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Typically only a few inches in length, some members of this species have been known to grow to a serpentine 14 inches. Earthworms’ bodies are made up of ring-like segments called annuli. These segments are covered in setae, or small bristles, which the worm uses to move and burrow.

Night crawlers are so named because they are usually seen feeding above ground at night. They burrow during the day—typically keeping close to the surface—capable of digging down as deep as 6.5 feet.

The worm’s first segment contains its mouth. As they burrow, they consume soil, extracting nutrients from decomposing organic matter like leaves and roots. Earthworms are vital to soil health because they transport nutrients and minerals from below to the surface via their waste, and their tunnels aerate the ground. An earthworm can eat up to one third its body weight in a day.

Night crawlers also mate on the surface. They are hermaphroditic but do not self-fertilize. Following mating, each worm forms a tiny, lemon-shaped cocoon out of a liquid secreted from its clitellum, the familiar-looking bulge seen near the first third of the earthworm’s body. The sperm and egg cells are deposited inside the cocoon, and it is buried. After a two- to four-week gestation period, the baby worms emerge.

Earthworms are a source of food for numerous animals, like birds, rats, and toads, and are frequently used in residential composting and as bait in commercial and recreational fishing. Their numbers are strong throughout their range—they’re even considered agricultural pests in some areas—and they have no special status.

Credit : National Geographic

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Grasshoppers, crickets and locusts all have knee-ears that, at just a fraction of a millimetre long, are among the tiniest ears in the animal kingdom. Even though countless numbers of these insects had been dissected, no one had really understood the structures of these ears.

Like most animals, a grasshopper hears by receiving and processing sound waves. When the sound waves are received by the grasshopper, they act both on the external tympanum and the internal chambers. The interaction between these two pressures and the tympanal membrane results in the grasshopper’s ability to hear. This mechanism is so sophisticated, that a grasshopper’s ability to identify the direction of a sound source rivals that of a human.

Aside from locating and avoiding predators, acoustic communication in grasshoppers is mainly used for the attraction of mates. The male initiates a call, often a whirring or snapping noise, which is heard by the female. The male then listens for her response, and due to his sensitive hearing, is able to pinpoint her location with relative ease. Thus, a grasshopper’s ability to hear helps ensure the survival of the species.

Credit : National Geographic

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There are about 5,000 different species of ladybugs in the world. These much loved critters are also known as lady beetles or ladybird beetles. They come in many different colors and patterns, but the most familiar in North America is the seven-spotted ladybug, with its shiny, red-and-black body. In many cultures, ladybugs are considered good luck.

Most people like ladybugs because they are pretty, graceful, and harmless to humans. But farmers love them because they eat aphids and other plant-eating pests. One ladybug can eat up to 5,000 insects in its lifetime! Most ladybugs have oval, dome-shaped bodies with six short legs. Depending on the species, they can have spots, stripes, or no markings at all. Seven-spotted ladybugs are red or orange with three spots on each side and one in the middle. They have a black head with white patches on either side.

Ladybugs are happy in many different habitats, including grasslands, forests, cities, suburbs, and along rivers. Seven-spotted ladybugs are native to Europe but were brought to North America in the mid-1900s to control aphid populations. Ladybugs are most active from spring until fall. When the weather turns cold, they look for a warm, secluded place to hibernate, such as in rotting logs, under rocks, or even inside houses. These hibernating colonies can contain thousands of ladybugs.

Credit : National Geographic

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A species of horned dung beetle called Onthophagus taurus is the strongest insect on Earth with its capacity to pull over 1140 times its body weight. According to scientists, it evolved such strength as this is the deciding factor in males’ competition over females.

The beetles aren't the dung-ball-carrying variety, and instead the females bury most of the fecal material (with a little help from males) from, say, cow droppings.

The females build little tunnels where they use the dung to lay their eggs in. It's in this tunnel where mating, and the pre-mating fights between waiting males, takes place. But not all males are equipped for battle, with some sporting horns and others hornless. The no-horn beetles instead wait at the tunnel's entrance, sometimes hiding out in self-built side tunnels, and sneak in to mate before getting caught by a horned male.

The horned males, on the other hand, duke it out head-to-head.

Credit : Live Science

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It is the African mound-building termite queen that lives longer than any other insect we know of. These termites are known for building spectacular mounds that can reach five metres or higher. Some termite queens can live for over 60 years. According to some scientists, they may even live up to a hundred years. What does the termite queen do? She constantly lays eggs, between 20,000 and 30,000 every day.

The role of the queen in a termite colony varies and changes over time. After pairing with a male, she begins her job as "founder" to get the colony started. She has to locate a suitable nest site, help excavate it, and then start producing eggs that will become workers.

The queen and king are groomed and fed by workers, which enter the royal cell through small openings in its hard protective wall. Queens lay eggs at a steady rate every day. Workers move the eggs to incubation chambers.

Egg production is slow at first, but increases year by year; the queen maintains peak egg performance for seven to 10 years. Once the secondary queens - which are produced within the colony - begin egg-laying, colony size (number of workers) increases rapidly.

The number of eggs produced by the queen varies depending on the species and the age of the queen. In tropical regions, egg production is continuous throughout the year, although there are seasonal fluctuations. In more temperate regions, termite egg production is often suspended during the cooler months.

After hatching, young immatures are taken to nursery chambers where they are fed and groomed by workers. They are moved to other chambers in the nest until their final molt into workers or soldiers.

A colony of about 1,000 workers at two years can multiply into 300,000 workers in five more years. Secondary queens are usually located in satellite nests away from, but connected to the main nest, so colonies can grow in size and number of individuals.

Credit : Orkin

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Ladybugs, or lady beetles, are considered a beneficial bug which helps rid an area of crop-damaging aphids, mealybugs and other destructive insect pests. The adult ladybugs feed on these insects.  They also lay their eggs among the aphids or other prey so the emerging larvae can feed on the insects, too.

Ladybugs are predatory beetles that eat a large number of aphids (plant lice) and other harmful bugs. Even in the larval stage, ladybugs will normally consume hundreds of aphids and will grow into adults that may eat up to 5,000 aphids in a lifetime. This greatly reduces the population of harmful insects that will otherwise destroy your plants.

IPM techniques aim to eliminate or limit pest damage through preventative ecosystem management. The gardener considers environmental factors that lead to pest infestation and seeks a combination of controls for effective long-term success. Biological controls, including a healthy population of ladybugs, are essential for naturally controlling aphids, spider mites, whiteflies and scale insects, including rose scale. Provide a healthy environment for both roses and ladybugs. According to a 2011 University of California report, more than 3,000 ladybugs, released over time, were required for the successful treatment of just one aphid-infested rosebush. The natural population of predator ladybugs in such a garden contributes to its health.

Credit : Garden Guides

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They benefit your property by breaking down organic material, transporting nutrients from the surface to the subsoil, improving water infiltration and reducing runoff.

Dung beetles also reduce flies and odours by physically removing dung from the soil surface. This also helps to control dung-borne parasites.

Flowing on from the benefits of dung beetles to your soil are broader catchment-wide improvements in water quality.

Dung beetles are commonly thought of as insects that roll balls of manure. However, many species actually take the dung underground into tunnels to feed their young. When the dung beetle does this, it reduces the amount of exposed manure that can attract parasites or be washed into waterways. It also leaves cattle more room to graze.

In the U.S., the use of the dung beetle to clear pastures is gaining popularity, especially in Midwestern states whose economies rely heavily on agriculture. Currently, the biggest challenge is finding beetles who can survive cold winters, and scoop poop year-round.

But taking advantage of the dung beetle’s food source isn’t a new idea. Farmers in Australia have been using the beetles since the 1960s. You see, cattle weren’t native to Australia, so the country’s insects couldn’t break down the manure when cows and sheep were introduced. To control the problem, they imported dung beetles. That’s right. They imported bugs. Way to put your name on the map, dung beetle.

Credit : Terminix

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Crickets are one of the most common insects people consume. Products containing cricket protein have grown in popularity due to consumer demand for more sustainable protein options.

Insects like crickets are rich in nutrients, especially protein, and may be more sustainable than other protein sources, such as beef.

However, some people aren’t comfortable eating crickets because they’re concerned about food safety.

Insects are a cheap, sustainable, and easy-to-produce source of nutrients and are especially rich in protein.

People most commonly eat crickets in under-resourced countries, where many people experience food insecurity and other animal sources of protein, like cattle, poultry, and fish, are scarce.

Research shows that people in Western countries aren’t entirely comfortable eating insects because they tend to view insects as unclean or potentially dangerous.

However, more people have begun to accept cricket consumption in Europe, the United States, and Canada as food companies have created user-friendly cricket-based products like protein powders and protein bars.

Credit : Healthline

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Ants act as decomposers by feeding on organic waste, insects or other dead animals. They help keep the environment clean. Carpenter ants, which make their nests in dead or diseased wood, considerably accelerate the decomposition process of timber. After the ants leave, fungi and bacteria grow in the galleries and break down the lignin and cellulose on large surfaces.

In terms of their effects on our gardens, plants, trees, and crops, ants can actually have quite a few positive effects. For one, as this study published in PubMed shows, ants can have multiple beneficial effects on soil fertility, as they dig through the soil, make it more water-absorbent, relocate refuse, and so on. Ants such as the black garden ant are also predatory animals that feed on other insects, many of which are actual plant pests. Even tree ants, plant-ants, and most other ants eating plants tend to consume the mildew that forms on plants and not the plants themselves.

At the same time, however, there is a definite symbiotic connection between aphids and ants in which the aphids help feed the ants and the ants protect the aphids from their predators by being the predators’ predators. And since aphids are pests that are highly damaging to our crops, their symbiotic relationship with ants is not something a gardener or a farmer should tolerate.

Credit : Insect Cop

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We are taught from a young age that bees carry pollen from plant to plant and flower to flower in a process called pollination. In fact, bees are responsible for pollinating nearly 85% of all food crops for humans, as well as numerous crops that grow the food fed to cattle. Without the honeybee, our options for nourishment would be seriously lacking, and there has been research conducted that predicts environmental collapse should the honeybee no longer exist.

Simply put, without bees, many plants would have no way to reproduce and die out. Bees play an important role in the life cycle of most plants and flowers. Interestingly, there are dozens of species of solitary bees that have evolved to pollinate a single type of plant, and coexisting in unison with the lifespan of that plant. Without that specific species' devotion to that plant, the plant would cease to reproduce and become extinct.

Unfortunately, a large percentage of bee species have died off each year due to a variety of factors, including disease, parasites, pesticides, and the destruction of their main food sources. As more species die, we will lose crops and, eventually, certain plants will become extinct without bees to do their part. The fate of bees can also indicate when environmental dangers exist. Mass bee deaths have been past indications of the use of toxic chemicals, or severe climate changes, giving scientists further proof of how fragile our environment really is.

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The house fly, Musca domestica Linnaeus, is a well-known cosmopolitan pest of both farm and home. This species is always found in association with humans or the activities of humans. It is the most common species found on hog and poultry farms, horse stables and ranches. Not only are house flies a nuisance, but they can also transport disease-causing organisms.

This common fly originated on the steppes of central Asia, but now occurs on all inhabited continents, in all climates from tropical to temperate, and in a variety of environments ranging from rural to urban. It is commonly associated with animal feces, but has adapted well to feeding on garbage, so it is abundant almost anywhere people live.

Flies commonly develop in large numbers in poultry manure under caged hens, and this is a serious problem requiring control. Although this fly species does not bite, the control of Musca domestica is vital to human health and comfort in many areas of the world. The most important damage related with this insect is the annoyance and the indirect damage produced by the potential transmission of pathogens (viruses, bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and nematodes) associated with this fly. Pathogenic organisms are picked up by flies from garbage, sewage and other sources of filth, and then transferred on their mouthparts, through their vomitus, feces and contaminated external body parts to human and animal food.

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Yes, the common housefly can taste food with its feet though it uses its mouth to eat. This is because its taste receptors that facilitate the sense of taste are located in its lower legs and feet. So when it lands on anything edible, it reflexively extends its proboscis or mouthpart to consume it. It is said that their feet are 10 million times more sensitive than our tongues.

The need for so many taste organs in insects is not understood very well. However, a clue for understanding their function comes from examining the anatomy of the taste-sensing neurons. These neurons send projections to different parts of the central nervous system of the fly. This suggests that taste information received from different parts of the body is processed differently in the brain. Therefore, different taste organs may have different functions.

To test this idea, Thoma et al. used the fruit fly Drosophila as a model for insects. With Drosophila, it is possible to target small numbers of neurons and to block them or activate them with genetic tools. The scientists blocked different groups of sweet-sensing neurons and measured sugar choice, the first step in feeding behavior. Normally, hungry flies choose sugar very quickly, but the flies which had all sweet-sensing neurons in their legs blocked could not choose sugar.

The scientists then examined the sweet taste neurons in the legs and found two populations of neurons. One group of neurons connected directly to the brain of the fly. The remaining neurons connected to the ventral nerve cord, a structure analogous to the spinal cord in humans.

Credit : ScienceDaily

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It is commonly believed that when an earthworm is cut in half-crosswise, it regenerates into two new worms. But this is not true. Earthworms do have the ability to regenerate lost segments. This ability varies between species and depends on the extent of the damage. They have a distinctive head and tail. They also have clitellum, a glandular and non-segmented section of the body wall, near the head. It secretes a sticky sac in which their eggs are deposited. When cut behind this clitellum, the head of the earthworm may survive and grow the tail, but the tail does not grow a head. The tail will die.

Some earthworms may amputate their tail when grasped by a predator. The tails would still move and distract their attacker. Species Eisenia fetida accumulates waste in its tail and when it cannot store any more, it amputates the tail. But none of these earthworm species grow head.

Amazing flatworm

However, there is a type of worm which can regenerate both head and tail. It's a primitive worm, called the planarian flatworm, common to many parts of the world, living in ponds and rivers.

A planarian split lengthwise or crosswise will regenerate into two separate individuals. When cut into three, even the middle part grows both new head and tail. The worm has extraordinary regeneration capacity that it can reform its entire body from just 1/277th of its original body size. When planarian regrows its head, it even keeps its old memories intact. In 2017, an amputated planaria was sent aboard the International Space Station (ISS). After spending five weeks, it regenerated into a double-headed worm.

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Monarch butterflies embark on a marvelous migratory phenomenon. They travel between 1,200 and 2,800 miles or more from the United States and Canada to central Mexican forests. There the butterflies hibernate in the mountain forests, where a less extreme climate provides them a better chance to survive. 

Monarch caterpillars are striped with yellow, black, and white bands, and reach lengths of two inches (five centimeters) before metamorphosis. They have a set of antennae-like tentacles at each end of their body. The monarch chrysalis, where the caterpillar undergoes metamorphosis into the winged adult butterfly, is a beautiful seafoam green with tiny yellow spots along its edge.

Whether monarchs are present in a given area within their range depends on the time of year. They are one of the few migratory insects, traveling great distances between summer breeding habitat and winter habitat where they spend several months inactive. In the summer they range as far north as southern Canada. In the fall the eastern population migrates to the cool, high mountains of central Mexico and the western population migrates to coastal California, where they spend the entire winter.

The monarch population has declined by approximately 90 percent since the 1990s. Monarchs face habitat loss and fragmentation in the United States and Mexico. For example, over 90 percent of the grassland ecosystems along the eastern monarch’s central migratory flyway corridor have been lost, converted to intensive agriculture or urban development. Pesticides are also a danger. Herbicides kill both native nectar plants where adult monarchs feed, as well as the milkweed their caterpillars need as host plants. Insecticides kill the monarchs themselves. Climate change alters the timing of migration as well as weather patterns, posing a risk to monarchs during migration and while overwintering. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service is currently reviewing the species’ status.

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Whether delicately perched on a cattail or hovering over a pond, dragonflies are a sure sign of summer.

Living on every continent but Antarctica, these insects are instantly recognizable by their large bodies; four long, horizontal wings; and the way they hover and zip around. Dragonflies can reach speeds of up to 35 miles an hour and fly just as gracefully backward by lifting off vertically, helicopter style.

Dragonflies are important to their environments both as predators (particularly of mosquitos) and as prey to birds and fish. Because these insects require stable oxygen levels and clean water, scientists consider them reliable bioindicators of the health of an ecosystem.

In 2009, the first comprehensive assessment of insect species showed that 10 percent of dragonfly species were under threat of extinction. The animals are imperiled by destruction of freshwater habitats—particularly ponds, bogs, and fens—by pollution, and non-native vegetation.

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