That’s equivalent to a human lifting 10 elephants. Insects that feed on blood, like mosquitoes, also have piercing, sucking mouthparts. There are several ways conducted by the adult bugs to move. All bugs are insects, but not all insects are bugs. 3) Dragonflies have been on earth for 300 million years! See the Attributions section at the back of the book for a complete list of sources, authors, artists, and licenses. Some Form Relationships, and Even Care for Their Young. The main sense organs of most insects are the antennae (feelers) on their heads. Scarab beetles held religious and cultural symbolism in Old Egypt, Greece and some shamanistic Old World cultures. Many of these have bright colors, such as black-and-yellow stripes, to warn enemies away. Insects from ants to zorapterans share the same basic structures to form their mouthparts. As a group, insects dominate the planet. Insects can even be found in icy habitats. One kind achieves an astonishing 1,000 beats a second. The praying mantis is the only known insect that can turn its head and look over its shoulder. Adult insects typically move about by walking, flying or sometimes swimming. Water striders use their small body mass and large surface area to their advantage on the water. Insects eat a huge range of foods. The largest insects can weigh up to 70 grams (2.5 ounces). Life begins as an egg. Their relationship is so sophisticated they've developed their own vocabulary and communicate with each other by squeaking. They even help control populations of large animals by infecting them with diseases and sucking their blood. They Outnumber All Other Terrestrial Animals Combined. But whether an insect seems boring or brilliant, its colors and patterns fulfill an important function vital to that insect's survival. �4�kB����LVb>��X����\�ʿ��S�|�y�99kOM�F����P�?�t�xJ, http://www.littleworksheets.com/grade2reading.html. Some immature insects have compound eyes, too. Insect mouthparts are modified to suit their diet. Each animal begins with a different letter, and has its own content page with relevant pictures, quick information, fun facts, and short poems. An insect's relatively large surface area creates a lot of drag as it moves through the air, so it slows down as it reaches the end of its travels. Facts about Bugs 2: the movements of adult bugs. Air enters the tubes through a row of holes along an insect’s abdomen. endobj Termite queens have the longest lifespan of any insect in the world, with some queens living up to 50 years. Some immature insects – caterpillars and beetle larvae, for example – have stemmata on the sides of their heads. Each online reader has its printable version in pdf format. Read on and enjoy a variety of interesting information about insects. Over 400 million years of evolutionary time, some insects have evolved to perform remarkably specialized roles in their ecosystems. Hercules beetles can lift 850 times their own weight. Insects Literacy for Anywhere Leveled Readers for the Developing World and Beyond! And these insects weren't tiny, either. Several insect enthusiasts have launched backyard bug surveys in recent years, and have documented hundreds, sometimes thousands, of unique species in their own yards. Many insects are camouflaged, so that predators do not see them. Studies estimate the total number of species on Earth is between six and ten million and potentially represent over 90% of the differing animal life forms on Earth. 1 0 obj How these structures are modified reveals a lot about how and what an insect eats. Depending on the species, insects may reproduce either sexually or asexually. 3 0 obj Some insects may have just a few ommatidia in each eye, while others have dozens. The third kind of eye is barely an eye at all. The type of mouthparts an insect has can help you identify its taxonomic order. They don’t need much, however: a simple raindrop will do. Bess beetles form family units, with both parents working together to rear their young. Insects are small animals with a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes and one pair of antennae. The three orders – Protura, Collembola, and Diplura – now stand separately as entognathous hexapods instead of insects. Insects live in just about every habitat on Earth, from the sands of hot deserts to cold snowy mountain streams. Insects are mostly solitary, but some, such as certain bees, ants and termites, are social and live in large, well-organized colonies. Certain colors and patterns, called aposematic coloration, warn potential predators that they're about to make a bad choice if they try to eat the insect in question. Insects like water striders can literally walk on water, by distributing their low body mass in a way that maximizes the water's surface tension. Adult insects can range in size from only 0.139 milometers (0.0055 inches) in wairyflies to 60 centimeters (2 feet) in stick insects [photo below]. Some species are armed with stingers or foul-tasting poison. Spiders are not insects because they have eight legs. They All Have the Same Basic Mouthparts, but Use Them Differently. The larvae enter a pupa, chrysalis or cocoon. All insects have sense organs that allow them to see, smell, taste, hear, and touch their environment. Acrobat Distiller 9.5.1 (Windows); modified using iTextSharp 4.1.6 by 1T3XT Most insects live on land, in fact about 97% do. They control weeds, kill crop pests, and pollinate crops and other flowering plants. Portions of this work have been adapted or used directly from sources in the Creative Commons. 15 Misconceptions Kids (And Adults) Have About Insects, Overview of the Biggest Bugs That Ever Lived, Insects: The Most Diverse Animal Group in the Planet, B.A., Political Science, Rutgers University. Image credits: Bernard DUPONT/Flickr. In some cultures, insects, especially deep-fried cicadas, are considered to be delicacies, whereas in other places they form part of the normal diet. They communicate through touch with their antennae and mouths; visually through combinations of flashes of light and combinations of colour; they make sounds to attract others of their own species or to send out signals to other species; and by smell: they produce chemicals called pheromones to send signals to within a species and chemicals called allomones for the warning signals that insects send out to other species. And some of those fossilized plants show evidence of being munched on by mites or insects of some kind. They are the most diverse group of animals on the planet, including more than a million described species and representing more than half of all known living organisms. The number of insect species is believed to be between six and ten million. The oldest definitive insect fossil, Rhyniognatha hirsti, is estimated to be 407 to 396 million years old. The labrum and labium essentially function as the upper and lower lips, respectively. In some cases, the ecological service an insect provides is so specific the insect's extinction might unravel the balance of that ecosystem. A fierce hunter, it can reach speeds of 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) per hour when chasing prey. The mandibles are the jaws. This is the case with some lace bug and stink bug mothers; they guard their eggs until they hatch, and even stay with the young nymphs, fending off predators. They can be seen swimming, flying and walking. The body of an insect has three parts. Insects may seem like simple beings, incapable of establishing bonds of any kind with other individuals. These arthropods do have six legs, but other morphological traits distinguish them from their insect cousins. Keep reading to find out 10 weird and fun facts about insects. <>stream Interesting Facts about Insects; Some midges that are literally little bloodsucking flies beat their wings quicker than the other creature. A moth caterpillar specializes in eating dead gopher tortoise shells. There are 26 animals at the ABC Zoo, including mammals, birds, reptiles, fish and insects. Insects are small animals with a three-part body (head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs of jointed legs, compound eyes and one pair of antennae.. Insects are the planet's most efficient decomposers, breaking down everything from carcasses to dung to fallen logs. Some scientists estimate the actual number of distinct insect species may be as high as 30 million. Beetles, of the insect order Coleoptera, are the most biodiverse group of creatures known, with more than 380,000 species described to date, making up 40 percent of all insect species on the books. Insects outnumber all other terrestrial animals. ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. They can be found living in the oceans. Their eggs or young survive in sheltered places and emerge in spring. The classification of arthropods is fluid, as entomologists and taxonomists gather new information and reassess how organisms relate to each other. The red disa orchid, Disa uniflora, relies on a single species of butterfly (the mountain pride butterfly, Aeropetes tulbaghia) for its pollination. <> Butterflies and moths drink fluids and have mouthparts formed into a proboscis or straw for doing so efficiently. While the greatest abundance and diversity of insects occur in the tropics, you can find a remarkable number of insect species in your own backyard. But how much do you know about insects? The dragonfly eye is perhaps the most sophisticated of all, with more than 10,000 ommatidia in each compound eye. The fossil record of insects dates back 400 million years. They First Appeared on Earth at Least 400 Million Years Ago. Come on gang, we’re going to find out what makes insects so amazing, in our 25 cool facts about bugs! endobj The total weight of all the insects is about 70 times as much as all the people. Insects have adapted to living in the darkness of caverns and at altitudes only a Sherpa can appreciate. Insects are divided into two main groups: the wingless insects like bristletails and silverfish; and the winged insects like dragonflies, cockroaches, grasshoppers, stick insects, beetles, flies, butterflies, and bees. Insects evolved from a group of crustaceans. Compound eyes are made up of dozens of lenses. Their colors can even help insects capture sunlight to help it stay warm, or reflect sunlight to keep it cool. While fossil evidence of insects from before the Devonian period is unlikely to exist, we do have fossil plant evidence from that time. Instead of lungs, insects breathe with a network of tiny tubes called tracheae. 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