History of Ecological Sciences, Part 45: Ecological Aspects of Entomology During the 1800s

History of Ecological Sciences, Part 56: Ethology until 1973

“…The most popular subjects for animal behavior studies were vertebrates, but insects ran a close second. The very popular illustrated Introduction to Entomology (4 volumes, ) by William Kirby (1759–1850) and William Spence (1783–1859) has been discussed previously (Egerton :185–186, :36–38), and here the focus is on their natural history studies. Five of their chapters describe injuries which insects cause to humans and crops, two chapters are on insect benefits, and 18 chapters are on various aspects of behavior.…”

History of Ecological Sciences, Part 52: Symbiosis Studies

“…During the 1800s, great advances occurred in the understanding of parasitism and diseases of both plants and animals, leading to a breakthrough, a germ theory of disease (Egerton 2012 b , 2013 a , Egerton b ). Histories of animal parasitism (Foster 1965, Philip and Rozeboom 1973, Kean et.…”

“…Part 45, on entomology during the 1800s, ended with discussion of Leland Howard's promotion from Assistant Entomologist to Chief Entomologist at USDA in 1894 and his study on parasitism in white‐marked tussock moths (Howard 1933, Mallis 1971:79–86, Hatch 1972, Sterling 1998 c , Egerton 2013 a :73–74). That species was a native, and he found that its increase to plague proportions was soon followed by increases in its native parasite species, which quickly reduced its numbers.…”

“…In late 1860s or early 1870s, English amateur naturalist Thomas Belt (1832–1878), in Nicaragua, discovered that small stinging ants Pseudomyrma bicolor live in hollow thorns on the bull's horn acacias where, in exchange for safe places to nest and feed, they protect acacias from depredations of other vegetarian animals (Belt 1888Belt 1985:218–222, Brown 1960, Van Ripper 2004, Egerton 2013 a :40–42). In his account of foraging or army ants Eciton predator, Belt (1888:20) mentioned that birds follow these ants and snap up any insects that take flight to escape the ants, but he did not mention which species of birds he observed.…”

“…In Berlin, Karl Brandt (1854–1931) in 1881 came to a similar conclusion (Mills 1989:43–76, Sapp 1994:11). Ernst Haeckel followed in their footsteps in his discussion of symbiosis in the protozoan order Radiolaria (1887, Egerton 2013 a :234–236).…”