Entomology is the scientific study of insects, a branch of zoology. In the past the term insect was less specific, and historically the definition of entomology would also include the study of animals in other arthropod groups, such as arachnids, myriapods, and crustaceans. This wider meaning may still be encountered in informal use.
Hemiptera is an order of insects, commonly called true bugs, comprising over 80,000 species within groups such as the cicadas, aphids, planthoppers, leafhoppers, assassin bugs, bed bugs, and shield bugs. They range in size from 1 mm (0.04 in) to around 15 cm (6 in), and share a common arrangement of piercing-sucking mouthparts. The name "true bugs" is often limited to the suborder Heteroptera.
The Academy of Natural Sciences of Drexel University, formerly the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, is the oldest natural science research institution and museum in the Americas. It was founded in 1812, by many of the leading naturalists of the young American republic with an expressed mission of "the encouragement and cultivation of the sciences". It has sponsored expeditions, conducted original environmental and systematics research, and amassed natural history collections containing more than 17 million specimens. The Academy also organizes public exhibits and educational programs for both schools and the general public.
Leafhopper is the common name for any species from the family Cicadellidae. These minute insects, colloquially known as hoppers, are plant feeders that suck plant sap from grass, shrubs, or trees. Their hind legs are modified for jumping, and are covered with hairs that facilitate the spreading of a secretion over their bodies that acts as a water repellent and carrier of pheromones. They undergo a partial metamorphosis, and have various host associations, varying from very generalized to very specific. Some species have a cosmopolitan distribution, or occur throughout the temperate and tropical regions. Some are pests or vectors of plant viruses and phytoplasmas. The family is distributed all over the world, and constitutes the second-largest hemipteran family, with at least 20,000 described species.
Treehoppers and thorn bugs are members of the family Membracidae, a group of insects related to the cicadas and the leafhoppers. About 3,200 species of treehoppers in over 400 genera are known. They are found on all continents except Antarctica; only five species are known from Europe. Individual treehoppers usually live for only a few months.
The Auchenorrhyncha suborder of the Hemiptera contains most of the familiar members of what was called the "Homoptera" – groups such as cicadas, leafhoppers, treehoppers, planthoppers, and spittlebugs. The aphids and scale insects are the other well-known "Homoptera", and they are in the suborder Sternorrhyncha.
The superfamily Membracoidea of sap-sucking true-bugs includes two of the largest families within what used to be called the "Homoptera": the leafhoppers (Cicadellidae) and the treehoppers (Membracidae). The other families in this group are quite small, and have, at various points, generally been included as members within other families, though they are all presently considered to be valid, monophyletic groups. The relict family Myerslopiidae is restricted to New Zealand and South America while the Melizoderidae consist of two genera restricted to South America. The great diversity of Neotropical taxa suggests that the group originated in that region.
The Entomology Research Museum is the insect collection of the Department of Entomology of the University of California, Riverside. It contains approximately 4 million total insect specimens, over 3 million of which are pinned, roughly 400,000 mounted on slides, the remainder preserved in ethanol. Of the ~4 million curated holdings, approximately 75% of are identified to genus level or better. An estimated 25% of the entire collection are Hymenoptera, 21% are Coleoptera, 18% Diptera, and 18% Lepidoptera.
David Allan Young Jr. was an American entomologist who specialized in the taxonomy of the Cicadellidae and authored a comprehensive treatment of the family with numerous genera and species described and named by him. This work in three parts, Taxonomic Study of the Cicadellinae , covered 292 genera.
Zeno Payne Metcalf was an American entomologist specialising in Auchenorrhyncha.
The buffalo treehopper is a species of treehopper belonging to the subfamily Smiliinae. It is sometimes classified as Ceresa bisonia.
James Halliday McDunnough was a Canadian linguist, musician, and entomologist best known for his work with North American Lepidoptera, but who also made important contributions about North American Ephemeroptera.
The Bohart Museum of Entomology was founded in 1946 on the campus of the University of California, Davis. The museum is currently the seventh largest insect collection in North America with more than seven million specimens of terrestrial and freshwater arthropods. At least 90% of these holdings are insects. The collection is worldwide in scope with the Western Hemisphere, Indonesia, and Australasia particularly well represented.
Richard Mitchell Bohart was an American entomologist, university professor, and a member of the University of California, Davis Department of Entomology for more than 50 years. He taught courses in general entomology, insect systematics, and summer field courses in insect identification. From 1963 to 1967 he served as chair of the Department of Entomology for the University of California at Davis.
The Department of Entomology is a research department and collection unit of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), located in Washington, D.C. The department houses the U.S. National Insect Collection, one of the largest entomological collections in the world, with over 35 million specimens housed in 132,354 drawers, 33,000 jars or vials, and 23,000 slides in more than 5,200 cabinets. The department also includes research scientists and technical staff from the Smithsonian Institution, the United States Department of Agriculture Systematic Entomology Lab (SEL) and United States Department of Defense Walter Reed Biosystematics Unit (WRBU).
Hayk Mirzayans was an Iranian Armenian entomologist.
David Adamski is an American entomologist working as a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History and a support scientist in the Systematic Entomology Laboratory (SEL), United States Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C. He obtained a PhD degree from the Mississippi State University, Department of Entomology in 1987 after defending a dissertation, titled "The Morphology and evolution of North American Blastobasidae (Lepidoptera:Gelechioidea)". His research interests focus on alpha taxonomy, life histories and morphology of moths. Over the years, Adamski produced more than 80 scholarly publications, some in collaboration, shedding light on discernible groups of Lepidoptera including Gelechioidea, Tortricoidea, Pyralidoidea, and Noctuoidea. He studied divergent taxa within the Auchenorrhyncha and Sternorrhyncha, and Phytophagous Acari, as well as Gelechioidea and Blastobasidae. Adamski is a member of the Entomological Society of Washington.
Louise M. Russell (1905-2009) was a US Department of Agriculture entomologist renowned for her expertise in insect identification and research on using parasites for biocontrol.
Aetalionidae are a family of treehoppers in the superfamily Membracoidea. Aetalionidae are somewhat like Membracidae in that they have one to three rows of short spines on the hind tibia but differ in having the front femur fused to the trochanter and the scutellum is completely exposed. The females have finger-like protrusions on the genital capsule. The family is mostly Neotropical. The subfamily Biturritiinae is Neotropical while the subfamily Aetalioninae has a Neotropical genus Aetalion and the sole Old World representative genus Darthula with a single species Darthula hardwickii.
James Alexander Slater (1920–2008) was an American zoologist and educator who served as Professor of Entomology at the University of Connecticut from 1953 to 1988. An internationally recognized expert in heteroptera who also studied birds and reptiles, Slater served as the Connecticut State Ornithologist and published a monograph on his research into Connecticut's historical headstones.
