Quiz Insects and Their Relatives Florida

Ants are social insects that produce a colony made of various specialized types of individual ants. True or False.

Ants are characterized by having a very narrow, pinched “waist” and antennae that are bent, or elbowed.  True or False.

Argentine; Carpenter; Odorous house; Velvety tree have two nodes.  True or False.

Termites have a broad waist and beaded antennae while ants have a pinched waist and elbowed antennae.  True or False.

Carpenter ants are the largest ant, workers are polymorphic 1/4 to 1/2 inch with one node. True or False

Argentine ant colonies aren’t separate as most ant species but linked between each other to form one large colony with multiple queens. True or False

Odorous house ants are 1/8 inch, dark brown to shiny black, one node hidden by the abdomen,12 segmented antenna with no club and have a very strong pungent coconut odor when crushed.  True or False

Pharaoh ants are 1/4 inch, yellowish to an orange hue, and have two nodes, antennae are 6-segmented with a 3 segmented club. True or False

In most cases inspecting for ants require a good flashlight, inspection mirror, gloves, and knee pads.  True or False.

Argentine ants will follow wires and pipes inside walls of a structure and under carpet behind the tack strip.  True or False.

Cockroaches go through gradual metamorphosis, with three basic stages in their life cycle: egg, nymph and adult.   True or False.

Cockroach eggs are laid in bean-like egg capsules, called ootheca, which may contain several dozen eggs.  True or False.

German Cockroach adults are pale brown to tan and about one-half inch long.  Adults have wings and are distinguished by having two dark stripes that run lengthwise along the pronotum, behind the head.  True or False.

Brownbanded cockroaches are the smallest of the more common cockroach, slightly smaller than the German cockroach. Brownbanded cockroaches vary from light tan to glossy dark brown in color. The adult stages are marked with two light-colored bands at the base of the wings.  True or False.

Oriental cockroaches are not as common as the Brownbanded cockroach and the German cockroach.  Adults are about one inch long and dark brown or black in color. Oriental cockroaches are strong fliers.  True or False.

American Cockroaches are 1 3/8-2 1/8 inches long at maturity, reddish -brown, and fully developed wings that completely cover the abdomen. The pronotum has a dirty-yellow band around the edge.  True or False.

Detection is fundamental to determining the cockroach species present. Since different cockroach species have differing habits, this will allow treatments to be better targeted.  True or False.

Sticky traps (monitoring boards) are a very useful tool to detect cockroach activity and monitor the successfulness of a treatment.  Several different types of traps exist, and some also contain a sex-attractant (pheromones) or food grade attractant. These traps should be placed in areas where cockroach activity is suspected, common breading locations and food storage areas.  True or False.

Sanitation is fundamental to cockroach control. Any methods that can be used to deny cockroaches the food, water and shelter they need will greatly aid in control.  True or False.

Vacuuming is almost always the best, first treatment option to quickly reduce the population and prevent scattering of the infestation. Exclusion is the next best long term solution to control infestations.  True or False.