Insect Identification: What Is It?

Abstract

Past presidents have taken liberties to reminisce about the past, complain about the lack of progress, or occasionally offer guide lines for the future of our Society. Our past president John O'Neil has suggested more individual participation and increased communication among our members. In their endeavor to promote entomology as a science and profession, presidents have often framed their remarks with their own area of interest as it relates to entomology. And so it is with this address; comments will reflect the area of interest with which I am most intimately associated. The younger generation would call this doing my thing or doing what I like to do best. One of the most commonly asked questions in field of interest is, What is this specimen? Man begins as a child full of curiosity about the living organisms he finds around him. Without this natural curiosity he would never accept the challenge of problem-solving. The second most commonly asked question is, How do I control it or should I control it? Not only is it wise to know what you are controlling, it is often necessary to know what the organism is before it can be effectively controlled. Records of insect control date back hundreds of years, but it was not until an interest was shown in classifying insects that this discipline began to develop. Since most biological work with living organisms begins with the proper identification, I would like to address remarks to the field called systematics. According to Becklund, et al. (1969), in its broadest definition, is concerned with arranging the forms of the organic world into an observable scheme of relationships. The term may be employed as a synonym for systematics, but more often taxonomy describes the actual technical aspects of naming and classifying organisms. Both terms are useful and can be used interchangeably. Biologists may have upwards of 10 million species to work with. Since most of us are entomologists, I would like to confine this discussion to insects and closely related arthropods. Sailer (1969) estimated that there were 3 million species of insects of which only about one-third have been classified. He further projected that at the rate of 8,000 new species named each year, it would require 250 years to complete the naming of our presently estimated insect world. I would like to predict that by the time the mite fauna is as well known taxonomically as the insects, their recorded number will be much closer to that of the insects than we now think. Sailer further estimates that there are only about 250 competent individuals in the United States who can provide authoritative identifications of insects. We have approximately 5,400 U. S. members in the Entomological Society of America which would give us a systematics membership of a little over 4%. The Florida Entomological Society has a