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Instructions

Hover the cursor over any box to shine light on the subject, or use the light switch to examine the whole collection at once.

Dragonfly

  • One of the oldest insects
  • Can snag prey mid-air
  • Scientific order of Odonata • "toothed one" because of it's jagged jaw
  • Top speed approx. 18 mph
  • Almost 360° vision (one blind spot in the back)
  • Lays eggs in water, nymphs live in water up to 2 years

Scarab

  • Scarab is the common family name that describes 30,000 species of beetles
  • Their antennae have 3 segments that form a club
  • Front legs often have hooks or scoops for digging
  • Many species are beautifully colored
  • The Hercules beetle can reach 6 inches in length
  • Dung beetles eat exactly what you think they would

Weevil

  • Known for their snouts, different species have varying lengths
  • Many species can destroy whole crops or grain storages
  • With 45,000 species Weevils are the largest family in the animal kingdom
  • Extreme weevil species include the Giraffe Weevil, the Polka Dotted Clown Weevil, and the Hose Nose Weevil
  • The Boll Weevil all but wiped out the cotton industry in the United States in the 1920s

Ants

  • Ants can "talk" to each other through pheromones or by exhanging bodily fluids (yup).
  • Very social creatures, ants live in huge colonies headed up by a queen
  • They are very strong lifting about 20 times their body weight
  • Also cooperative, many will work together to lift items that are huge in comparison to their tiny bodies
  • Queens have wings! They shed them after initiating a new nest
  • No lungs! They breathe through tiny holes covering their bodies

Cucumber Beetle

  • Also known as Southern Corn Rootworm
  • They live in the US east of the Rocky Mountains and prefer the South
  • Voracious like many beetles, they are a threat to cucumber, melon, soy, and corn crops
  • Their less destructive cousin the ladybug is sometimes confused for these
  • Eggs are laid in the soil at the roots of the host plant

Potato Beetle

  • First found disrupting potato harvests in America in mid-1800s
  • A beetle can lay 500 eggs in a month
  • Eggs are bright yellow-orange
  • Known for their resistence to pesticides
  • Originally existed on a plant called Buffalo Bur until humans brought potatoe plants from South America

Wasp

  • There are about 30,000 species of wasps
  • Chew wood into pulp to make their paper-like nests
  • There are both social and solitary species of wasps. Most species are solitary.
  • Helpful in controlling pest populations
  • The social species only survive one year, all die off in winter with the exception of the queen who starts a new nest in the Spring.

Moth

  • There are more than 11,000 species of moths … just in the U.S.
  • The largest moth has a wingspan of about 12 inches
  • They don't have noses, but are expert sniffers using their antennae
  • Like butterflies, moths have scales covering their wings
  • You know baby moths as caterpillars
  • Moths live in all habitats but polar

Ladybug

  • Ladybug is a nickname for Lady Bird Beetle
  • Can have spots or stripes
  • Used by farmers as bio control of pests — mostly aphids
  • Can emit a nasty toxin to deter being eaten
  • Has 2 sets of wings, inner transparent flight wings, and harder protection wings that cover the delicate ones below

Yellow Ladybug

  • Ladybugs have yellow blood
  • Ladybugs are colorless or yellow when they first emerge from pupa stage and begin to develop spots
  • Yellow ladybugs are simply in a stage of developing their red color
  • A yellow ladybug may have a mutation to keep it yellow
  • It might not be a ladybug but a spotted cucumber beetle which looks similar but has a more elongated body