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Hey guys, I understand that things with a "*" next to them you need to know the life cycle. But, for example, the order Odonata that has a * next to it, do I need to know the life cycle of every family within that order?

EmperorZero wrote:Hello.

If anyone has already taken an Entomology test at an invitational or other tournament, could you please tell me how the test was? I've searched everywhere for Entomology tests but I haven't had any luck.

Thank you

I was at an invite but the test was ridiculously easy. It was 4 minutes per station with 12 stations total. They had one station where they asked about the insect while most of them were just pure ID of just the orders and some family! We had one anatomy station and a dichotomous key (we didn't have to make one. We had to fill in the blanks). We had some pictures and some specimen. It was well-run but too easy in my opinion. Hope that helped!

For my double sided cheat sheet, I'm making a table with the orders and families in one column, common names in the second, and space for info in the last column. There's still a little bit of space on the second side, we're allowed to put diagrams right? I'm not too good at anatomy so I think that will be helpful, but I'm not sure how many anatomy questions should be expected. Also, can anyone tell me good insect anatomy sites where I can find one or two good diagrams or pictures? My first invitational is in about three weeks, and I'm super nervous.

OH, and my team really needs help on how to make a dichotomous key. I know we might not have to make one and maybe we'll only have to fill it in, but I don't understand it at all.

Thanks for your help!

A lot of field guides have some anatomy diagrams, for sure at least the NWF book. If yours doesn't, you can find good diagrams on the entomology page on soinc.org. There are links to anatomy info and the training handout has diagrams in it.

NWF has always been the preferred guide of choice because it's much more detailed and from first looks easier to use than the Audubon. The official people in Science Olympiad have always been sticklers about using names from the Audubon guide (I got points off last year in Forestry for using an outdated scientific name).

Phasmida in the NWF is the same as Phasmatodea.

Cjkowalcz wrote:Hey guys, I understand that things with a "*" next to them you need to know the life cycle. But, for example, the order Odonata that has a * next to it, do I need to know the life cycle of every family within that order?

Every family within that order has the same life cycle... Egg, nymph, adult.
The asterisks mean that you have to be able to identify the nymph/larval forms of the order. For all of the rest, you only need to know the adult.

EmperorZero wrote:Hello.

If anyone has already taken an Entomology test at an invitational or other tournament, could you please tell me how the test was? I've searched everywhere for Entomology tests but I haven't had any luck.

Thank you

I did this event 7 years ago or so, here's what I remember about the tests.

Most ID events that I've done (in NY, at least) are typically set up with stations, with around 2 minutes per station. The station usually asks for an identification and then has two multiple choice questions.

At Regionals, the test was a powerpoint, so they gave us a minute to identify the bug by a picture and then switched to the next slide, which had two questions.

States was physical stations and they had a few live samples (live cockroach freaked us out), but it was mostly the same format.

Hey everyone, I know I need to be able to identify nymph/larvae forms in the Order Odonata. However, do I write Odonata nymph/larvae or *family* nymph/larvae?

Another thing: WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A NYMPH AND A LARVAE FORM?

ceg7654 wrote:Hey everyone, I know I need to be able to identify nymph/larvae forms in the Order Odonata. However, do I write Odonata nymph/larvae or *family* nymph/larvae?

Another thing: WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A NYMPH AND A LARVAE FORM?

Nymphs and larvae are very different. While in incomplete metamorphosis, the cycle goes straight from egg to nymph to adult. However, in complete metamorphosis, the cycle goes from egg to larva and then to pupa, then adult. So the difference is that nymphs go straight to adult after hatching, and larvae enter the pupal stage first.

For the first question - I don't know. I wish I could have taken a test to determine this. I would say that it depends on what they ask for in the question; I would be prepared for family. However, it's really difficult to tell the difference between the nymphs of dragonfly families, which I posted earlier. I don't think anyone responded, so I don't really know. .-.

EmperorZero wrote:Hello.

If anyone has already taken an Entomology test at an invitational or other tournament, could you please tell me how the test was? I've searched everywhere for Entomology tests but I haven't had any luck.

Thank you

I was at Northview Invitational and the Ento test was MUCH easier than I expected, (having done Trees and Birds in past years they have a relatively similar format.) They only 9 stations with five minutes per station. Some stations asked about identifying pictures, (either one or two), and answering a few general questions about the family or order. There was also one station that had us label mouthparts. My partner and I had plenty of time to flip through our guide to find what we needed. Because this invitational was early in the season, I don't think it accurately represents Ento tests in general, but I hope this helps!