Back Entomologie Afrikaans علم الحشرات Arabic علم الحشرات ARZ Entomoloxía AST Entomologiya Azerbaijani Энтомология Bashkir Энтамалогія Byelorussian Энтамалёгія BE-X-OLD Ентомология Bulgarian Entomoloji Bislama
 Diversity of insects from different orders
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Entomology (from Ancient Greek ἔντομον (entomon) 'insect', and -λογία (-logia) 'study')[1] 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.
Like several of the other fields that are categorized within zoology, entomology is a taxon-based category; any form of scientific study in which there is a focus on insect-related inquiries is, by definition, entomology. Entomology, therefore, overlaps with a cross-section of topics as diverse as molecular genetics, behavior, neuroscience, biomechanics, biochemistry, systematics, physiology, developmental biology, ecology, morphology, and paleontology.
Over 1.3 million insect species have been described, more than two-thirds of all known species.[2] Some insect species date back to around 400 million years ago. They have many kinds of interactions with humans and other forms of life on Earth. For example, species such as P. pyralis conduct bioluminescent reactions in their light-emitting organs, which have been the subject of much research, especially in recent years.
- ^ Liddell, Henry George and Robert Scott (1980). A Greek-English Lexicon (Abridged ed.). United Kingdom: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-910207-4.
- ^ Chapman, A. D. (2009). Numbers of living species in Australia and the World (2 ed.). Canberra: Australian Biological Resources Study. pp. 60pp. ISBN 978-0-642-56850-2. Archived from the original on 2009-05-19. Retrieved 2007-10-26.