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Insects, Bugs
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As entomologists know, I have taken
liberties with what I am calling "insect" on this page. For example, spiders and snails are by no means considered part
of the insect family by any entomologist worthy of the title. However, I am just a simple super-hero, attempting to
make my website as interesting as possible, so whatever is not an insect I am including under the catch-all auspices
of "bug". Rather than quibble over semantics, I trust all visitors reading this page will enjoy the information
presented.
 DO DIFFERENT SPECIES HAVE DIFFERENT COLORS OF BLOOD?
Yes.
The blood of mammals is red, the blood of insects is yellow, and the blood of lobsters is blue.
There are more insects in one square mile of rural land than there are
human beings on the entire earth.
Fossils of insects very much like those around today have been found
that were as old as 350 million years, while the oldest human is a relative whippersnapper, being a mere 10,000 years old.
It would seem, then, that as long as there have been people to be out having a barbecue there have been mosquitoes around
to bother them.
Insects consume 10 percent of the world's food supply every year.
An insect exerts so much energy in one hour of flying that it may lose
as much as a third of its total body weight.
Scientists discover approximately 7,000 to 10,000 new insect species
every year - and it is believe that there are between 1 million and 10 million species yet unfound. The
are more different kinds of insects on existence today than the total of all kinds of other animals put together.
According to the United States Department of Agriculture, the best time
to spray household insects is 4:00 p.m. Insects are most vulnerable at this time.
How many bugs are there, anyway?
There are
5 million different species of insects in the world. The insect population of the world is at least 1,000,000,000,000,000,000.
The weight of the world's insect population exceeds that of man by a factor of twelve.
What animal can withstand the most extreme
conditions?
Possibly the toughest animals on Earth are tardigrades or "water bears." The size of a dust
particle, they have a head and eight stubby legs attached to a blunt, transparent body. Tardigrades can be frozen alive, dried
in a vacuum, subjected to massive radiation, and squeezed with pressures six times greater than those at the bottom of the
ocean. These tiny creatures are all around us; there are probably some in your roof's gutters right now.
When the water they live in dries up, tardigrades dry up too. All life
processes come to a complete stop and they become totally inert, but they are not dead. Should it rain again, they soak up
water and are fully restored, ready to drink the juice of moss plants and make more little water bears.
Which insect is the fastest?
The fastest insect
on record, that has been reliably measured, is the Australian dragonfly - which has a top speed of around 57 km/h. Contrary
to popular myth, the deer botfly cannot fly faster than a jet plane. It would be crushed by the pressure.
THAT'S SOME BUG!
The world's heaviest insect
is the Goliath Beetle, from the family Scarabaeidae. The length of one species is 4.33 inches from the frontal horns to the
end of the abdomen. They weigh as much as 3.5 ounces.
What insect has the shortest generation time
The
insect with the shortest known generation time (the time from one stage in its life cycle until the same stage in its offspring's
life cycle) is the apple grain aphid (Rhopalosiphum prunifoliae/fitchii), which can bear live young only 4.7 days after being
born. Other kinds of aphids are almost as prolific, bearing live young anywhere from five to seven days after being born.
Such rapid- breeding aphids are parthenogenetic mothers, meaning that when conditions are good they bear genetically identical
clones of themselves without mating. They are so prolific that when they are born they already carry the embryos of their
first children. Now you know how those huge colonies of aphids seem to materialize almost overnight on the roses.
WHAT CREATURE PRODUCES SPERM THAT ARE 2/3 INCH LONG - THE
LONGEST IN THE WORLD?
Some fruit flies of the genus Drosophilia. Their sperm, more than 300 times longer than
human sperm, are six times longer than the fly itself - but hair thin and are balled up.
ANTS
Pharaoh ants are a serious nuisance pest in
hospitals, rest homes,apartments, hotels, grocery stores, and other buildings. They feed ona wide variety of foods including
soft drinks, greases, jellies,honey, shortening, peanut butter, fruit juices, baked goods, deadinsects, and even shoe polish.
Also, pharaoh ants gnaw holes in silk,rayon, and rubber goods. In hospitals, these foraging ants have beenfound in surgical
wounds, I.V. solutions, sealed packs of steriledressing, water in flower displays, and water pitchers. Pharoah antsmechanically
transmit diseases and contaminate sterile materials.
Ants have six legs.
Each leg has three joints.
Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight.
The average life expectancy of an
ant is 45-60 days.
Red ants (found in
the western United States) steal larvae of other ants to keep as slaves. The slave ants build homes for and feed the red ants,
who cannot do anything but fight.
The jaws open and shut sideways like a pair of scissors. Adult ants cannot
chew and swallow solid food. Instead they swallow the juice which they squeeze from pieces
of food. They throw away the
dry part that is left over.
The common Black Ants and Wood Ants have no sting, but they can squirt a spray of formic
acid. Some birds put ants in their feathers because the ants squirt formic acid which gets rid of the parasites.
Ants keep slaves.
Certain species, the so-called sanguinary ants for example, raid the nests of other ant tribes, kill the queen, and kidnap
many of the workers. The workers are brought back to the captors' hive, where they are coerced into performing menial tasks.
Ants
are social insects and live in colonies which may have as many as 500,000 individuals and they don't sleep.
An ant can survive for up to two weeks underwater
The ant is the animal with the largest brain in proportion to its
size.
Ants can remember how they got through a maze if there was food at the
other end. It's their amazing memory that also enables them to score so well on short answer tests. Source: THE JOY
OF TRIVIA
ANTS DECLARE TRUCE IN BATTLE OF THE SEXES
It may be
the world's tiniest power struggle: queens and workers in fire ant society are often at odds about the proportion of new male
and female ants, Science reports. The conflict offers a glimpse into a complex insect society that is neither an absolute
monarchy under the control of the queen, nor a workers' paradise where the queen is a slave to the will of her offspring.
Rather, workers and queens have arrived at a kind of negotiated middle ground, according to research conducted at North Carolina
State University. For decades, entomologists thought that the workers in ant colonies, all female and all daughters of the
queen, control how many males are allowed to live in the colony by killing many of their brothers while still larvae. Scientists
assumed the queen was simply an egg-laying machine. But a queen is able to determine the sex of her offspring by allowing
or not allowing stored sperm to fertilize the eggs. These findings suggest that queens can force workers to raise male sexuals
by limiting the number of female brood, and may help to explain why sex investment ratios lie between the queen and worker
equilibrium in this and many other ant species.
Do ants make noises?
Many kinds of ants communicate
with sounds, in addition to their better-known use of chemical pheromones.
The most obvious ant sounds can be heard by humans who disturb a colony
of the large red ants found in the American southwest. These ants stridulate, making noise by rubbing segments of their abdomens
together in a manner similar to the sounds produced by crickets. Pick up a red ant (carefully, since they can bite!) and you
may be able to hear its high squeaks.
Some kinds of ants that carve their nests out of dry wood knock their bodies
against the wood very rapidly, making short bursts of sound. These sounds are thought to be a kind of communication, although
no one knows what the ants are saying. Other kinds of ants that live in earth make sounds when they have been buried in a
cave-in. Other ants, hearing these sounds, are able to dig out their buried nestmates.
Ants can lift 50 times their own weight. Worker ants are always female.
But that's nothing compared with the honey bee, which can lift 300 times its own weight - roughly the equivalent of a person
lifting 15 tons.
Ants stretch when they wake up. They also appear to yawn in a very human
manner before taking up the tasks of the day.
BEES
Bees are the worldwide workhorses of managed pollination.
In the United States alone, bees play a vital role in the production of more than 100 commercially grown crops, pollinating
everything from apples, blueberries, and cherries to almonds and zucchini. They also pollinate crops like clover and alfalfa,
used to feed the animals we eat.
That's a lot of groceries, worth a lot of money. One recent
study estimated bees' annual economic value at $14.6 billion. If American bees had their own country, their GDP would exceed
that of a third of the nations of the world.
Of course, bees aren't nature's only pollinators. Other
insects, birds, and even bats carry pollen between male flower parts and female ones. And most of our major food grains are
pollinated by the wind. But when bees call in sick, many, many plants we need to grow go on birth control.
So what's happening to our bees? No one knows what's driving
the die-off, but it does have a name: colony collapse disorder (CCD). Beekeepers first reported CCD in late 2006. Basically,
they returned to their hives to find whole colonies devoid of adult bees. The adult bees' bodies were nowhere to be found,
either. They had simply disappeared.
So far, incidents have been reported in 27 states and have
claimed perhaps a quarter of U.S. honeybee colonies. Die-offs of that scale have happened before--notably after the arrival
of a parasitic mite in the 1980s. But scientists can't yet say if CCD is related, or if it's something entirely new.
In fact, scientists know hardly anything about CCD--though
they're working to solve the mystery. At least this much is certain: these are hard times for honeybees, who sweeten Americans'
diets in more ways than one. We need our bees.
Steve Sampson
KnowledgeNews is brought to you by Every Learner, Inc., an independent
small business dedicated to supporting lifelong learners. Copyright © 2007, Every Learner, Inc. All rights reserved.
“Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn't be able
to fly, but the bumble bee doesn't know it so it goes on flying anyway.” - Mary Kay Ash.
Between 20,000 and 60,000 bees live in a single hive. The queen bee lays
1,500 eggs a day and lives for up to 2 years. The drone, whose only job it is to mate with the queen bee, has a lifespan
of around 24 days - they have no stinger. Worker bees - all sterile females - usually work themselves to death within
40 days in summer, collecting pollen and nectar. Worker bees fly up to 14km (9 miles) to find pollen and nectar, flying at
24km/h (15 mph).
A worker bee communicates her floral findings by performing a dance on the honeycomb. The orientation
of her movements and the frequency of her vibrations indicate the direction and distance of the flowers.
Flowers
are pollinated mostly by bees; up to one third of all plant pollination on earth are by bees. In short, this means that one
in every three spoons of food you put in your mouth was a direct result of the work done by bees.
Bees do not have ears, but they have an excellent sense of smell with chemoreceptors
in their antennae. Bees see colors differently than we do. They are insensitive to red but detects ultraviolet light which
is invisible to us.
The worker bees defend the hive. The muscular barbed stinger quickly saw into the skin of the
invader and the venom pouch begins to contract rhythmically to pump venom into the intruder.
Bees can be used to detect
landmines. Tiny radio plates the size of a rice grain will be attached to honey bees to detect antipersonnel landmines, of
which there are about 100 million in 70 war-torn countries. The tiny radio plates are engraved with serial numbers to keep
track of the bees, which are being conditioned to develop a preference in addition to nectar, in this case TNT, or any other
material that releases metamphenamine. Special spectrometers that can "smell" TNT are placed in movable beehives to indicate
landmines in specific areas. Bees that "smell" of explosives can then be tracked to the landmine. The bees won't detonate
the landmines. - Copyright 2008 by NextEra Media. All
rights reserved. Feel free to forward this, in its entirety, to others.
In its entire lifetime,
the average worker bee produces 1/12th teaspoon of honey.
Bees do not have ears, but they have an excellent sense of smell with
chemoreceptors in their antennae.
Honey bees can lift 300 times their own weight - roughly the equivalent
of a person lifting 15 tons.
The bumblebee does not die when it stings - it can sting again and again.
In bumblebee hives, the entire colony, except for the queen, dies at the end of each summer. Each year, an entirely new colony
of bees must be produced.
Can there be two queens in a hive?
No - When
a queen bee lays the fertilized eggs that will develop into new queens, only one of the newly laid queens actually survives.
The first new queen that emerges from her cell destroys all other queens in their cells and, thereafter, reigns alone.
Only female bees work. Males remain in the hive, their only mission in
life being to fertilize the queen bee on her maiden flight. After they have served their function, the males are not allowed
back into the hive but are left outside, where they starve to death.
HOW FAR RANGING ARE WORKER BEES?
Between 20,000
and 60,000 bees live in a single hive. The queen bee lays nearly 1,500 eggs a day and lives for up to 2 years. The drone,
whose only job it is to mate with the queen bee, has a lifespan of around 24 days and has no stinger. Worker bees - all sterile
females - usually work themselves to death within 40 days, collecting pollen and nectar. Worker bees will fly up to 9 miles
(14 km) to find pollen and nectar, flying at speeds as fast as 15 mph (24 km/h).
HOW MANY FLOWERS MUST BE VISITED IN ORDER FOR ONE POUND OF
HONEY TO BE PRODUCED?
Bees must visit two million flowers to make one pound of honey. To make one pound of honey,
the colony of bees must travel 55,000 miles, making 25 trips a day. There are between 50,000 and 70,000 bees in a hive.
How many eyes does a bee have?
Five - the two
large compound eyes on either side of its head are complex visual organs; the three ocelli (primitive eyes) on top of its
head are believed to primarily detect light intensity.
BUTTERFLIES
Butterflies cannot fly if their body temperature is less than
86 degrees.
CATERPILLARS
The caterpillar of the monarch butterfly will eventually multiply
its original weight by 2,700 times. If a 7-pound newborn human gained weight at the same rate, as an adult, it would weigh
well over 9 tons.
Pine processionary caterpillars, which are the larvae
of moths, carry aposematic (warning) coloration, indicating that they are not good to eat. They are covered with irritating
hairs, and they taste bad to most birds. By forming into large, obvious groups, these insect larvae enhance the effect
of their bright warning colors. No hungry bird would mistake a line of pine processionaries for anything else!
Single-file Caterpillars
In the pine forests of Europe there are colonies
of caterpillars that form into long lines and march along single-file. The lines can contain as many as fifty individuals.
Each caterpillar lays down a strand of silk, so its followers do not get lost.
COCKROACHES
Can a cockroach really slip through a crack?
They certainly can!
Young cockroaches need only a crack as thin as a dime (about .5mm wide) to crawl into. Adult males can squeeze into a space
of 1.6mm or the thickness of a quarter. Pregnant females need the most space to hide: 4.5mm or a space as tall as two stacked
nickels
Does a cockroach have a heart?
Not really - A cockroach's
heart is nothing but a simple tube with valves. The tube can pump blood backwards and forwards in the insect. The heart can
even stop moving, apparently without harming the roach. One more reason they'll probably inherit the earth.
How long can a cockroach survive without a head?
Since cockroaches
do not have blood pressure as mammals do, cutting off their head would not cause them to die from bleeding. Nor do cockroaches
need their heads to breathe. They only require their heads to eat. After about a month without their head, they would die
of starvation.
How big can cockroaches get?
The ones in your neighborhood
may be pretty impressive, but they've got nothing on macropanesthia rhinoceros, the biggest specis without wings. Typically
a whopping three inches long and two inches wide and average specimen will weight in at one-and-one-quarter ounces (as much
as two sparrows). Don't worry though - unless you live in or near Queensland, Australia, the only place you're liable to see
one is at an exhibit.
Roaches can live without food for a month, but will only survive a week without
water.
Some female cockroaches incubate their egg cases in their bodies until they are
ready to hatch. These babies stay with their mothers a day or two after they are born.
Biologists have discovered that cockroaches can change
course as manyas 25 times in one second, making them the most nimble animals known.
CRICKETS
To calculate
the "cricket temperature," count the number of chirps in a 14-second period. Add forty to the result, and you have a rough
estimate of the Fahrenheit temperature of the cricket.
This method works best with the snowy tree cricket, whose song sounds like
gently ringing sleigh bells. Depending on the species of cricket, you might have to adjust the counting time by one or two
seconds, up or down.
Why does it work? Because crickets are cold-blooded creatures, the rate
of their metabolism is strictly determined by temperature. The warmer it is, the faster they move and the faster they chirp.
The same method would work equally well with other insects if they had the regular chirping habits of crickets.
CAN CRICKETS TELL THE TEMPERATURE?
Yes, crickets can
tell the temperature. Count the chirps in 14 seconds and then add 32, and you'll have the temperature in Fahrenheit. If you
divide the number of chirps in 15 seconds by two, you would be close to the temperature in Centigrade.
How can a cricket be used as a thermometer?
If you
hear a cricket chirping and you have a watch, you can estimate the temperature where the cricket is. If you can hear more
than one, you can tell whether they are experiencing different temperatures.
DUST MITES
Are dust
mites dangerous?
Not really. More than 45 percent of the homes in the United States have dust mites residing
in them in significant numbers. The microscopic creatures burrow themselves by the thousands into plush furniture and carpeting
to consume flakes from human skin and animal dander. Though mites are harmless, many people are allergic to their waste. When
a person walks across the carpet, or settles onto the couch or into bed, their waste particles are stirred up. They are sent
airborne, triggering sneezing and worse in some people.
GRASSHOPPERS
A grasshopper
can leap over obstacles 500 times its own height. In relation to its size, it has the greatest jumping ability of all animals.
62 degrees Fahrenheit is the minimum temperature required for a grasshopper to be able to hop.
How is a grasshopper like a lobster?
Lobsters, like
Grasshoppers - feel no pain. They have a decentralized nervous system with no cerebral cortex, which in humans, is where a
reaction to painful stimuli proceeds.
MAYFLIES
THE MAYFLY
LIVES SIX HOURS. HOW LONG DO ITS EGGS TAKE TO HATCH?
Three years.
How long does a mayfly live?
Mayflies, after hatching
and then spending one to three years developing as naiads, live less than one day as adults. The lifetime of mayflies usually
begins in late afternoon. During this single day, they molt twice, mate, and lay eggs in water. Because these adults do not
have developed mouth parts, they do not feed. They die before dawn
MOSQUITOES
Mosquitoes
are attracted to the color blue twice as much as to any other color.
Mosquitoes do not bite. They stab. A mosquito has no jaws; when attacking
a victim, it pierces it with its long proboscis and sucks the blood up through a nasal tube.
Why do mosquito bites itch whereas bee stings hurt?
This
may seem a simple, logical matter on the surface, but it's actually like comparing apples and oranges. In thefirst place,
mosquitoes don't actually "bite." Its proboscis works like a syringe to draw out blood. (Females only; the males feed on the
nectar of flowers.) During this process, some saliva is injected, which contains, among other things, an anticoagulant so
your blood will pass easily through the mosquito's proboscis and digestive tract. The itchiness which follows is not caused
directly by the "bite" or the saliva but by the body's immune response to them. Specifically, histamine is released, which
causes swelling around the puncture wound as blood rushes to the affected area, and as a side effect makes you itch. When
a bee stings you, however, there's no such benevolent intent - it's actively injecting you with a sort of poison to make you
leave it (or its hive) alone. Of course, both are just doing what nature intended - it's just that the bees have a sort of
"live and let live" attitude, whereas the mosquitoes won't let you alone on a nice, warm evening. Ah, the multiple joys of
summer!
MOTHS
There
is, reportedly, no way to tell a moth from a butterfly. Though there are differences of physiology and habit between them,
it is almost impossible to isolate a single differentiating characteristic that applies uniformly to both species.
Why do moths have ears?
In the course of evolution,
hearing ability has arisen several times in moths. Some moths have special membranes near the base of their wings, while others
have sound detecting organs on their legs, heads, or bodies. The first hearing moths appeared about 50 million years
ago, right around the time bats first began using echolocation. This is no coincidence. Moth ears are especially sensitive
to the ultrasonic sounds bats emit, and their behavior helps them escape the agile predators. When a flying moth hears
the sharp squeak of an approaching bat, it responds by suddenly veering off in an unpredictable direction. It might dive straight
down, scoot sideways, or suddenly spin in a loop. To catch the moth, the bat has to react very quickly.
How large can a polyphemus moth grow?
The egg of
a polyphemus moth (Antheraea polyphemus) is the size of a sesame seed, and the caterpillar that emerges from it is even smaller.
But it is a very hungry caterpillar, and it immediately sets to work. Over the next 56 days, the tiny eater consumes
its own weight in leaves over and over again, growing to 86,000 times its initial weight. If a seven-pound human baby were
to grow that much, it would weigh about 300 tons. After spending the winter in a cocoon, the adult insect emerges: a
huge, brown and white moth with two striking eyespots. It is one of the world's largest moths, with wings spanning almost
six inches (15 cm).
PRAYING MANTIS
The
praying mantis eats nothing but live food, predominantly insects. Its prey is taken only from flowers, leaves, bark, or the
ground - never while the potential victim is in flight. Surprisingly, if quick and lucky, it will also consume and eat a hummingbird.
SNAILS
There are
about 500 different kinds of cone snails around the world. All have a sharp, modified tooth that stabs prey with venom like
a harpoon. Most cone snails hunt worms and other snails, but some eat fish. These are the ones most dangerous to people. The
nerve toxin that stops a fish is powerful enough to also kill a human.
A snail speeding along at three inches per minute would need 15 days
to travel one mile.
Snails produce a colorless, sticky discharge that forms a protective
carpet under them as they travel along. The discharge is so effective that snails can crawl along the edge of a razor without
cutting themselves.
The giant African snail grows to a foot long and reaches weights greater
than a pound.
A snail has two pairs of tentacles on its head. One pair is longer than the
other and houses the eyes. The shorter pair is used for smelling and feeling its way around.
SPIDERS
A spider
is not an insect because it's an arachnid - meaning it has eight legs instead of six, and has no wings or antennae. The same
is true of the daddy longlegs, scorpion's mite, and tick - none is technically part of the insect class.
Scientists have identified 37,000 spider species worldwide, (2,500 species in
the United States and Canada). Spiders first appeared on Earth 400 million years ago--about 170 million years before
the first dinosaurs.
Spiders build webs from the edge toward the center, laying down a spiral of
sticky threads produced by six glands beneath their abdomens. Spider silk is made of protein that hardens after it squirts
out of the glands.
Spider silk is an extremely strong material and its on-weight basis has been
proven to be stronger than steel. Experts suggest that a pencil-thick strand of silk could stop a Boeing 747 in flight.
If one places a minute amount of liquor on a scorpion, it will instantly go
mad and sting itself to death.
A spider's blood turns blue when exposed to oxygen.
WHAT ARE THE LARGEST AND SMALLEST SPIDERS?
The largest spider
is the South American tarantula, as big as a dinner plate and heavy as a stick of butter. The smallest is the Comb-footed
spider, smaller than the head of a pin.
WHY ISN'T A DADDY LONG-LEGS A SPIDER?
A Daddy Long-legs
doesn't make silk, it is a scavenger and not a predator. It doesn't have a narrow waist or complex sex organs, but, like a
spider, it is an arachnid.
ARE GIANT CRAB SPIDERS DANGEROUS?
Giant crab spiders have
such a ferocious appearance they earned a spot as extras in the horror film Arachnophobia. The creatures, however, eat cockroaches,
crickets, and caterpillars, more than compensating for their scary appearance. Giant crab spiders are about 2 inches long,
are hairy, and have noticeable black fangs and black feet. Their egg sac is the size of a golf ball.
HOW DID THE TARANTULA GET ITS NAME?
The tarantula was named
after the Italian seaport city of Taranto, where the hairy venomous wolf spider once abounded
The tarantula spends most of its life within its burrow, which is an 18-inch
vertical hole with an inch-wide opening. When male tarantulas are between the ages of 5 to 7 years, they leave the burrow
in search of a female, usually in the early fall. This migration actually signals the end of their life cycle. The males mate
with as many females as they can, and then they die around mid-November.
TERMITES
The queen
termite can live up to 50 years and have 30,000 children every day.
Termite queens are fertilized regularly by the same mate for life, unlike
bee and ant queens, whose male partners die after the first and only mating.
WORMS
There are
earthworms as short as one-twenty-fifth of an inch and earthworms as long as 11 feet. The earthworm has no lungs; it breathes
through its skin. Some earthworms have as many as ten hearts (presumably these are the really long ones).
The ribbon worm will eat itself if it can’t find any other food.
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