Insects are a class of invertebrate arthropods that live almost anywhere on the globe, with the exception of the extreme Arctic and the tops of the highest mountains, forever covered with snow. Scientists say that where there are plants, especially flowering ones, you can always find at least one type of insect. It is almost impossible to count invertebrates of this class, but it is estimated that there are from 100 quadrillion to 10 quintillion of them on Earth. It’s hard to imagine such a number of individuals, but there really are so many insects.
How many types of insects are there in the world
Types of insects
Types of insects
Types of insects
Types of insects
Types of insects
Scientists have identified and described over 1 million species of insects, including over 17 thousand fossil species. Entomologists are still debating how many types of invertebrates actually exist on earth. Some claim that no more than 2-3 million, while others bring this figure to a massive 8. Every year about 7-8 thousand new species of individuals are discovered and described. All of them are usually assigned to one of more than 40 groups. Moreover, most of the insects known to us are included in one of the five considered the largest:
- Coleoptera. About 400 species. The forewings of representatives of this order have changed, turning into sclerotic or skin-covered elytra without veins. The lower wings are preserved and are used for flight. Basically these are beetles of various shapes and sizes.
- Diptera. Approximately 160.5 thousand species (about 4 thousand fossil species). Diptera include mosquitoes, midges, horse flies and true flies. Diptera live everywhere, including Antarctica.
- Lepidoptera. 160 thousand species. These are butterflies, moths, moths.
- Hymenoptera. 155 thousand species. Well known to everyone are wasps, bees, bumblebees, ants.
- Hemiptera. 105 thousand species. Bugs, water striders, aphids.
Many species have been poorly studied or not studied at all. This does not allow us to give them an accurate quantitative assessment.
Ladybug
Everyone knows the cute red bug with black dots. Surely every child in the summer put a ladybug on his hand and said the rhyme: “Ladybug, fly to the sky, there are your children.” Children will be surprised to learn that this bug is actually a poisonous predator. Ladybugs destroy aphids, dangerous garden pests. They are even distributed in fields and gardens specifically for this purpose.
The red coloration of the ladybug signals to birds and other enemies that it is poisonous. When attacked, she injects a sharp-smelling liquid from her paws. This smell warns predators of danger. Ladybugs also know how to pretend to be dead to save their lives.
The structure of insects
Invertebrate arthropods are very complex, each species is unique in its own way. But common features in the internal and external structure are still present. Thus, most insects have a mouth, wings, eyes and paws; they develop from an egg or pupa; the division of the body into parts is clearly visible.
External structure
External structure of an insect
External signs are the size of the body (length, width, volume), the color of the insect, the location of its limbs. The body of most species is conventionally divided into 3 parts - the head, chest and belly. Body length depends on the individual. There are insects whose bodies are almost impossible to see with the naked eye (less than 0.3 mm); there are giants with a body length of up to 30 cm. On the head of the invertebrate are located:
- eyes;
- mouth;
- mustache (a pair on each side of the head).
The shape of the mouth depends on the type of food. The insect can be sucking, piercing-sucking, gnawing or licking.
On the chest there are 3 pairs of legs and wings, if any. The abdomen is sometimes decorated with vestigial limbs.
The wings are an elastic plate attached to a frame formed by a tubular thickening - veins. Insects, as a rule, have 2 pairs of wings, but in some cases the second one is either not suitable for flight or is missing (to fly, an insect has to flap its wings at a speed of about 1 thousand strokes per second). The motor muscles are attached to the external skeleton - the cuticle.
Internal structure
Internal structure of a grasshopper
The body of higher animals functions due to the correct and coordinated operation of the following systems:
- Blood. In insects it is not closed, but instead of blood, its analogue, hemolymph, moves through the body. The heart is a pulsating portion of the spinal vessel. During contraction, hemolymph goes to the tissues of the body, and during expansion it is again absorbed into the vessel.
- Digestive. It is divided into 3 sections - anterior, posterior, excretory. Thanks to the anterior section, the insect is able to consume and transport food. In the posterior region, food is digested. At the same time, liquid is absorbed and undigested residues are eliminated. Excretion occurs with the participation of Malpighian vessels (tubes in which one end is closed and the other goes into the intestine).
- Nervous. Difficult to organize. Insects have instincts, they can live and work together, and quickly change the direction of flight.
- Sexual.
- Respiratory.
In addition to antennae and eyes, each insect has special sensory organs that help them detect aromas and subtle changes in body position in space and vibration. Some insects have glands that produce various substances, such as wax or silk. And endocrine ones are responsible for growth, molting and puberty.
Interesting fact : insects are heterosexual, and some of them have well-developed parental instinct.
Dragonfly
Dragonflies are very ancient insects. They appeared about 350 million years ago. Swift and fast, they are created by nature to hunt and attack. They fly incredibly fast and are able to change the direction of their movement with lightning speed. This can often be seen in the summer. Dragonflies land anywhere very rarely. They spend almost their entire lives in flight; their legs are not at all adapted for walking. And they fly at the speed of a car - up to 14 km/h! Dragonflies can control their two pairs of wings independently. They can fly forward, backward, sideways and hover in place. Dragonflies have simply huge eyes, which consist of 28 thousand individual eyes. These insects are very voracious. In just an hour they can catch and eat up to 40 flies!
Dimensions
Stick insects are one of the largest insects.
As mentioned above, there are many insects in the world that are completely different from each other. Thus, both the flea and the butterfly are representatives of the same class, but outwardly they have little in common, differing primarily in the size and shape of the body. If we talk about dimensions, the largest of the existing invertebrates is the stick insect. The length of the individual discovered in Kalimantan is over 35 cm. Previously, a stick insect was discovered whose size, including its limbs, exceeded 52 cm.
Interesting: Fleas - description, appearance, types, photos and videos
The fossil taxa were also quite large. The body length of Meganeura was 50 cm, while its wingspan reached 70 cm.
Among beetles, the largest representative of the species is the Hercules beetle. Males of this species reach a length of 17 cm. The titan lumberjack, which lives in South America, is not inferior to Hercules. Its body length exceeds 16 cm.
There are giants among butterflies too. The scoop tizania agrippina has such large volumes that from a distance it can easily pass for a bird. Its wingspan is 28 cm. This is a nocturnal insect, it is almost impossible to see it in the daytime. The largest diurnal butterfly is Queen Alexandra's Ornithoptera (27.3 cm).
The owner of the smallest body is the male parasitic ichneumon (0.0139 cm). Among non-parasites, only the feather wing of the tribe can boast of small size (less than 1 mm).
Mantis
Mantises got their name from their unusual appearance. They fold their forelimbs as if in prayer. Mantises are known for their fearlessness. They attack the enemy without hesitation. Praying mantises cannot be called large; they reach 10-12 cm in length. But when threatened, they do not run away, but remain in place and try to look larger and more impressive. Praying mantises spread their wings, spread their front legs and stretch upward. In this position they sway frighteningly to the sides. This strategy works even with much larger animals. They prefer not to mess with a creature that looks menacing and does not run away.
Mantises feed on insects, but can also snack on lizards, frogs, and even small snakes. They even eat poisonous spiders and ladybugs. Mantises are safe for humans. But if you make them angry, they can bite you painfully. Mantis eggs are protected by special capsules. They are not afraid of low temperatures or even toxic chemicals.
Reproduction
Insects are bisexual animals, which implies the division of representatives of each species into males and females, which together go through the following stages:
- insemination;
- fertilization;
- laying eggs (larvae).
Different types of insects have unique methods of reproduction. Thus, primary wingless insects reproduce externally-internally, and winged ones mate.
In insects that are characterized by a bisexual method of reproduction, eggs often develop without fertilization (spontaneous parthenogenesis). These include the silkworm. This type of prolongation of the race is typical for animals living in an unfavorable climatic zone, where representatives of the opposite sex are rare. Moreover, the same types of insects can reproduce in different ways. For example, the European stick insect is capable of producing offspring bisexually, but in the northern regions it prefers parthenogenetic reproduction.
Grasshopper
These are green insects that hide in thick grass. They have large paws that allow them to jump high. It is noteworthy that the grasshopper’s legs contain a hearing organ. Grasshoppers feed on grass and fruits. But there are species of grasshoppers that eat small insects.
Interesting facts about grasshoppers
- In Malaysia there lives a species of grasshopper whose size exceeds 25 cm, and they jump 5 meters in length.
- There is a species of grasshopper called "warthogs". This species treats warts by biting a wart on a person's body, they leave saliva that heals.
- In North Africa, there is a species of efgaster grasshoppers; when they see an enemy, they shoot their blood at him in order to knock down the enemy and have time to escape.
Lifespan
After formation, the mayfly exists only for a few minutes.
The lifespan of insects depends on many factors of the internal and external environment - climatic conditions, the presence/absence of predators, suitable food, genetic characteristics and even gender. Some live no more than a few hours, while others successfully exist for decades. Mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies are examples of invertebrates with a minimal lifespan. Thus, the female mayfly Dolania americana, after completing the formation of her body, lives exactly 5 minutes. But she also uses this time with maximum benefit - laying eggs. Moreover, the same mayfly, which has not yet turned into an adult and is at the larval stage, can live 2-3 years.
Butterflies exist somewhat longer than mayflies - about 2-3 weeks. Dragonflies and beetles develop within 2 years, but the same stag beetle lives 4 years as a larva, and in the adult state no more than 1-2 months. Conversely, an adult thistle lives for 8 years, while its larva develops very quickly.
Interesting fact : the song periodical cicada, which lives in North America, lives 16-17 years as a larva, and the queen ant lives even longer - 20 years. The termite queen reaches the age of 25 years.
Dimorphism
A male (left) and female rhinoceros beetle (Oryctes nasicornis) exhibit sexual dimorphism: the male has a horn, the female does not
In adult insects, sexual dimorphism and, in some cases, polymorphism are often observed. The most common type of polymorphism is sexual, inherent in social insects (bees, ants, wasps, termites). Another type of polymorphism can be called environmental, since it occurs under the influence of the external environment (for example, the presence and amount of available food). An example of ecological polymorphism is seasonal polymorphism: generations of the same species that appear in different months differ from each other. For example, in the moth butterfly (similar to the urticaria and belongs to the same family of nymphalids), the spring and summer generations differ in both color and size.
What do they eat
A grasshopper eats grass.
Different types of insects use organic substances as food, for example, tissues of animals and plants, waste products of other creatures, and remains. At the same time, insects, as a rule, are not omnivores and feed on any one type of organic matter, choosing between animal and plant origin.
Herbivores are called phytophages, those that feed on carrion are called necrophages, and plant debris on the soil surface are called detritivores. Interestingly, belonging to the group of herbivorous individuals does not mean at all that insects can feed on any parts of the plant. Among them there are those who feed only on leaves (phyllophagous), seeds (carpophagous), wood (xylophagous), and roots (rhizophagous). There are gall formers, among predators and parasites there are blood-sucking, ectoparasites and endoparasites. But this is not the final division. Everything described is classified as food specialization of the first order.
Some insects have unusual food preferences, for example, the tobacco beetle larva eats tobacco leaves and is therefore considered a dangerous pest.
Garden ground beetle
A very fast predator. A fairly large beetle with a bronze tint. Doesn't fly, but runs fast.
Loves light, non-acidic soils, dry grass and rotten leaves. The ground beetle larva is also distinguished by its high speed of movement. An excellent assistant for gardeners. Destroys larvae, caterpillars, snails and slugs. Mainly nocturnal. Lives in the top layer of soil under old leaves and fallen grass. Very active in search of food. Over the summer it can eat up to four hundred caterpillars, and the beetle larva is even more voracious. Experienced gardeners know the benefits of ladybugs and ground beetles on their site. Thanks to them, the use of chemicals to kill pests is significantly reduced, and this is a huge plus for human health.
Communication
Cicadas are known for their singing.
Insects communicate with each other using sounds, light and contact signals and pheromones:
- Sounds. Many insects are able to produce and detect sound signals. This allows them to navigate in space, find representatives of their species for mating, and even scare off enemies. Sounds are produced by systematic impacts of different parts of the body on the substrate. But, for example, cicadas have timbal membranes that help them produce high-pitched calls that resemble screams. Grasshoppers, crickets and mole crickets rub their wing covers against each other. The result is a chirping sound.
- Contact signal. Characteristic of well-organized social insects, such as bees. Having discovered a source of food, the scout bee begins to perform something like a dance, luring its companions in this simple way. Ants use antennas on their heads to transmit signals.
- Glow. Most Coleopteran insects glow in the dark. They use light signals to search for food or call a partner. At the same time, the light does not have to be white or yellow; some fireflies alternately emit light of red and green shades.
Pheromones are used for the sole purpose of attracting individuals of the opposite sex. But some insects can emit certain odors when a predator approaches, scaring them away and driving them away.
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Wasp
The wasp is a close relative of bees. Wasps are slimmer than bees and are lighter in color. Unlike a bee, a wasp can sting many times without sacrificing its life. Wasps also live alone, mainly in burrows on the ground, in tree trunks, or under the eaves of buildings.
To reproduce, the wasp pushes a fly or spider into the nest, paralyzes it with its sting and leaves a larva on the victim, which eats this victim as it develops.
Interesting facts about wasps
- Wasps can build their nests from paper, which they produce themselves.
- The wasp has five eyes: two large faceted eyes, located on the sides of the head and providing a wide angle of vision, and three small eyes on the forehead.
- Wasps become the most aggressive and “biting” in the hot season
- Wasp stings can pose a great danger to humans. In addition to severe pain, wasp venom is a strong allergen.
Spreading
Close-up photo of an anthill Insects
are ubiquitous, as mentioned above. There are almost no unsuitable habitats for them. Beetles, butterflies, and spiders have mastered the tundra, deserts, and inaccessible mountain peaks. Invertebrates can even be found in the crater of a volcano, where they feel quite comfortable. But most of them are in the tropics. One of the important factors in the conquest of planet Earth by insects is climate and food connections, because if sucking insects find food in almost any corner of the world, then phytophages need plants, and of the species that they are accustomed to feeding on. As soon as any type of tree or grass disappears from the face of the earth, insects disappear after it, because they cannot feed themselves.
Also, many insects are unable to move to a food source on their own. People often help them in this, often to their own detriment. Thus, along with potatoes, the Colorado potato beetle was introduced, which became perfectly accustomed to the European climate and expanded its diet to include not only potatoes, but also eggplants, sweet peppers, and tomatoes.
Some insects originally lived on land, but during the process of evolution, they preferred water space. Now they live in small fresh water bodies (lake, pond), but sometimes they are also found in the sea (sea water strider).
Ants
The ant family includes vegetarians and carnivores. The well-known forest and black garden ants are omnivores. The diet of predatory species includes eggs, larvae, small insects, worms, and amphibians. Ants feed their offspring with animal protein. A striking representative of this is the bulldog ant.
It is larger than a forest ant. Can attack bees and wasps. The powerful jaws of the ant do not give the victim a single chance. For a vegetable garden, a large number of garden ants is destructive. They breed aphids, feed on their sweet secretions and carefully take care of increasing the number of these individuals. Forest ants are real orderlies. Hunting for caterpillars, beetles and worms, they pick up dead creatures and decomposing animal remains.
Groups of insects
Insect pupa
The class of invertebrates is divided into 2 groups, depending on the method of development:
- With incomplete transformation. The female lays an egg, from which a larva emerges after the required time. Outwardly, she is no different from an adult, but some of her organs are underdeveloped. The larva moults, changing appearance until it becomes an exact copy of the female that laid the egg.
- With a complete transformation. From the egg emerges a larva that is completely different from the adult, usually a worm. The beginning of molting leads to the formation of a pupa, and from it an adult is formed.
During the changing seasons, insects hardly grow. This allows them to survive in rather unfavorable conditions. The pupa formed in August will become an adult butterfly only in May.
Mosquito
These biting flying insects are familiar to every child. Not a single summer is complete without itchy bite marks, which cause a lot of anxiety for children. It is interesting that only female mosquitoes bite. Males are absolutely harmless and feed on plant nectar. When a female mosquito bites, it injects saliva into our skin, which contains special substances that slow down blood clotting. It is this that causes redness, swelling, itching, and in some, a severe allergic reaction.
The squeak of mosquitoes is created by the rattling of their wings. Mosquitoes live only 1-2 months. During this period, females drink 5-7 times more blood than their own weight and lay up to 300 eggs. Eggs develop in stagnant water. Air-breathing larvae emerge from them. That's why they float on the surface of the water. The larvae then turn into pupae, from which mosquitoes then emerge.
The meaning of insects
Silkworm Insects
are extremely important, their disappearance will lead to disruption of the cycle of substances in nature. Bees participate in pollination, produce honey and wax, and other useful materials, such as propolis. The silkworm is used to produce silk, and ants destroy garden pests.
Interesting fact : many insects are pests, dangerous to plants and even to humans, but they cannot be completely destroyed. This will leave a huge number of birds and other larger creatures without food.
Common lacewing
Belongs to the class of lacewing insects. It has large wings with a green tint.
Eats the same thing that a ladybug eats. Loves the sweet secretions of aphids. The lacewing larva eats the aphids themselves in very large quantities. It destroys up to one hundred aphids per day. The common lacewing will bring great benefits to the garden. In addition to aphids, it copes well with poutine mites, leaf rollers, carrot, onion and cabbage flies, caterpillars and scale insects. To maintain the number of lacewings on the site, special houses with bait for these insects are used, care is taken to provide a place for wintering, and early flowering plants are bred for food after hibernation.
How do insects breathe?
Insects do not have lungs, so they breathe using a special system - the trachea. These are hollow tubes, one end of which is located on the sides of the creature. The respiratory system permeates the entire body of the insect. Once inside, the air sweeps throughout the body, saturating it with oxygen. There are also insects that use the skin system for breathing. With its help, air saturates the body through the entire surface of the body.
There is a hypothesis that the higher the oxygen content in the air, the larger the size of the insect, since it breathes through the body.
Water strider bug
Active predatory insect of water bodies.
With the help of sensitive receptors on its legs and antennae, it detects the slightest vibrations in the water and rushes there in search of food. Hunts flies, mosquitoes, horseflies, and insects that have fallen into the water. Eats clutches of eggs in water and on land, near a reservoir. In the middle zone, the water strider bug is not dangerous to humans. In tropical climates, these individuals are much larger and have a poisonous gland. The sting is very painful, similar to a bee.
How do insects overwinter?
Insects spend the cold season in different ways. Some, like birds, fly south. This is what some species of butterflies and dragonflies do, covering significant distances together with birds and rising to incredible heights (over 5 km).
Others fall into numbness and hibernation. They climb deep into the earth, hide under the roots of plants, under fallen leaves and trees, stop consuming food and lose mobility. Ants overwinter on the lower floors of the anthill, often located at a depth of about 1 meter.
Naturally, not all species overwinter; representatives of many simply do not survive winter: their life is so short that they are not even aware of the cold.
In the spring, the suspended animation into which the surviving insects fell ceases, and butterflies, beetles, and dragonflies are born along with the first rays of the spring sun.
Ant
These insects are very hardworking, friendly and organized. They are always in a hurry and running somewhere. It is very interesting for children to observe the life of an anthill in nature. Ants are very beneficial insects. They cleanse nature of garbage. One ant is stronger than an elephant. Of course, he will not be able to lift the load that an elephant lifts. But an ant can lift a weight that is 10 times its weight. And an elephant cannot even lift a load equal to its weight.
Ants are excellent builders. Their anthills are complex houses with apartments, well-designed ventilation, storage rooms, bedrooms, children's rooms, garbage bins and toilets. Ants strictly maintain cleanliness in their homes. Inlets and outlets serve to supply air inside. They are guarded by soldier ants.
There is a spacious room right under the roof of the anthill, which is the first to be heated by the sun's rays. Ants bask there in the spring. In the depths of the anthill there is a bedroom in which the ants spend the winter. There are separate storerooms for grain and meat food. There is also a “cow barn” with aphids. Ants exploit these insects by eating the sweet substance they secrete. They protect and protect aphids, carry them to the anthill for the winter, and take them out to new succulent plants in the spring.
In the anthill there is a special “royal” room for the ant queen. She is engaged in laying up to 1000-1500 eggs daily. Worker ants take care of it.
Main types of insects
About 15 types of different insects are found everywhere. These are bumblebees, butterflies, cockroaches, dragonflies, praying mantises, ants, chafers, grasshoppers, wasps, mosquitoes and others. Each invertebrate is unique and requires close study.
Bumblebee
Bumblebee
A winged, arthropod-like insect that undergoes a complete transformation as it matures from a worm-like entity into a beautiful insect covered in thick, wool-like hairs. Belongs to the bee family, bumblebee genus. The size depends on the gender - varies from 7 to 35 mm. The body is brown, with yellow accents. Bumblebees can collect nectar; nature has equipped them with special proboscis.
Firefly
Firefly
Coleopteran insect measuring from 4 mm to 3 cm. The body is flattened and covered with hairs. The firefly is capable of flying; it has 2 pairs of wings, one of which has turned into elytra. The head is large, the eyes are round, there are antennae, the oral apparatus is present only in larvae or females, males do not have it. The ability to glow in the dark also depends on gender.
Cockroach
Cockroach is
an arthropod insect whose body has an oval shape. Cockroaches come in different shapes, sizes and colors, the smallest barely reach 1 cm, the largest ones can grow up to 10 cm in length. The cockroach has 6 legs, wings and elytra, a well-developed mouth, as well as antennae that allow them to capture the slightest movements and vibrations of the air. Cockroaches feed on organic food.
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Mantis
Praying Mantis
An insect with an elongated body, a mobile, almost triangular-shaped head and convex large compound eyes located on the sides. There are 3 more small eyes above the base of the antennae. The mouthparts are of a gnawing type, directed downwards. In this case, the pronotum almost never overlaps the head, which is a feature of insects of this type.
Midges
Midges
Midges belong to the order Diptera. They are distinguished by their small body size - from 1.2 to 6 mm. Small midges infest tropical forests; larger specimens live in the north, in temperate and subpolar latitudes. The midge's body is divided into three parts - head, abdomen and chest. The eyes are compounded, there are no additional simple ocelli. Life expectancy is several days or several weeks. Feeding is gender-linked, with females biting living creatures and males consuming plant nectar.
Chafer
May beetle
Some representatives of the May beetle variety reach a length of 30 cm or more. The body is wide, convex, its shape is elongated-oval. The color of the plates and wings is black or reddish brown. The insect is a winged insect and has a gnawing type of mouthparts. The beetle feeds on plants - it eats young shoots, flowers and ovaries of plants, as well as leaves.
Ant
Ant
A hymenopteran insect that has a social hierarchy. All ants in the anthill are divided into 3 castes - workers, females and males. There are about 13 thousand species of ants in the world, over 300 of them live in Russia and the post-Soviet space. These are black garden, red myrmica, small forest ant, pharaoh ant and others. The size of the body and its color depend on the habitat and belonging to a particular species. They feed on food of plant and animal origin.
Butterfly
Butterfly
A lepidopteran insect with a body covered with a chitinous membrane and well-defined wings. Scientists identify more than 158 thousand species. They live almost everywhere, with the exception of Antarctica. The most types of butterflies live in Peru and India. They feed on pollen and nectar of plants. But they can eat tree sap or rotting fruits. Sometimes butterflies steal honey from bee hives.
Bee
Bee
A social animal that, together with other members of its swarm, can build nests (hives), obtain nectar and process it into honey. The bee's body is covered with fluffy fibers, its wings are well developed, and it has a sting with which it extracts nectar. It is also used to protect against enemy attacks. Bees are distributed everywhere in huge numbers, but most of them are found where flowering plants are present.
Mosquito
Mosquito
A small blood-sucking insect that lives in almost all corners of the planet. Body length depends on the species and ranges from 4-17 mm. The wings and body of the mosquito are in most cases gray or brown, but there are orange, yellow, green and even red species. To obtain food, the animal uses a thin but long proboscis.
Wasp
Wasp
Hymenoptera arthropod insect. The body is medium in size (1.5-10 cm), painted in black and white stripes, which have long been the calling card of the wasp. The wasp is found everywhere except the Arabian Peninsula, the Arctic and the Sahara. Some species of this insect are herbivores, but there are also predators among them.
Interesting fact : wasps are so numerous on planet Earth that certain species belong to different families.
Grasshopper
Grasshopper
New-winged insect from the grasshopper superfamily. The body length of individual representatives of the species is 1.5-15 cm. The color depends on the habitat, but the wings and body of most herbivorous representatives of the species are green. The grasshopper is not a pest, except for those members of the family that feed on citrus fruits.
Fly
Fly
A two-winged arthropod insect, the size of which depends on its belonging to a specific species. There are very small flies, 10-15 mm long, and giant flies, whose body dimensions are at least 2 cm. The wings are membranous, the head is round, and can make buzzing sounds in flight. Some types of flies are carriers of various diseases.
Dragonfly
Dragonfly
A winged insect with six legs. The dragonfly has a slender body, a large head and a streamlined chest, and beautiful transparent wings. Interestingly, the head is connected to the body in such a way that the creature can rotate it 180 degrees. It brings great benefits by destroying insects that are undesirable for humans. Thus, dragonflies living in Europe feed on mosquitoes, and those living in Africa feed on the Tsetse fly, which is harmful to people and livestock.
Ladybug
Ladybug
Coleopteran insect, ranging in size from 4 to 10 mm. The body color is red with black speckles on the wings. The exact origin of the name is unknown. It is found everywhere, lives a long time (6 months), but after the female fulfills her duty to future generations (laying eggs), her existence ceases. The ladybug is useful to humans and plants; it feeds on aphids, destroying up to 100 individuals of this pest per day.
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Bee
Hardworking bees provide humans with tasty and healthy honey. Their shaggy body is covered with villi and has a striped color. Bees use their long proboscis to suck nectar from plants. They process it and turn it into honey. Bees store honey in honeycombs. In the cold season it serves as food for them. To ensure a well-fed winter, bees work tirelessly all winter and summer.
Bees live in large hive families of several thousand insects. Each family member has his own responsibilities. The “queen” lays eggs, builders build honeycombs, workers collect nectar, deal with larvae and guard the hive. Bees build their houses from wax. They make honeycombs out of it with cells in the shape of regular hexagons. The cells are connected to each other and are all the same size, as if the bees were using a ruler.
People obtain honey in a way that does not harm the bees. They only take a small portion of the honey from the hive. Previously, bees were only wild. To get honey, people had to look for bee houses in the forest. It's difficult and long. Then they came up with the idea of cutting down trees with hollows inhabited by bees and placing them in a convenient place. And after that, people began to build special houses for bees - hives - and populate them there. A bee city of hives is called an apiary.
Bees have a stinger and they bite very painfully. But they always do this only for protection. There is no need to be afraid of bees, but you should treat them with caution and respect.
Spiders
Everyone knows the predators. Some weave a web and lure their prey there. Others shoot a sticky secretion into the future food and attract it to themselves. The main diet of spiders is insects. Everything that flies, jumps and crawls goes to spiders for lunch. Small spiders prey on butterflies, flies, mosquitoes, beetles and grasshoppers. They weave their trap nets and wait for the victim, luring it by shaking the web. Water spiders feed on floating insects of ponds, fry, and tadpoles. Earthen individuals, injecting poison into the body of the victim, immobilize it and drag it into their burrow. They eat worms, beetles and caterpillars. Large spiders living in warm climates pose a danger to birds, snakes, small vertebrates and humans.
