insects of the State of New York''.
Another significant contributor to the entomological literature of the United States was
Charles W. Woodworth
Charles William Woodworth (April 28, 1865 – November 19, 1940) was an American entomologist. He published extensively in entomology and founded the Entomology Department at the University of California, Berkeley. He was the first person to breed ...
. The
Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
entomologist
Wilmon Newell was a pioneer of pest control as was
Clarence Preston Gillette. In India
Thomas Bainbrigge Fletcher
Thomas Bainbrigge Fletcher (25 March 1878 – 30 April 1950) was an English entomologist. Although an amateur lepidopterist who worked in the Royal Navy, he became an expert on "microlepidoptera" and was appointed as the second Imperial Entomolo ...
, who succeeded
Harold Maxwell-Lefroy
Harold Maxwell-Lefroy (20 January 1877 – 14 October 1925) was an English entomologist. He served as a Professor of Entomology at Imperial College London and as the second Imperial Entomologist to India. He left India after the death of two of h ...
and
Lionel de Nicéville
Charles Lionel Augustus de Nicéville (1852 in Bristol – 3 December 1901 in Calcutta from malaria) was a curator at the Indian Museum in Calcutta (now Kolkata). He studied the butterflies of the Indian Subcontinent and wrote a three volume mono ...
as Imperial Entomologist, wrote ''Some South Indian insects and other animals of importance considered especially from an economic point of view'', an influential work in the subcontinent. In France
Alfred Balachowsky was a key figure.
In the last quarter of the 20th century new techniques were pioneered and new theories developed, for instance
Integrated Pest Management
Integrated pest management (IPM), also known as integrated pest control (IPC) is a broad-based approach that integrates both chemical and non-chemical practices for economic control of pests. IPM aims to suppress pest populations below the econ ...
by
Ray F. Smith.
Harmful insects
![phylloxera cartoon](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Phylloxera_cartoon.png)
Insects considered ''pests'' of some sort occur among all major living orders with the exception of
Ephemeroptera (mayflies),
Odonata
Odonata is an order of flying insects that includes the dragonflies and damselflies. Members of the group first appeared during the Triassic, though members of their total group, Odonatoptera, first appeared in Late Carboniferous.
The two com ...
,
Plecoptera (stoneflies),
Embioptera
The order Embioptera, commonly known as webspinners or footspinners, are a small group of mostly tropical and subtropical insects, classified under the subclass Pterygota. The order has also been called Embiodea or Embiidina. More than 400 ...
(webspinners),
Trichoptera
The caddisflies, or order Trichoptera, are a group of insects with aquatic larvae and terrestrial adults. There are approximately 14,500 described species, most of which can be divided into the suborders Integripalpia and Annulipalpia on the b ...
(caddisflies),
Neuroptera (in the broad sense), and
Mecoptera
Mecoptera (from the Greek: ''mecos'' = "long", ''ptera'' = "wings") is an order of insects in the superorder Endopterygota with about six hundred species in nine families worldwide. Mecopterans are sometimes called scorpionflies after their lar ...
(also, the tiny groups
Zoraptera
The insect order Zoraptera, commonly known as angel insects, contains small and soft bodied insects with two forms: winged with wings sheddable as in termites, dark and with eyes (compound) and ocelli (simple); or wingless, pale and without eyes ...
,
Grylloblattodea
Grylloblattidae, commonly known as the icebugs, or ice crawlers, is a family of extremophile (psychrophile) and wingless insects that live in the cold on top of mountains and the edges of glaciers. They belong, along with Mantophasmatidae (rock c ...
, and
Mantophasmatodea). Conversely, of course, essentially all insect orders primarily have members which are beneficial, in some respects, with the exception of
Phthiraptera
Louse ( : lice) is the common name for any member of the clade Phthiraptera, which contains nearly 5,000 species of wingless parasitic insects. Phthiraptera has variously been recognized as an order, infraorder, or a parvorder, as a result of ...
(lice),
Siphonaptera (fleas), and
Strepsiptera
The Strepsiptera are an order of insects with eleven extant families that include about 600 described species. They are endoparasites in other insects, such as bees, wasps, leafhoppers, silverfish, and cockroaches. Females of most species never ...
, the three orders whose members are exclusively
parasitic
Parasitism is a close relationship between species, where one organism, the parasite, lives on or inside another organism, the host, causing it some harm, and is adapted structurally to this way of life. The entomologist E. O. Wilson ha ...
.
Insects are considered pests for a variety of reasons, including direct damage by feeding on crop plants in the field or by infesting stored products, indirect damage by spreading
viral diseases of crop plants (especially by sucking insects such as
leafhoppers), spreading disease among humans and livestock, and annoyance to humans. Examples of insects regarded as pests include the
phylloxera,
migratory locust
The migratory locust (''Locusta migratoria'') is the most widespread locust species, and the only species in the genus ''Locusta''. It occurs throughout Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. It used to be common in Europe but has now become ...
s, the
Colorado potato beetle
The Colorado potato beetle (''Leptinotarsa decemlineata''), also known as the Colorado beetle, the ten-striped spearman, the ten-lined potato beetle, or the potato bug, is a major pest of potato crops. It is about long, with a bright yellow/o ...
, the
boll weevil
The boll weevil (''Anthonomus grandis'') is a beetle that feeds on cotton buds and flowers. Thought to be native to Central Mexico, it migrated into the United States from Mexico in the late 19th century and had infested all U.S. cotton-growin ...
,
Japanese beetle
The Japanese beetle (''Popillia japonica'') is a species of scarab beetle. The adult measures in length and in width, has iridescent copper-colored elytra and a green thorax and head. It is not very destructive in Japan (where it is control ...
,
aphid
Aphids are small sap-sucking insects and members of the superfamily Aphidoidea. Common names include greenfly and blackfly, although individuals within a species can vary widely in color. The group includes the fluffy white woolly aphids. A t ...
s,
mosquito
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning " gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "li ...
es,
cockroach
Cockroaches (or roaches) are a Paraphyly, paraphyletic group of insects belonging to Blattodea, containing all members of the group except termites. About 30 cockroach species out of 4,600 are associated with human habitats. Some species are we ...
es, the
Western corn rootworm
The Western corn rootworm, ''Diabrotica virgifera virgifera'', is one of the most devastating corn rootworm species in North America, especially in the midwestern corn-growing areas such as Iowa. A related species, the Northern corn rootworm, ...
, and some fly species.
In the past entomologists working on pest insects attempted to eradicate species. This rarely worked except in islands or controlled environments and raised ethical issues. Over time the language changed to terms like ''control'' and ''management''. The indiscriminate use of toxic and persistent chemicals and the resurgence of pests in the history of cotton growing in the US has been particularly well studied.
Beneficial insects
Honey
Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...
is perhaps the most economically valuable product from insects.
Beekeeping is a commercial enterprise in most parts of the world and many forest tribes have been dependent on honey as a major source of nutrition. Honeybees can also act as pollinators of crop species. Many predators and parasitoid insects are encouraged and augmented in modern agriculture.
Silk
Silk is a natural protein fiber, some forms of which can be woven into textiles. The protein fiber of silk is composed mainly of fibroin and is produced by certain insect larvae to form cocoons. The best-known silk is obtained from the ...
is extracted from both reared caterpillars as well as from the wild (producing
wild silk
Wild silks have been known and used in many countries from early times, although the scale of production is far smaller than that from cultivated silkworms. Silk cocoons and nests often resemble paper or cloth, and their use has arisen independent ...
).
Sericulture
Sericulture, or silk farming, is the cultivation of silkworms to produce silk. Although there are several commercial species of silkworms, '' Bombyx mori'' (the caterpillar of the domestic silkmoth) is the most widely used and intensively stud ...
deals with the techniques for efficient silkworm rearing and silk production. Although new fabric materials have substituted silk in many applications, it continues to be the material of choice for surgical sutures.
Lac
Lac is the resinous secretion of a number of species of lac insects, of which the most commonly cultivated is ''Kerria lacca''.
Cultivation begins when a farmer gets a stick that contains eggs ready to hatch and ties it to the tree to be infes ...
was once extracted from scale insects but is now replaced by synthetic substitutes. The dye extracted from
cochineal
The cochineal ( , ; ''Dactylopius coccus'') is a scale insect in the suborder Sternorrhyncha, from which the natural dye carmine is derived. A primarily sessile parasite native to tropical and subtropical South America through North Americ ...
insects was similarly replaced by technological advances.
The idea of insects as human food,
entomophagy
Entomophagy (, from Greek ἔντομον ', 'insect', and φαγεῖν ', 'to eat') is the practice of eating insects. An alternative term is insectivory. Terms for organisms that practice entomophagy are ''entomophage'' and ''insectivore' ...
, widely practised in traditional societies, has been proposed as a solution to meet the growing demand for food, but has not gained widespread acceptance in the West.
References
Further reading
Entomologia GeneralisJournal of general and Applied Entomology (current emphasis on pest management and control) (
Entomologia Generalis
''Entomologia Generalis'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal covering general and applied entomology. Established in 1978 as ''Entomologica Germanica'' by German entomologist Wilhelm August Steffan, the journal publishes original research on ...
)
Journal of Economic EntomologyEuropean and Mediterranean Plant Protection OrganisationLeads through to species accounts through th
see also th
Forest Insect Pest data in Canada since 1990* Hill, D. S. (1983). ''Agricultural Insect Pests of the Tropics and their Control''. Cambridge University Press.
*
Metcalf, C. L. and W. P. Flint (1925). ''Destructive and Useful Insects''.
{{Insects in culture
Pest insects
Economic entomology is a field of entomology, which involves the study of insects that benefit or harm humans, domestic animals, and crops. Insects that cause losses are termed as pests. Some species can cause indirect damage by spreading disea ...
Subfields of entomology
History of zoology
Insects in culture