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By Paula Green Aah summertime! You’ve got to love being outdoors again—lying on sunny beaches, attending outdoor barbecues—but the thing most people don’t love about the outdoors is the bugs. And there are plenty of them. Like it or not, the warm weather brings out an array of creepy critters. Insects make up more than four-fifths of all the animal species. There are millions of known species. In North America alone, there are over 90,000. Insects live in almost every habitat on earth from rain forest to desert. We’ve probably all have heard the expression, “busy as a bee.” Well bees must collect the nectar from two thousand flowers to make one tablespoon of honey. In an entire lifetime, the average worker bee produces 1/12th teaspoon of honey. The ant maybe tiny, but for its size, it is one of the giants of the insect world. With its strong jaw, it is able to carry 50 times its own weight. Ants cannot chew their food; they move their jaws sideways, like scissors, to obtain juices from their food. Did you know that butterflies taste with their feet? Butterfly feet are actually tiny receptors which allow them to taste the food they are standing on. A firefly, also known as a lightning bug is a luminescent beetle. Other common summer beetles include June bugs and ladybugs. One bug that is rarely seen is the cicada because it spends most of its life burrowed underground. They emerge once every 13 or 17 years to reproduce and die. The 13-year cicadas are generally found in the Southern and Midwestern states. The 17-year species are predominant in the Northern United States. Many insects are quite useful, but others can cause major problems, including crop damage, household damage and transmission of diseases. The housefly is responsible for spreading typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery and anthrax. More human deaths have been attributed to fleas than all the wars ever fought. As carriers of the bubonic plague, fleas were responsible for killing one-third of the population of Europe in the 14th century. Mosquitoes are responsible for passing on a parasite which causes malaria as well as the disease dengue, yellow fever and certain types of encephalitis. Malaria kills a million people a year. Another disease transmitted by mosquitoes is the West Nile virus. Since we have buzzed our way through insect info, we now need to “bug you.” Let’s put some sting in our step, as we fly into critter questions… because it is time to get a little trivial… 1. What is the state insect of Pennsylvania? 2. This is considered to be the oldest of insects, dating back 300 million years. 3. What is the most common household insect problem? 4. This insect hears through its knees. 5. This insect can rotate its head. 6. Name the insect that can fly 50 to 60 mph but only has a life span of 24 hours. 7. Nightie-night, sleep-tight, and don’t let these bite! 8. How many body sections do insects have? 9. What is the largest group of insects, numbering 330,000 species? 10. This is considered be to the loudest insect. 11. The males of this insect cannot sting because they do not have a stinger. 12. Which group of insects has the biggest nest? 13. This insect can jump 200 times its body-length. 14. What is the name of the cocoon that hosts a caterpillar / butterfly? 15. There are 30,000 of this species, but it is considered to be an arachnid, not an insect.
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Sources: Pockets Science Encyclopedia http://www.triviaplaying.com/03_animals_insects.htm http://www.uky.edu/Ag/Entomology/ythfacts/bagfun/trivia.htm http://www.fourh.umn.edu/Programs/camping/bug_camp/trivia.html http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/03/0329_040329_cicadas.html http://butterflybreeders.com/pages/lets;earn/funfacts.html Answers: Answers: 1. firefly 2. cockroach 3. ants 4. cricket 5. praying mantis 6. dragonfly 7. bed bugs 8. three 9. beetles 10. cicada (male) 11. bumblebee 12. termites 13. flea 14. chrysalis 15. spider |
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