Entomology Project
Description:
The objectives of the 4-H Entomology Project are to :
* learn to recognize insects commonly found in Georgia.
* learn about insects, their economic importance and their interrelationship with natural resources.
* learn about safe and effective methods of insect management and control.
* gain an appreciation for the role insects play in the ecosystem.
A 4-H project in Entomology may address any issue related to insects or closely related arthropods
(spiders, ticks, mites, scorpions, millipedes, centipedes, etc.). The scope of the project is limited only by
the imagination of each 4-H’er. Hopefully, the following lists of possible demonstration topics and
portfolio-building activities will help you develop project ideas that will be of great interest to you!
List of Possible Demonstration Topics:
Insect Collections and Displays
- How to make an insect collection containing several different orders of insects. Discuss where you
found the different insects and how you collected them.
- How to make a special collection of insects where all specimens collected are from the same order.
Discuss how insects get their scientific names by identifying some of the specimens by family, genus
and species.
- The benefits of beneficial insects and how to make a detailed collection of those found in your county
or in Georgia.
- How insects grow and how to make a collection or display of insects in which all life stages of each
insect are represented.
- The wide variation of habitats where you find insects. Make a collection display of insects from a
specific habitat. For example, insects found in stored grain, in a forest, in soybeans, in a rotten log,
in the soil, and insects from ponds and a fresh stream, etc.
- The major insects of importance found in the home garden.
- The role of predaceous insects in the environment and the major predaceous species in your area.
- The role of insect parasites in controlling insect pests.
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Control of Insect and Arthropod Pests
- The major pests of a specific crop and make a collection of all life stages and the damage caused by
the insects.
- Plant galls that are caused by insects.
- The identification and control of common livestock arthropod pests. Prepare an arthropod collection
and illustrate their importance to the livestock producer.
- Medically important arthropods; prepare a collection and illustrate their public health significance.
- The medical importance of venomous and urticarial arthropods (puss caterpillar, saddleback
caterpillar, buck moth caterpillar, hag moth caterpillar). Prepare a collection and illustrate their public
health significance.
- The identification and control of turf, ornamental plant, or household arthropod pests. Prepare a
collection and illustrate their economic importance to the home gardener and/or home owner.
- The basic principles of Integrated Pest Management using posters to illustrate the ecological and
economic importance of using this approach to control a specific pest.
- How to make different traps and baits to correct and/or control insects.
The Benefits of Insects
- The role of insects as pollinators.
- A bee project. Discuss how to make an observation hive, how to use beekeeping equipment and
how to harvest honey.
- Using insects in decorative displays.
- An historical study of the use of insects as objects of art, music, or their use in religion and then
discuss your findings.
- The use of insects as human food. Demonstrate how to cook foods containing insects or display
recipes and specimens of insects that have been used as foods.
- Make a collection and display of useful products produced by insects or of articles made from these
products (silk, honey, wax) and discuss the importance of insects in the ecosystem.
Insect Behavior
- How various insects make sounds and the purposes of their sounds.
- How social insects (bees, wasps, ants) find food and feed their colonies.
- How insects chemically communicate with each other.
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Ideas for Building Portfolios:
Insect Collections and Displays
- Make an insect collection containing as many different insect orders as possible.
- Make a special collection on one insect order and name the specimen by family and scientific name
(genus and species).
- Make a detailed collection of beneficial insects that are found in your county or in Georgia.
- Make a collection or display of insects in which all Iifestages of each insect are represented.
- Make a collection and display of insects from a specific habitat. For example, insects found in stored
grain, in ponds, a fresh stream, a forest, insects found in soybeans, in a rotten log, the soil, etc.
- Make a collection and display of beneficial and pest species of insects found in the home garden;
include all life stages and a description of their benefit or damage.
- Make a collection and display of predaceous insects and their prey.
- Make a collection and display of insect parasites and their hosts.
- Visit a natural history museum and view the insect collection.
- Visit a local library and examine books related to insect identification.
- Correspond with a professional entomologist or the Entomological Society of America regarding your
interest in insects.
Control of Insects and Arthropod Pests
- Undertake a detailed study of the pests of a specific crop and make a collection of all life stages and
the damage caused by the insects.
- Study plant galls that are caused by insects.
- Study common livestock, arthropod pests. Prepare an arthropod collection and illustrate their
importance to the livestock producer.
- Study medically important arthropods; prepare a collection and illustrate their public health
significance.
- Study the medical importance of venomous and uticarial arthropods (puss caterpillar, saddleback
caterpillar, buck moth caterpillar, hag moth caterpillar); prepare a collection and illustrate their public
health significance.
- Make a detailed study of turf, ornamental plant, or household arthropod pests. Prepare a collection
and illustrate their economic importance to the home gardener and/or home owner.
- Study Integrated Pest Management and prepare posters illustrating the ecological and economic
importance of using this approach to control a specific pest.
- Develop different traps and baits to collect insects; test and compare these traps under field
conditions (a specific habitat or crop) and report your findings. Make a display to exhibit the traps
and/or baits.
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- Visit local pest control operators, lawn care companies or interior plant management firms to learn
about
their insect control programs.
- Visit a local farmer, nurseryman, rancher, or dairyman and discuss the insect problems involved in
producing their agricultural commodity.
- Visit local health officials to discuss local problems with pests that can transmit disease such as
mosquitoes, midges, ticks and fleas.
Benefits of Insects
- Complete a study on insect pollinators.
- Undertake a bee project. Make an observation hive, learn to use beekeeping equipment and how to
harvest honey.
- Visit a beekeeper in your county and ask to view the hives.
- Undertake a project on the use of insects in decorative displays.
- Plant a garden that attracts butterflies, then collect and display the butterflies that visit the garden.
- Make a historical study of the use of insects as objects of art, music, or their use in religion.
- Explore the use of insects as human food. Display recipes and specimens of insects that have been
used as foods.
- Make a collection and display of useful products produced by insects or of articles made from these
products (silk, honey, wax).
Insect Behavior
- Make a taperecording of different insect sounds. Discuss how the sounds are made and for what
purpose the insect makes the sound.
- Study the foraging behavior of a species of social insects such as bees or ants. Observe and study
how they find and/or select suitable food sources. Determine if they have a preference for one food
over another by offering the insect different foods and observing their behavior.
Ideas for Teen-Led Project Club Activities:
* Insect Collections: Learn how to collect and display insects
* Insect Morphology: Learn the parts of an insect
* Insect Metamorphosis: Learn how insects grow
* Good Bugs vs. Bad Bugs: Learn about beneficial insects
* Control of Insects: Learn methods of insect control
* Firefly Club: Learn all about fireflies
* The Beetle Club: Learn all about beetles
* The Butterfly Club: Learn all about butterflies
* The Aquatic Insect Club: Learn about insects that live in water
* OUCH ! : Learn about biting or stinging insects, spiders and ticks
* Visit elementary schools to describe beneficial insects in your community.
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Resource List :
Suggested Resource Personnel
* Local County Extension Agents
* Extension Entomologists at The University of Georgia (Athens), the Rural Development Center
in Tifton and at Georgia Southern University in Statesboro
* Entomologists at local universities, colleges and research stations
* Entomologists with the United States Department of Agriculture
* Entomologists with the Georgia Department of Agriculture
* Agricultural and entomological consultants
* Pest control operators / lawn care technicians / pesticide applicators
* Nurserymen / arborists / farmers / ranchers / greenhouse growers
* Pesticide industry representatives/dealers
* Veterinarians
* Foresters
* Public health officials
* Biology / Zoology teachers
* Ecologists
* Librarians
Printed 4-H or Extension Literature
Control External Parasites and House Flies Around Poultry. CES B-0723
Control External Parasites on Beef Cattle. CES B-0270
Control External Parasites on Hogs. CES B-0724
Control of Common Pests of Landscape Plants. CES B-1074
Control of Pests of Houseplants. CES B-1075
Control Vegetable Garden Insects. C-0594
Controlling Fire Ants in Urban Areas. CES B-1068
Controlling Head Lice. CES L-0391
Controlling Pests on Pets. CES B-0985
Cotton Insect Control. CES C-0501
Home Insect Control. CES B-1002
Honey Bees and Beekeeping. CES B-1045
Insect Pests of Christmas Trees. CES B-1076
Mole Crickets in Turf. CES L- 0414
Organic Gardening and Pest Control. CES B-1007
Peanut Insect Control. CES C-0543
Pesticide Safety for the Homeowner. CES L-0430
Pictorial Key of Common Adult Insects in Vegetables. CES B-0827
Pictorial Key of Common Immature Insects in Vegetables. CES B-0828
Protect Yourself from Ticks. CES L-0417
Small Fruit Pest Management and Culture. CES B-1022
Tobacco Insect Control. CES C-0413
White Grub Pests on Turfgrass. CES L-0428
Whitefly Control in Greenhouses and Interior Plantscapes. CES B-1077
Millipedes and Centipedes. CES B-1088
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Organizations to Contact :
Entomological Society of America
9301 Annapolis Road, Lanham, MD 20706, Ph: (301) 731-4535
Department of Entomology
Biological Sciences Building, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602-2603, Ph: (706) 542-1765
American Beekeepers Federation, Inc.
P.0. Box 1038, Jesup, GA 31545
Georgia Pest Control Association
One Executive Concourse -- Suite 103, Duluth, GA 30136
Young Entomologists' Society (Y.E.S.)
1915 Peggy Place, Lansing, MI 48910-2553, Ph: (517) 887-0499
Printed Resources:
Many good books are available to those interested in an entomology project. The following list includes
only a few of those written for students seeking information about the insect world. Many of these
references can be found in local libraries or bookstores, OR in the libraries or bookstores of local
universities or colleges.
The Insect Guide. Ralph B. Swain,
261 pp. Doubleday & Co., Inc., Garden City, NY 11531.
How to Know Insects. H. E. Jaques.
205 pp. Wm. C. Brown Company, Dubuque, IA 52001.
Golden Guides and Golden Field Guides -- Available that relate to Entomology include:
Butterflies and Moths, Insect Pests, Insects, Spiders and their Kin
Golden Guides and Golden Field Guides -- M. Western Publishing Company, Inc., 1220 Mound
Avenue, Racine, WI 53404
Field Book of Insects. F. E. Lutz.
510 pp. C.P. Putnam Sons, New York, NY 1153l.
Destructive and Useful Insects. Metcalf, Flint and Metcalf.
McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, NY 10036.
A Field Guide to Butterflies. A. B. Klots.
Houghton-Mifflin Company, Boston, Mass. 02101.
The Moth Book W. J. Holland.
Doubleday and Company, Boston, Mass. 02101.
Insect Behavior. R. W. Matthews and Janice R. Matthews.
507 pp. John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY
The Study of Entomology. William S. Romoser.
449 pp. Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc., New York, NY
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Sources for Insect Collecting and Display Supplies
lanni Butterfly Enterprises, P.0. Box 81171, Cleveland, Ohio 44181. (216) 888-2310.
Bio Quip Products, 17803 LaSalle Ave., Gardena, CA 90248-3602. (310) 324-0620.
Carolina Biological Supply Co., 2700 York Road, Burlington, NC 27215. (919) 584-0381.
Ben Meadows, 3589 Broad Street, Chamblee, GA 30341. 1-800-241-6401.
Prepared by:
Beverly Sparks
Extension Program Coordinator -- Entomology
Revised 9/98
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