Foreword - CCS HAU, Hisar

INSECT' NOMENCLATURE, IDENTIFICATION,
CLASSIFICATION AND THEIR
ROLE IN STRENGTHENING PEST DIAGNOSTICS
Sucheta Khokhar
Dean, College of Agriculture
CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar-125004, India
Amongst animals the insects are most dominant and diverse group on the earth, which
appeared 250 years ago. Insects are presumed to constitute about three-fourth of all living
animals on earth. They fill many niches in both terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems; and a
good number of them are celebrated pests of agricultural, medical and veterinary importance.
Existing knowledge on insect biodiversity is poor and no one knows exactly how many
species of insects exist. Widely divergent estimates have been provided including up to 30
million species (Erwin, 1982), 12.5 million (Hammond, 1992) and 5-15 million (Stork, 1997)
and 1-1.5 million named and described species and countless species yet to be discovered
(most of text books).
No new order of insects has been identified since 1915. For the first time in 87 years
(Klass et al., 2002), researchers have discovered an insect that constitutes a new Order of
insects. The discovery of the new insect Order by Entomologist, Oliver Zompro, from Germany
has been named Mantophasmatodea, which increases the number of insect orders to 31.
Zompro noted that it resembles a cross between a stick insect, a mantid, and a grasshopper,
nomenclatured Mantophasma zephyrum from Namibia (Fig. 1 & 2). The species is commonly
known as Gladiators, Heelwalkers, Rock Crawlers or mantophasmids.
Fig. 1 & 2. Adult, Mantophasma zephyra Zompro & Adis
Members of the order are wingless and carnivorous even as adults, making them relatively
difficult to identify. These creatures are inconspicuous, about 1–4 cm (0.4–1.6 in.) long, is
carnivorous and nocturnal. It lives at the base of clumps of grass that in rock crevices.
Still many species are to be recorded / discovered. But many established species are
either already become extinct or at the verge of extinction or qualified as endangered (Table
1) as per IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) and more information can be
collected from the Red list page - http://www.iucnredlist.org/ so that they can be protected.
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