Gibson School Systems

BIOLOGY HANDOUT-1 FOR GRADE 8

Making Young People Strong People
Diversity of Animals Making Strong People Stronger
P.O. Box 15564 Addis Ababa, Ethiopia info@.gyaschool.com Phones: 011-6638312 or 011-661-01-50
In the animal kingdom, animals have been classified into two main categories based on the presence or
absence of the backbone or a spinal column.
Differences Between Invertebrates And Vertebrates
Invertebrates Vertebrates
Invertebrates do not possess a backbone not an internal Vertebrates possess a backbone and an internal
skeleton skeleton.
Invertebrates have an exoskeleton Vertebrates do not possess an exoskeleton.
Body size varies but most are generally smaller than Generally, vertebrates are comparatively larger
vertebrates. However, some invertebrates grow to than invertebrates
gigantic proportions – such as the colossal squid (46 feet
in length)
Nearly all invertebrates possess an open circulatory All vertebrates have closed circulatory system.
system.
A majority of invertebrates have compound eyes. Vertebrates do not have compound eyes.
Includes radial or bilateral body symmetry. All vertebrates have bilateral body symmetry.
Presence of a simple and unorganized nervous system. Presence of complex and highly specialized organ
systems with specific functions.
Mode of nutrition includes Autotrophic, Parasitic and Mode of nutrition is usually heterotrophic.
Heterotrophic.
95% of animal species are invertebrates. 5 % of animal species are vertebrates.
Flatworms, arthropods, sponges, insects are few Mammals, fish, reptiles, amphibians, and birds are
examples Invertebrates. examples of Vertebrates.
Wild and Domestic Animals
Insects
Insects or Insecta are hexapod invertebrates and the largest group within the arthropod phylum.
Definitions and circumscriptions vary; usually, insects comprise a class within the Arthropoda.

Some Economically Important Insects

1) Tsetse fly
The fly bite develops into a red sore and the person soon experiences fever, muscle and joint ache,
swelling in the lymph glands, irritation and headache.
In advanced stages, the disease attacks the central nervous system and people experience changes in
personality, alteration in the biological clock, difficulty in walking and talking, seizures, and difficulty in
speaking.

2) Army Worm
The army worm is an invasive and damaging pest native to tropical and sub-tropical America, but it is
spreading across Africa.

3) Maize Stalk Borer Moth

Larval feeding on leaves and stems may reduce grain production and kill the plant. Maize plants are less
tolerant to borer attack than are sorghum and pearl millet, and hence losses of maize grain yields are
greater.

Social Insects
Many insects exhibit “social” behaviors (e.g. feeding aggregations, parental care of the young, and
communal nest sites).  In a broad sense, any insect that interacts with another member of its own
species could be called a social insect.  They exhibit all four of the following characteristics:
1. Share a common nest site
2. Individuals of the same species cooperate in caring for the young
3. Reproductive division of labor — sterile (or less fecund) individuals work for the benefit of a few
reproductive individuals
4. Overlap of generations — offspring contribute to colony labor while their parents are still alive

The Honey Bees

Rearing of honey bees for obtaining honey and bee wax is called apiculture.
Castes of Honey bees:
Honey bees build their nest combs on the trees. They are highly colonial, social and polymorphic insects.
The honey bees have best developed social life.
Three types of individuals (castes) are found in the colony of honey bees;
(i) Queen is a fertile female which lays eggs. Normally one queen is found in one nest.
(ii) Drones are males which mate with queen. Their number in the colony is not much. Drones are
produced by parthenogenesis.
(iii) Workers are sterile females and perform various duties of the colony. The queens and drones are
fed by the workers. The worker bees are smallest members of the colony. They have chewing and lapping
type of mouth parts, modified for collecting nectar and pollen of the flowers. The abdomen contains the
wax glands and the sting.
The worker bees are of three types:
(a) Scavenger bees
(b) Nurse bees and
(c) Scout bees
Bees perform two types of dances for communication,
(i) Round dance is performed when a newly discovered food source is close (less than 75 metres) to the
hive
(ii) Tail wagging dance is performed for long distance sources.
Eggs of queen hatch into white, legless larvae which spin delicate silken cocoons around themselves and
turn into pupae. Each pupa develops into an adult. The adult comes out by cutting wall of cocoon first and
secondly by breaking the wax cap of the cell.
During first 2 to 3 days, all larvae of bee are fed on a special proteinaceous food, called “Royal jelly” or
bee milk which is secreted by the hypo pharyngeal glands of the young workers. After that coarser food,
the “Bee Bread”, which is mixture of honey and pollen grain, is given. However, the queen forming larvae
are fed on royal jelly for the full larval life and these larvae are also taken for further development into
a special chamber called the queen’s chamber or cell.
Importance of Honey bees:
Honey bees have the following importance.
(i) Honey:
The honey is a neutral, natural valuable tonic for human body. Honey is a sweet, viscous edible fluid. 
(ii) Bee wax:
Bee wax is made of secretion of worker bees’ abdominal glands. It is a product of industrial importance.
It is used in the manufacture of many items including cosmetics, shaving cream, face cream, ointments,
plasters, carbon papers, pencils, electric goods, toothpaste, lotions, furniture-polishes, boot-polishes,
protective coating, ink paints and candles. It is also used in model and mould making and in printing
industry. It is also used in the laboratory for microtomy with the common wax for block preparation of
the tissues.
(iii) Pollination:
The honey bees are pollinators of many crop species such as sunflower, Brassica, apple and pear.
(iv) Medicinal value:
A drug, prepared from the bodies of honey bees, is used in the treatment of Diphtheria and some other
dangerous diseases. The venom of stings of honey bees has been used in the treatment of rheumatoid
arthritis and snake bite.
Harvesting Honey
Beehive: A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus Apis live
and raise their young.
Traditional Hive Modern Hive
Traditional beehives simply provided an Langstroth frames are thin rectangular
enclosure for the bee colony. Because no structures made of wood or plastic and typically
internal structures were provided for the bees, have a wax or plastic foundation on which the
the bees created their own honeycomb within bees draw out the comb. The frames hold the
the hives. The comb is often cross-attached and beeswax honeycomb formed by the bees.
cannot be moved without destroying it. This is
sometimes called a fixed-frame hive