Homoptera, Orders Of Insects.

Order Homoptera

1. HOMOPTERA Presented By: 07, 08, 09, 10, 11 Assigned By: Dr. Shahid Hanif Submitted as partial fulfillment of assignment of ENTO-201 College of Agriculture BZU Bahadur Sub-Campus Layyah

2. GENERAL CHARACTERS Antennae slender or bristle-like. Have piercing/sucking mouthparts and feed by withdrawing sap from vascular plants.  Two large groups of Homoptera are: (1) the cicadas and leafhoppers (2) the aphids, scale insects and mealybugs. The size ranges from very minute to larger forms. The body is covered with a hard or waxy covering.

3. Wings Homoptera may or may not have wings. Wings, when present, are four in number and are held roof-like over the abdomen and are usually membranous. Cicadas and leafhoppers all have wings. Aphids may or may not have wings, if present they are small, typically with a pair of projections arising from the fifth or sixth abdominal segment. Scale insects are wingless. Mealybugs are usually wingless.

4. Life cycle Metamorphosis is generally considered to be gradual or simple but it is modified in whiteflies and some other Homoptera. As nymphs, they live underground and feed on the roots of trees and shrubs. Eggs are laid in late summer on stems or sheaths of host plants and hatch the following spring. Over the next 4 to 6 weeks, the larvae develop into adults and begin producing eggs that will overwinter. Asexual reproduction (parthenogenesis) is common. Many species have complex life cycles involving more than one host plant. Females grow to sexual maturity, mate, produce offspring, and die.

5. Economic Importance Homoptera are among the most abundant herbivores found in terrestrial habitats. Many species are pests of cultivated plants. Aphids and leafhoppers are important carrier of plant diseases. Whiteflies feed by tapping into the phloem of plants, introducing toxic saliva and decreasing the plants' overall turgor pressure.

6. Dog-day Cicada

7. Sharpshooter Leafhopper

8. Whitefly

9. Aphids

10. REFERENCES http://www.faculty.ucr.edu/~legneref/entomol/homoptera.htm https://projects.ncsu.edu/cals/course/ent425/library/compendium/homoptera.html http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu/pdfs/insects/Homoptera.pdf https://genent.cals.ncsu.edu/insect-identification/order-hemiptera-suborder-homoptera/