# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Welcome to Season 2 of Amazing Wildlife! Hosts Rick and Marco explore the fascinating and dynamic insects of Butterfly Jungle, open through May 14 at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. Lynn Fennema, senior wildlife care specialist in entomology at the San Diego Zoo, gives insight into the transformation of a caterpillar to a butterfly-including the difference between a chrysalis and a cocoon, the different types of caterpillars, and what really happens inside the chrysalis before a butterfly emerges!

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Popular Podcasts

Dateline NBC

Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

My name is Jay Shetty, and my purpose is to make wisdom go viral. I'm fortunate to have fascinating conversations with the most insightful people in the world, and on my podcast, I'm sharing those conversations with you. New episodes Mondays and Fridays. Please rate and review the podcast if you enjoy it. Live life today ON PURPOSE.

Crime Junkie

If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you've found your people.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
behind the transformation: from caterpillar to butterfly

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
amazing wildlife: a san diego zoo podcast

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.authors[].name
Amazing Wildlife: A San Diego Zoo Podcast

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Behind the Transformation: From Caterpillar to Butterfly - Amazing Wildlife: A San Diego Zoo Podcast

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Welcome to Season 2 of Amazing Wildlife! Hosts Rick and Marco explore the fascinating and dynamic insects of Butterfly Jungle, open through May 14 at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.pestworldforkids.org/pest-guide/ants/

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Ant Facts for Kids

We're all familiar with ants, right? Those tiny black insects that steal food off picnic blankets? But did you know ants can also be big, be colors other than black, and even have wings and fly? View some interesting facts about ants for kids below, help Archibald the ant complete his mission by playing the game Archibald's Adventure, or learn how to make an egg carton ant!

There are more than 12,000 different types of ants all over the world!

Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight. If a second grader was as strong as an ant, they could pick up a car!

Ant colonies are run by a single queen ant, who control all the other ants.

Some queen ants can live for many years and have millions of babies.

Ants don't have ears. Ants "hear" by feeling rumbles in the ground through their feet.

Ants don't have lungs. Air enters and leaves through tiny holes all over their body.

When ants fight, it is usually to the death!

Ants leave invisible breadcrumbs (called a pheromone trail) everywhere they go, so they know where they've been.

Worker ants can't have babies. That means when a queen dies, the colony usually dies a few months later.

Ants eat different kinds of foods depending on the type of ant, including sweet sugary foods or fatty oily foods.

Ants communicate through scent, touch, motion, sound, and trophallaxis.

You can make ants on a log with healthy snacks like celery and peanut butter!

Get to know ants:

There are 3 kinds of ants in a colony: The queen, the female workers, and males.

The queen and the males have wings, the workers do not. The queen is the only ant that can lay eggs. A male ant's job is to mate with future queen ants. Once the queen is old enough to lay eggs, she spends the whole rest of her life laying eggs!

Some worker ants act as soldiers. They protect the colony, gather food, and fight other colonies for more food and space. If they beat another ant colony, they take the other colony's eggs. When those eggs hatch, the new ants are forced to work for the new colony. They take care of the eggs and babies, find food for the colony, and build the anthills or mounds.

What Do Argentine Ants Eat?:

Argentine ants like sweet meals the best but will eat almost anything. That includes meats, eggs, oils and fats. They leave a scent trail everywhere they go so they don't waste time visiting the same place twice. Unlike most ant types, Argentine queens help with finding food.

Where Do Argentine Ants Live?:

Argentine ant live in wet environments typically near a good food source. Their colonies can get huge, sometimes covering entire garden or even a whole back yard.

What Do Carpenter Ants Eat?:

You may think carpenter ants eat wood, since they dig big holes into the wood. But no! They don't eat any of it. They dig holes in wood but leave piles of it outside the entrance to their home. Instead, carpenter ants eat living and dead insects, meat, and fats and sugary foods of all kinds such as honeydew and nectar from plants.

Where Do Carpenter Ants Live?:

We know carpenter ants build nests in wood, but where? What type of wood do they prefer? Carpenter ants live anywhere they can find water and moldy or damp wood, such as tree stumps, firewood or in the plants around your house.

Carpenter ants also build nests inside, usually entering buildings through wet, damaged wood, although it isn't uncommon for them to adapt to drier environments. You know you have a colony of carpenter ants if you see piles of sawdust on the floor.

What Problems Do Carpenter Ants Cause?:

The good news is that carpenter ants don't carry disease and can't really harm you physically. But when building a nest inside a home, they dig smooth tunnels through the wood. These tunnels weaken the wood and potentially damage the wood that keeps the house standing. This kind of damage can be very expensive to fix.

What Do Odorous House Ants Eat?:

Odorous house ants like to eat dead insects and sugary sweets, especially melon.

Where Do Odorous House Ants Live?:

Odorous house ants live in the walls and floor cracks of homes. They may also live in exposed soil and under stones, logs, mulch, debris and other items. They typically have a lifespan of several years.

What Do Pavement Ants Eat?:

Pavement ants will eat almost anything! This includes insects, seeds, honeydew, honey, bread, meats, nuts, cheese, and even grease.

Where Do Pavement Ants Live?:

Pavement ants most commonly live in soil next to and beneath pavement slabs, sidewalks, patios, and driveways. They may also build nests under a building's foundation and hollow foundation walls.

What Do Red Imported Fire Ants Eat?:

Red imported fire ants primarily eat vegetation. That's right - even though they will bite people, they can be considered vegetarians. They aren't biting you to eat or to be mean, but to defend themselves. After all, you're a lot bigger than they are.

Where Do Red Imported Fire Ants Live?:

Red imported fire ant live in very noticeable mounds. These mounds are huge, sometimes a whole foot tall, and typically in the shape of a dome. They like to build these mounds outdoors out of soil, usually in landscape areas like grass or near a building's foundation. They occasionally enter buildings through holes or cracks in walls and foundations.

Are Red Ants Harmful to Humans?:

Yes! Red imported ants do cause harm. The sting (bite) of a red imported fire ant is very painful and often results in a raised welt that becomes a white blister. People who are allergic to insect stings will react even more severely. Plus, the building of their big mounds can damage plant roots and lead to loss of crops.

What Should I Do If I See Red Imported Fire Ants?:

The first thing to do if you see important fire ants is to get away from them. If they start crawling on you, they are likely to bite you, and if there are a bunch of them, that could result in a lot of pain.

Next, immediately ask a grown-up to call a pest control professional. Other types of ants are annoying and can contaminate your food, but at least they can't physically hurt you. You want these ants away from your house as quickly as possible. There is more info on red imported fire ants and how to get rid of them at the official National Pest Management Association website.

Also watch red imported fire ants face off with Formosan termites on episode 3 of Bug Battles!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Did you know that an ant can lift 20 times its own body weight? Find more fun facts about ants and other ant information for kids in our ant pest guide.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Cockroach Facts for Kids

Cockroaches have been around since the time of dinosaurs!

A cockroach can live almost a month without food.

A cockroach can live about two weeks without water.

Some female cockroaches only mate once and stay pregnant for life!

A cockroach can live for up to one week without its head!

Cockroaches can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes!

Cockroaches can run up to 3 miles an hour.

Cockroaches have been around for millions of years, evolving into some of the most adaptable pests on Earth. There are approximately 4,000 living species of cockroaches in the world. About 70 of these species are found in the United States.

Cockroaches are commonly found in buildings and homes because they prefer warm environments close to food and water. Unfortunately, cockroaches can cause allergies and trigger asthma attacks, especially in children. They can also spread nearly 33 different kinds of bacteria.

Find more facts about and information on cockroach pest control at the official NPMA website.

American Cockroaches

The American cockroach is the largest cockroach found in houses. Despite its name, the American cockroach is not native to North America, but was likely introduced via ships from Africa in the 1600s.

Females can hatch up to 150 offspring per year. Cockroaches don't get their wings until the become adults.

Diet:

American cockroaches will eat just about anything, including plants and other insects.

Habitat:

American cockroaches prefer to live in warm, dark, wet areas, like sewers and basements. They often enter structures through drains and pipes.

Although American cockroaches can be found in homes, they are also common in larger commercial buildings, such as restaurants, grocery stores and hospitals.

Impact:

Cockroaches crawl through dirty areas and then walk around our homes tracking in lots of bacteria and germs. They can contaminate food by shedding their skins. Their cast off skin and waste byproducts are allergens that can trigger allergic reactions, asthma and other illnesses, especially in children.

Prevention:

Keep cooking, eating and food storage areas clean and dry.

If you see cockroaches, it is best to call a pest management professional due to the illnesses they can spread.

Are you a school teacher looking for more materials to share with your kids? Find additional information on American cockroaches at the official NPMA website.

Brown-banded Cockroaches

Brown banded cockroaches get their name from the two light bands they have across their dark brownish bodies. The male's wings are larger than the female's wings.

Brownbanded cockroaches often hide their eggs in or under furniture. They usually live 5-6 ½ months.

Diet:

Brownbanded cockroaches prefer to eat starchy foods, such as wallpaper paste and book bindings. Sometimes they'll eat non-organic things, like nylon stockings!

Habitat:

Brownbanded cockroaches prefer warmer, drier, and higher locations than most cockroaches. While most cockroaches prefer to live in kitchens and pantries, Brownbanded cockroaches will live in any room in the house. They do not need much moisture and avoid light whenever the can.

Impact:

Cockroaches crawl through dirty areas and then walk around our homes tracking in lots of bacteria and germs. They can contaminate food by shedding their skins. Their cast off skin and waste byproducts are allergens that can trigger allergic reactions, asthma and other illnesses, especially in children.

Prevention:

Keep cooking, eating and food storage areas clean and dry.

If you see cockroaches, it is best to call a pest management professional due to the illnesses they can spread.

Teachers, are you looking for more instructive materials to share with your students? Find additional information on brownbanded cockroaches at the official NPMA website.

German Cockroaches

German cockroaches can be found all over the world. They are the most common cockroach in the United States. Each German cockroach can live about 100-200 days.

Diet:

Cockroaches are attracted to sweet and floury foods. They also eat non- organic items such as toothpaste and books!

Habitat:

German cockroaches live in warm and damp places, like kitchens, bathrooms, and places where people eat and drink.

Impact:

Cockroaches crawl through dirty areas and then walk around our homes tracking in lots of bacteria and germs. They can contaminate food by shedding their skins. Their cast off skin and waste byproducts are allergens that can trigger allergic reactions, asthma and other illnesses, especially in children.

Prevention:

Keep cooking, eating and food storage areas clean and dry.

If you see cockroaches, it is best to call a pest management professional due to the illnesses they can spread.

Teachers can find additional information on German cockroaches to share with students at the official NPMA website.

Oriental Cockroaches

Oriental Cockroaches probably get their names from trade ships but they are actually from Africa. They are large and very dark compared to other cockroaches. They usually travel through sewer pipes and drains. They prefer dirty places and cooler temperatures than other cockroaches. An Oriental cockroach creates a strong smell and is considered one of the dirtiest of all the cockroaches.

Diet:

Oriental cockroaches feed on all types of garbage and other organic material.

Habitat:

Oriental cockroaches also live in sewers and wet, decaying areas, such as basements and crawlspaces, firewood and piles of leaves.

Impact:

Cockroaches crawl through dirty areas and then walk around our homes tracking in lots of bacteria and germs. They can contaminate food by shedding their skins. Their cast off skin and waste byproducts are allergens that can trigger allergic reactions, asthma and other illnesses, especially in children.

Prevention:

Keep your home clean and dry.

Vacuum often and seal cracks in and around your house.

If you see cockroaches, it is best to call a pest management professional due to the illnesses they can spread.

Find more educational materials for use in your classroom, including a profile on Oriental cockroaches, at the official NPMA website.

More fun with pests

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Cockroach Information for Kids: Cockroach Facts for Kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Cockroaches have been around since the time of dinosaurs! A cockroach can live almost a month without food. A cockroach can live about two weeks without water. Some female cockroaches only mate once and stay pregnant for life! A cockroach can live for up to one week without its head!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Get access to files anywhere through secure cloud storage and file backup for your photos, videos, files and more with Google Drive.

# data[].attributes.body
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/nature/article/fastest-jaw-on-the-draw

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Which animal has the fastest snapping jaw? If you're guessing a shark or perhaps an alligator, you'll have to think smaller.

The trap-jaw ant ( Odontomachus bauri), which lives in Central and South America, moves its mandibles (mouth parts) at 115 to 207 feet per second.

Another way to think about this is that the ant's jaws close at 78 to 145 miles per hour. That's 2,300 times faster than the blink of an eye.

Scientists were able to measure the amazing jaw speed using high-speed video techniques.

Sheila Patek, assistant professor of integrative biology at the University of California, Berkeley, says the key is that the jaws have a pair of latches: "Having a latch system is critical in obtaining explosive speeds."

Consider a bow and arrow. If you try to throw an arrow with your arm, it won't go very far. If you use a bow, elastic energy stored in the bow is released almost instantly when you release the arrow with your finger or a latch.

The combination of the springy bow and latch mechanism is what makes the arrow zoom through the air. "That's exactly what really fast organisms are doing," says Patek.

Maybe even more amazing than how fast these ants grab food or even enemies is how they use this same energy to move. As the ant closes its jaws, it uses them to push off the ground-all faster than the eye can see without slow motion video. A snap of the jaw can launch an ant up to 3.3 inches (8.3 centimeters) in the air. That's like someone's who's five-foot-six leaping 44 feet!

Trap-jaw ants cover ground the same way. Not only can they quickly evade predators (enemies who want to eat them), but often a group of ants will start jumping all at once.

Imagine a lot of popcorn popping. It would be hard to grab just one. Researchers think this "popcorn" effect might help the ants escape by confusing their enemies.

People have suspected the ants used their jaws to jump for over a century, but could only prove it with today's modern video equipment.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Which animal has the fastest snapping jaw? If you're guessing a shark or perhaps an alligator, you'll have to think smaller. The trap-jaw ant ( Odontomachus bauri), which lives in Central and South America, moves its mandibles (mouth parts) at 115 to 207 feet per second.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A tree stands in a forest under a cloudy sky. Suddenly it appears as if a twig is crawling down the trunk. The object isn't actually a twig that's sprung legs-it's a stick insect. The stick-like trickster uses its appearance to protect itself from enemies so it doesn't end up in, well, a sticky situation.

FOOLED YA

Stick insects-also known as walking sticks-live in tropical and temperate (or mild) forests all over the world. Related to grasshoppers, crickets, and mantises, these creepy-crawlies are usually brown, green, or black. They're also the world's longest insects. The largest one ever found stretched 22 inches with its legs extended. (Most are only up to 12 inches long.)

This bug spends much of its time in trees, munching on leaves. When predators such as birds approach, the insect tries to remain completely still in order to blend with the branches. If a predator isn't fooled and grabs the bug by the leg, it's no big deal. The insect can detach the leg and scuttle away. It will later regenerate, or grow back, the lost limb.

A GOOD EGG

About 3,000 species of stick insects exist. Some are master mimics even before they hatch. The females from these species lay eggs that look like plant seeds. This prevents carnivorous insects from eating the eggs. This crawler really knows how to go undercover.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A tree stands in a forest under a cloudy sky. Suddenly it appears as if a twig is crawling down the trunk. The object isn't actually a twig that's sprung legs-it's a stick insect. The stick-like trickster uses its appearance to protect itself from enemies so it doesn't end up in, well, a sticky situation.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
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 them 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 colorful for a reason. Their markings tell predators: “Eat something else! I taste terrible.” When threatened, the bugs will secrete an oily, foul-tasting fluid from joints in their legs. They may also play dead. Birds are ladybugs’ main predators, but they also fall victim to frogs, wasps, spiders, and dragonflies. Ladybugs lay their eggs in clusters or rows on the underside of a leaf, usually where aphids have gathered. Larvae, which vary in shape and color based on species, emerge in a few days. Seven-spotted ladybug larvae are long, black, and spiky-looking with orange or yellow spots. Some say they look like tiny alligators. Larvae grow quickly and shed their skin several times. When they reach full size, they attach to a leaf by their tail, and a pupa is formed. Within a week or two, the pupa becomes an adult ladybug. 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. The name “ladybug” was coined by European farmers who prayed to the Virgin Mary when pests began eating their crops. After ladybugs came and wiped out the invading insects, the farmers named them “beetle of Our Lady.” This eventually was shortened to “lady beetle” and “ladybug.” NASA even sent a few ladybugs into space with aphids to see how aphids would escape in zero gravity.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.getepic.com/app/user-collection/32675056

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Get unlimited access to 40,000 of the best books, audiobooks, videos, & more for kids 12 and under. Try it free.

# data[].attributes.headline
Spotting Differences: Cricket or Grasshopper?

# data[].attributes.subject
Spotting Differences: Cricket or Grasshopper?

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.getepic.com/app/read/79621

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.getepic.com/app/read/6630

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Get unlimited access to 40,000 of the best books, audiobooks, videos, & more for kids 12 and under. Try it free.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.getepic.com/app/read/51146

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
instant access to thousands of great kids books.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Instantly access 40,000 high-quality books for kids

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The leading digital library for kids offering unlimited access to 40,000 of the best children's books of all time. Sign up for a free 30 day trial to instantly access high-quality online books for kids, ebooks, audio books, quizzes, videos, and more.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
It's a quiet, warm summer evening with no human in sight for miles in the woods. As the sun sets, tiny flashes of light start to flicker throughout the trees. At first there's just a few, but soon hundreds of blinking lights are floating in the forest.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Madagascar hissing cockroach is all hiss and no sting. Its alarm hiss, which sounds like a loud snake hiss, is the cockroach's attempt to scare off intruders. The male cockroach also uses distinct hisses to attract a mate and to intimidate other male cockroaches.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Madagascar hissing cockroach is all hiss and no sting. Its alarm hiss, which sounds like a loud snake hiss, is the cockroach's attempt to scare off intruders. The male cockroach also uses distinct hisses to attract a mate and to intimidate other male cockroaches.

# data[].attributes.body
https://school.eb.com/levels/elementary/article/ladybug/571160

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Honey bee workers clustering on a honeycomb.
Photograph by Waugsberg, used under .

Introduction

The most familiar Hymenoptera are the bees, wasps and ants; insects feared by many people because of their stings. However, these make up only a small proportion of the order. The Hymenoptera also includes Ichneumons and other parasitic "wasps" and Sawflies. Unfortunately, there is no English name to embrace the whole order as there is for beetles, bugs and true flies.

Hymenoptera characteristically have two pairs of wings, a large fore pair and a smaller hind pair. These wings are held together by a series of hooks (called a frenulum) and may appear like a single pair to the naked eye. Hymenoptera also tend to have prominent antennae, generally with nine or more segments and biting mouthparts.

The most conspicuous Hymenoptera are the fast-flying, often black and yellow, bees and wasps. Ants, too, are easily noticed when intruding on our lives. However, many of the smaller and less familiar Hymenoptera can have a jewel-like beauty on close examination and are interesting in a great variety of ways.

In the British Isles, there are at least 6,700 species of Hymenoptera, occurring in all terrestrial habitats. On a world scale are at least 100,000 species, so this is only a brief introduction to the group and deals mainly with the main British groups.

Hymenoptera and Man

Honey

Honey is associated with all manner of positive things; so often so that it is easy to forget that it is regurgitated by insects! A concentrated form of flower nectar stored by certain bees for their young, honey has been sought since earliest times. There is a 9000-year-old cave painting in Spain depicting the gathering of wild honey and beehives are illustrated on friezes in ancient Egyptian tombs. Honey bees are also valued for their beeswax, royal jelly (used to supplement the diet of developing queens) and other products. Find out more about bees and beekeeping.

Pollination

Many winged Hymenoptera visit flowers. Bees do so to collect pollen and nectar for themselves or to provision their developing young, while wasps are often on the lookout for other insects to prey upon. Flowering plants have, in an evolutionary sense, taken great advantage of this by offering nectar to insects most likely to carry their pollen to another flower. With many important crops dependent on insect pollinators, Hymenoptera have a huge role to play in feeding the world's human population. Bumblebees are routinely introduced into commercial greenhouses where pollinators are in short supply, and the contribution pollination makes to the world's economy is tens of billions of dollars per annum.

Pest control

A parasitic wasp, Peristenus digoneutis, laying an egg in a plant bug nymph.
Scott Bauer,

Wasps are a gardener's best friend killing countless garden pests. In fact, Ichneumons and other Parasitica are used as successful biological control agents. For example, the parasitic wasp Habrolepis dalmanni (Encyrtidae) was introduced from North America into New Zealand for the control of Golden Oak Scale insect Asterolecanium variolosum ( Hemiptera:Asterolecaniidae), a serious pest of oak. Ants are also valued in some forests for their role in controlling pests in large numbers.

That said, not all Hymenoptera are quite so welcome. The larvae of Sawflies and Wood Wasps damage crops and ants can encourage aphid blooms by protecting the aphids from predators.

Life Cycles

Life stages

Hymenoptera undergo complete metamorphosis - that is, they have an egg, larva, pupa and adult stage. The larvae are usually soft and white with no legs, looking similar to diptera larvae; the larvae of some Sawflies have small fore and hind legs like caterpillars.

The sexes are separate, but males are rare in several Parasitica, and the sexes are "redefined" a little in the social aculeates. Many Hymenoptera are protandrous, that is the adult male starts to emerge before the female, awaiting the emergence of females to mate with or even mating before or while she is trying to emerge. In contrast, females of some Parasitica will wait for their own male offspring to emerge before promptly mating with them!

Types of life cycle

There are a bewildering variety of types of life cycle among Hymenoptera. These are intimately bound up with the way in which food is provided for the offspring.

In the Symphyta, eggs are laid in plant tissue and simply abandoned. Other plant-feeding Hymenopterans, such as the Gall Wasps (Parasitica), induce plants to grow protective structures ( galls) that shelter the young as they feed. In the Parasitica, and some aculeates, parasitoid life cycles are common. Parasitoid larvae behave like parasites, feeding off the tissues of living animals, but unlike true parasites usually kill the host at the end of their development. Parasitoids are often extremely specialised, attacking only a single species. When this itself is the larva of a parasitoid insect, they may be called hyperparasitoids.

Nest-building is well-developed in the aculeates, with social organisation being a special case. Solitary, as opposed to social, aculeates may build one or more nests, each supplied with food for the larvae. Other Hymenoptera take advantage of the hard work done by others to supply food. This is known as kleptoparasitism, and the species are often called "cuckoo wasps" or "cuckoo bees". Eggs are laid on another species' store of food, which is eaten by the developing larva, usually killing the rightful heir in the process. There are even social kleptoparasites, in which a whole colony of bees, wasps or ants is taken over from within by another, often closely related, species.

Social Organisation

The phenomenon of sociality among insects is best developed among the aculeate Hymenoptera (it also occurs in termites and a single mammal, the naked mole rat).

Social animals, in this sense, are those in which individuals have evolved different reproductive roles, with at least two types ( castes) of female (a fertile queen and sterile workers) that co-operate in raising the young.

A social colony is like a single organism in that it has a single set of genes to be passed on at reproduction, in the form of a new queen or queens. In the most advanced cases, seen in ants, some bees, and some wasps, the different castes are strikingly different in appearance from one another.

It is in these groups that many fascinating co-operative behaviours have evolved, for example, the paper-making habits of wasps, the waggle-dance communication of honeybees, and the seemingly suicidal defence of colonies by workers with no reproductive interests other than that of the colony as a whole.

The apparent selflessness of honeybees still inspires admiration, as it did to Shakespeare's Henry V: Creatures that by a rule in nature teach / The act of order to a peopled kingdom. It is only since Shakespeare's time that it became widely known that bees have a queen and not a king; and more recently still that the complexities of hymenopteran societies have begun to be fully appreciated.

Diversity and Classification

The Hymenoptera are divided into two suborders, the Symphyta (Sawflies and their relatives) and the Apocrita (species with a thin "waist" including all the wasps, ants and bees). Within the Apocrita, there are two groups, the Parasitica (the most diverse of all Hymenopteran groups) and the Aculeata, species that have modified their egg laying tube ( ovipositor) into a sting. The list below summaries the groups that are dealt with in this introduction to the Hymenoptera, although there is not space here to go into the full classification and evolutionary history of the group.

Essential reading from the Amateur Entomologists' Society

Resources

Related links: Bees, Wasps and Ants (Order: Hymenoptera)

Books

Hymenoptera in general

Gauld, I.D., Bolton, B., Huddleston, T., Fitton, M.G., Shaw, M.R., Noyes, J.S. , Day, M.C., Else, G.R, Fergusson, N.D.M. & Ward, S.L. The Hymenoptera. British Museum (Natural History) Oxford University Press, 1988.

Bethyloids

Perkins, J.F. Hymenoptera Bethyloidea (excluding Chrysidae). Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 6, Part 3(a). London: Royal Entomological Society, 1976.

Ants

Bolton, B. & Collingwood, C.A. Hymenoptera, Formicidae. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 6, Part 3c. London: Royal Entomological Society, 1975.

Skinner, G.J. & Allen, G.W. Ants. Naturalists Handbooks 24. Slough: Richmond Publishing Co Ltd, 1966.

Cuckoo Wasps

Morgan, D. Cuckoo wasps (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae). Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 6, Part 5. London: Royal Entomological Society, 1984.

Spider Wasps

Day, M.C. Spider wasps (Hymenoptera:Pompilidae). Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 6, Part 4. London: Royal Entomological Society, 1988.

Social Wasps

Else, G.R. Identification. Social wasps. British Wildlife, 5, 304-311, 1994.

Potter and Mason Wasps

Archer, M. E. The British Potter and Mason Wasps. A Handbook. Published by the author, 2003, 2nd ed.

Solitary Wasps

Lomholdt, O. The Sphecidae of Fennoscandia and Demark. 2nd edition. Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica, 4. Leiden: Brill, 1984.

Richard, O. W. Scolioidea, Vespoidea and Sphecoidea (Hymentoptera, Aculeata). Handbooks for the identification of British Insects, 6. Part 3(b). London: Royal Entomological Society, 1980.

Yeo, P.F. & Corbet, S.A. Solitary wasps. Naturalists Handbooks 3. The Richmond Publishing Co. Ltd, 1995, 2nd ed.

Bees

Else, G.R. In prep. Handbook of the bees of the British Isles.

Perkins, R.C.L. The British species of Andrena and Nomada. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, 1919, 218-319.

Perkins, R.C.L. The British species of Halictus and Sphecodes. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, 58, 46-52, 94-101, 167-174, 1922.

Perkins, R.C.L. Notes on some aculeate Hymenoptera, with corrections of errors. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, 67, 20, 1931.

Saunders, E. The Hymenoptera Aculeata of the British Isles. London: Reeve & Co.Ltd, 1896.

Bumblebees

Edwards, M. & Jenner, M. Field Guide to the Bumblebees of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by Ocelli Ltd.

Prys-Jones, O. & Corbet, S.A. Bumblebees. Naturalists Handbook 6. The Richmond Publishing Co. Ltd, 1991, Second edition, revised.

Sawflies

Benson, R.B. Hymenoptera: Symphyta. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 6, Part 2(a). London: Royal Entomological Society, 1951.

Benson, R.B. Hymenoptera: Symphyta. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 6, Part 2(b). London: Royal Entomological Society, 1952.

Benson, R.B. Hymenoptera: Symphyta. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 6, Part 2(c). London: Royal Entomological Society, 1958.

Wright, A. British Sawflies a key to the adults of genera occurring in Britain. Field Studies Council, 1990.

Back to Insect Orders.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Bees, Wasps and Ants (Order: Hymenoptera)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Honey bee workers clustering on a honeycomb.Photograph by Waugsberg, used under . The most familiar Hymenoptera are the bees, wasps and ants; insects feared by many people because of their stings. However, these make up only a small proportion of the order. The Hymenoptera also includes Ichneumons and other parasitic "wasps" and Sawflies.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Like the honeybee, stingless bees are social, and live in colonies, each having a queen and workers. They are also called 'Sweat Bees' as they are attracted to the salt in human sweat, and hover around the ears and eyes of people in hot areas.

Stingless bees are smaller than honeybees, and live in hollow trees, rocks, and even termite mounds. They often make vertical tubes from resin at the entrances to their nests. Inside their nests, they have special pots in which they store honey, and separate areas for storing pollen, and housing the larvae.

There are places in East Africa, with a tradition of keeping stingless bees, but the knowledge of how to do this sustainably is not widespread. Many people simply harvest stingless bee nests by breaking open the nest, which results in the entire colony being killed. This is very destructive, and has led to the disappearance of stingless bees from some areas.

Stingless bees are very important pollinators as they rely entirely on flowers for nectar and pollen to feed their larvae. They pollinate many forest and dryland plants, and are also valued pollinators of strawberries, mango, and avocado.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Like the honeybee, stingless bees are social, and live in colonies, each having a queen and workers. They are also called 'Sweat Bees' as they are attracted to the salt in human sweat, and hover around the ears and eyes of people in hot areas.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Carpenter bees are familiar to farmers and gardeners as the bees that fly noisily around wooden buildings, and on farms in the mornings. They include the widespread and abundant genus Xylocopa, the large carpenter bees, and Ceratina and Allodapula bees, which are known as small carpenter bees.

Carpenter bees include the largest bee in East Africa: Xylocopa nigrita, which has spectacular large females marked in black-and-white, and bright all-golden males. Large carpenter bees are active earlier and later than most other bees as their larger size enables them to warm up and forage on cool mornings. They often fly at dusk visiting flowers that would typically not be available to bees.

Large carpenter bees visit a wide range of flowers, where they serve as important pollinators of legumes that require 'tripping' of the flowers, and of plants that require buzz-pollination-such as Solanum spp. They also serve as pollinators of orchids, milkweeds ( Calotropis), and cultivated passionfruit.

Most large carpenter bee nests are excavated in wood-hence their name. They burrow tunnels, and construct cells they fill with pollen from plants. Small carpenter bee nests are excavated in pithy dry stems of plants, including the old flowering spikes of aloes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Carpenter bees are familiar to farmers and gardeners as the bees that fly noisily around wooden buildings, and on farms in the mornings. They include the widespread and abundant genus Xylocopa, the large carpenter bees, and Ceratina and Allodapula bees, which are known as small carpenter bees.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
This is a very large and diverse family of bees. They are small to medium-sized bees, and are often the most common bees encountered visiting flowers. About one-third of bees in East Africa are halictids.

Halictid bees nest in cavities, primarily in the ground as well as in wood. Halictids also exhibit a wide range of social behaviours. While the vast majority are solitary, a few halictid bees have variable levels of social organisation including communal nesting, sharing nests, semi-social, and even those almost fully eusocial.

Eusocial bees are those like honeybees with sterile workers who have given up reproducing, and instead support larvae from eggs laid by a fertile queen. This means that they are divided into a series of specialised castes.

Common genera of halictid bees in East Africa include Lipotriches, Nomia, Pseudapis, Lasioglossum, Patellapis, Seladonia, Thrincostoma, Nomioides, Cellariella, and Ceylalictus. The biology, behaviour and diversity of most halictid bees in East Africa remains poorly studied.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is a very large and diverse family of bees. They are small to medium-sized bees, and are often the most common bees encountered visiting flowers. About one-third of bees in East Africa are halictids. Halictid bees nest in cavities, primarily in the ground as well as in wood.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Leafcutter bees are named for their habit of cutting out circular pieces of leaves from cultivated plants. Leafcutters are stocky, robust bees with large eyes. They range in colour from grey to brown and can be boldly marked with orange, white, red, or yellow. Pollen is transported on the underside of their abdomen. When this is fully packed it makes a bright patch of colour on their bellies- readily visible as they forage from flowers.

Mass-flowering trees such as acacias are among the wide range of plants visited by leafcutter bees. Wildflowers are visited for pollen and nectar, and leafcutter bees are especially efficient at 'tripping' the flowers of Crotolaria, Indigofera, Tephrosia, and other legume species.

Nests of leafcutter bees are distinctive and unique, constructed from overlapping circles of cut pieces of leaf taken from a variety of plants. Generally those having fairly flat, smooth leaves are chosen, and are glued together with resin and waxy secretions. Nests can often be found on furniture, walls of buildings, and other man-made structures.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Leafcutter bees are named for their habit of cutting out circular pieces of leaves from cultivated plants. Leafcutters are stocky, robust bees with large eyes. They range in colour from grey to brown and can be boldly marked with orange, white, red, or yellow. Pollen is transported on the underside of their abdomen.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Monarch butterflies live in North, Central, and South America as well as Australia, some Pacific Islands, India, and Western Europe. Their markings include bright orange wings covered with black veins and rimmed with a black border and white dots. Females have thicker veins in their wings. A monarch's brilliant coloring tells predators: "Don't eat me. I'm poisonous." The butterflies get their toxins from a plant called milkweed, which is their only food source in the caterpillar stage. An animal that eats a monarch butterfly usually doesn't die, but it feels sick enough to avoid monarchs in the future.

The most amazing thing about monarch butterflies is the enormous migration that North American monarchs undertake each year. Every fall, as cold weather approaches, millions of these delicate insects leave their home range in Canada and the United States and begin flying south. They continue until they reach Southern California or central Mexico, nearly 2,500 miles away!

These international travelers return to the same forests each year, and some even find the same tree that their ancestors landed on. Some estimates say up to a billion butterflies arrive in the mountains of Mexico each year.

Scientists aren't sure how migrating monarchs know which way to go, since they only live a few months and none makes the journey more than once. Toward the end of winter, the monarchs in Mexico and California mate. The males then die, while the females head north, depositing eggs on milkweed plants along the way and eventually dying themselves. From these tiny, round eggs come small green-and-white-striped caterpillars, which feed on the milkweed leaves. For about two weeks, they eat constantly and grow by shedding their skin. They are then ready to transform into pupae. To become a pupa, also called a chrysalis, a monarch larva attaches itself with silk to a leaf or branch, sheds its skin, and forms a hard shell. This vase-shaped case starts out green with shiny golden dots and slowly becomes white, then see-through. After 9 to 15 days, a fully formed butterfly emerges.

The entire egg-to-butterfly process, called metamorphosis, takes about a month. Once out of the pupa, the damp butterfly inflates its wings with blood stored in its abdomen. It must wait for its wings to dry before it flies away. Adult butterflies don't grow. They survive by drinking nectar from flowers, including milkweed, clover, and goldenrod.

Threats to survival

Scientists think North American monarchs have been making their amazing annual journey for thousands of years. But threats to their habitat and food source are making the migration more difficult, and monarchs are now on the endangered species list.

Habitat destruction over decades in areas where they spend the winter has taken a massive toll. The impact is felt by both the western population, which is found west of the Rocky Mountains and winters on the California coast, and the eastern population, which is found in the eastern United States and Canada and winters in Mexico 's fir tree forests.

In their summer habitats, pesticides used in farming have killed monarchs as well as milkweed, the plant they eat and lay their eggs in. Climate change, too, is an increasing threat as dramatic weather events such as hurricanes and drought become more common along the butterflies' southern migration routes.

Now that the monarch has been added to the endangered species list, conservationists hope that more people will understand how much danger these butterflies are in and that organizations will step up to show folks how to help protect this amazing insect.

For instance, conservationists encourage people to plant milkweed in their yards so monarch butterflies can lay their eggs and their caterpillars have food to eat. Volunteer opportunities include citizen science, in which regular people help scientists collect critical data that will be used to develop conservation policies to protect monarchs. ( Find out how you can help.)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Monarch butterflies live in North, Central, and South America as well as Australia, some Pacific Islands, India, and Western Europe. They're on the endangered species list. Find out how you can help protect their habitat.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
There are thousands of species of bees known throughout the world. But when most people think of a bee, they think of a honeybee. Honeybees, Apis mellifera, are just one kind of bee. They are in the family Apidae. They live socially in large colonies and are commonly kept in domestic beehives, or are found in the wild inside hollow tree trunks.

Honeybees visit flowers to feed on nectar and pollen, and to collect these foods to take back to the hive. Honeybees make use of nectar to produce honey. It takes four worker honeybees their entire lives to produce just one teaspoonful of honey. From honeybees come other useful products including beeswax, propolis, royal jelly, and bee venom.

There is a long history between honeybees and humans. African rock art that depicts people harvesting wild honey date to thousands of years ago. Indeed, honeybees originated in East Africa, and like humans, migrated out of Africa to the rest of the world.

There are more wild varieties of honeybees in Africa than anywhere else in the world. In Kenya, there are two different kinds of honeybees:

Common Honeybee
This more familiar orange-and-black coloured bee is typically seen in grassland, bush, coastal, and forest areas.

Mountain Honeybee
This is a dark, chocolate coloured honeybee that is adapted to the high altitude areas of Mount Kenya, the Aberdare range, and Mount Elgon. Honeybees pollinate many crops, herbs, wildflowers, and trees.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
There are thousands of species of bees known throughout the world. But when most people think of a bee, they think of a honeybee. Honeybees, Apis mellifera, are just one kind of bee. They are in the family Apidae.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Many plants depend on bees to spread pollen, helping them to reproduce. Flowers that attract bees are usually yellow, blue, or purple. Many bees specialize in one plant species. In areas where different flowering plants bloom at the same time, this keeps different bee species from fighting over the same flower!

# data[].attributes.headline
The Difference Between a Butterfly and a Moth

# data[].attributes.subject
The Difference Between a Butterfly and a Moth

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A butterfly is a usually day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera. They are grouped together in the suborder Rhopalocera. Butterflies are closely related to moths, from which they evolved.

Angiosperms (flowering plants) evolved in the Lower Cretaceous, but did not become common until the Upper Cretaceous. Butterflies were the last major group of insects to appear on the planet. They evolved from moths in the latest Cretaceous or the earliest Cainozoic. The earliest known butterfly fossils date to the mid Eocene epoch, between 40-50 million years ago.

Like moths, butterflies have four wings covered with tiny scales. When a butterfly is not flying, its wings are usually folded over its back. The wings are patterned and are often brightly coloured. There are many different kinds of butterflies. The males and females of each kind are often slightly different from each other. Butterfly watching is a popular hobby. Some people also keep collections of dead butterflies that they have caught.

Like all insects with complete metamorphosis, a butterfly's life goes through four distinct stages. It begins as an egg, which hatches into a larva (a caterpillar). After some time, the larva turns into a chrysalis (like a cocoon). While it is in the chrysalis, it becomes a butterfly. The butterfly then hatches out and lays more eggs.

Predators and defenses

The main predators of butterflies are birds, just as the main predators of the crepuscular moths are bats. Also monkeys and tree-dwelling reptiles are predators, and some insects and spiders. Certainly all reptiles and monkeys have good colour vision, so that butterfly coloration works just as well on them as it does on birds.

The extraordinary colors and patterns on the wings and body can only be understood in terms of their function. Some of the most obvious functions of color are:

1. Camouflage: enabling the insect to remain hidden from view

2. Signalling to other animals

1. Warning coloration: signalling to other animals not to attack

2. Mimicry: taking advantage of another species' warning coloration

3. Sexual selection: finding a mate

4. Other kinds of signalling

3. Diversion
Startle defence: unexpected flashes of colour or eyespots

The details vary from group to group, and from species to species. The caterpillars also have colours with similar functions. The poisonous substances which make some butterflies noxious to eat are derived from the plants eaten by their caterpillars.

Wings and flight

Butterflies have a very characteristic flying style. They usually do not fly in straight lines. Their style is well described by the children's version of their name: 'flutter-by'. Some species are capable of strong, long flights (see monarch butterfly migration) and others never leave the woods they were born in. They can survive bird pecks on the wings quite well. Late in the season damage to their wings can often be seen, and still they continue flying quite well.

The head is the first part of the body. It has the eyes, mouth parts, and antennae.

The eyes of a butterfly are large. The eye is made up of smaller eyes or optical units. Eyes that are made up of optical units are called compound eyes. Butterflies do not see as many colors as humans, but they can see ultraviolet light.

The mouth of an adult butterfly does not have jaws. It has a kind of mouth that is made to suck liquids. This mouth is called a proboscis. The proboscis is made up of two hollow tubes. The tubes are locked together in the middle. When the butterfly is not using its proboscis, it is coiled up in the head. It can uncoil the proboscis when it wants to feed.

The antennae of a butterfly are used for smell and balance. The antenna in most butterflies is clubbed at the end. In some butterflies (like the Skippers), there is a hook at the end of the antenna, instead of a club.

The thorax is the second part of the body. It is made up of three segments. The legs and wings are connected to the thorax.

A butterfly has two pairs of wings. Each wing has hollow tubes called veins. The colors and patterns of butterflies are made by tiny scales. The scales over lap each other. They are connected to the wing. If a butterfly is handled, the tiny scales may rub off.

The abdomen is the third part of the body. It is made up of ten segments. The abdomen is much softer than the head and the thorax. At the end of the abdomen are the reproductive organs. In the male, there is a pair of claspers. They are used to hold on to the female during mating. In the female, there is a tube made to lay eggs.

Butterflies go through complete metamorphosis. This means that there are four parts in a butterfly's life. The first part is the egg. The second part is the caterpillar (sometimes called the larva). The third part is the chrysalis (sometimes called the pupa). The fourth part is the adult (sometimes called the imago).

A female butterfly will lay her eggs on or near the food plant of the caterpillar (the food plant is the plant that the caterpillar feeds on). The female will choose a place to lay her eggs using smell, taste, touch, and sight. Most species will lay just one egg on the food plant. Others will lay groups of five to over 100 eggs on the food plant. Most species will lay their eggs on the leaves of the food plant. Others will lay them on the flowers, stems, bark, or fruit of the food plant.

The eggs come in many different shapes and colors. They may be round or oval, and flattened. In some species, the egg shell is ribbed. The most common colors in butterfly eggs are yellow and green. The eggs will turn dark just before hatching. Also, some butterflies take a day to come out of eggs, while others could take months.

Caterpillar

Butterfly caterpillars can vary in size, color, and shape. They may have spines, bristles, or soft body extensions. All caterpillars have 13 body segments. The first three segments make up the thorax. The thorax has three pairs of legs. These legs are called true legs. The other 10 segments make up the abdomen. The abdomen has five pairs of soft legs called prolegs. The prolegs have tiny hooks at the end of the each foot. They are used to hold on to things. The hooks are called crochets.

A caterpillar's skin does not grow. As the caterpillar grows inside its skin, the skin becomes too tight. In order for the caterpillar to grow bigger, it sheds its too-tight skin. After the old skin is shed, there is a new, larger skin. This is known as molting. A caterpillar will molt four to five times before turning into a pupa. Each part between molts is called an instar.

Most caterpillars feed on leaves of plants or trees. Most species of caterpillars will feed only on a small number of certain kinds of plants. If the caterpillar's food plant is not found, it will starve to death.

Some species of caterpillars (in the family Lycaenidae) are tended by ants. The caterpillars have special glands that make a sweet liquid called honeydew. The ants like the honeydew. In return for the honeydew, the ants protect the caterpillars from predators. The caterpillars also have special body parts that make sounds. The caterpillar will make sounds with the body parts and "call" the ants when the caterpillar is being attacked by predators. The ants hear the sounds and come to protect the caterpillar.

Caterpillars in the subfamily Miletinae eat insects in the order Hemiptera. This includes aphids, mealybugs, leafhoppers and treehoppers. p356

Caterpillars in the family Papilionidae have a special organ. This organ is called an osmeterium. It is a bad-smelling gland that is shaped like a snake's tongue. It is kept behind the inside of the head. When a predator tries to eat the caterpillar, the caterpillar will release the osmeterium. This scares the predators away. p161

The pupa (plural, pupae) is formed after the last molt. The caterpillar will find a special place to pupate (pupate means to turn into a pupa). The digestive tract is emptied. The caterpillar sheds its skin. The pupa is now exposed. The caterpillar's tissues are broken down and rebuilt into the butterfly's tissues.

The pupa cannot move. It is attached to an object by tiny hooks on the end of the abdomen. These hooks make up what is called the cremaster. There are many tiny holes on the pupa. They allow respiratory gases to move in and out of the pupa.

Many pupae are easy for predators to attack. Some caterpillars (in the family Hesperiidae and the subfamilies Parnassiinae and Satyrinae) make shelters out of silk and leaves to protect themselves when they become pupae. These shelters are called cocoons. Most butterfly pupae do not have cocoons to protect themselves. Instead, the pupae have brown or green colors to camouflage themselves among leaves and branches. Pupae that do not have cocoons are called chrysalids or chrysalises.

Some butterflies may be in trouble because of habitat loss. Because of the destruction of forests and grasslands, some types of butterflies have nowhere to feed and lay eggs. To help, some people plant a butterfly garden with flowers having lots of nectar for butterflies to feed on. Some people also keep plants that butterflies lay eggs on, and enjoy watching the caterpillars hatch out and feed on the plant. Chemical sprays that are used to keep pests away from garden plants, also kill butterflies.

Some colourful butterflies

Monarch butterfly gallery

Related pages

Images for kids

Mutualism: ant tending a lycaenid caterpillar, Catapaecilma major

Braconid parasitoidal wasp ( Apanteles species) cocoons attached to lime butterfly ( Papilio demoleus) caterpillar

Lithopsyche antiqua, an Early Oligocene butterfly from the Bembridge Marls, Isle of Wight, 1889 engraving

In Spanish: Rhopalocera para niños

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Bees are flying insects of the Hymenoptera, which also includes ants, wasps and sawflies. There are about 20,000 species of bees. Bees collect pollen from flowers. Bees can be found on all continents except Antarctica.

Bees fall into four groups:

The European honey bee (called Apis mellifera by biologists), is kept by humans for honey. Keeping bees to make honey is called beekeeping, or apiculture.

The earliest animal-pollinated flowers were pollinated by insects such as beetles, long before bees first appeared. Bees are different because they are specialized as pollination agents, with behavioral and physical modifications that make pollination easier. Bees are generally better at the task than other pollinating insects such as beetles, flies, butterflies and pollen wasps. The appearance of such floral specialists is believed to have driven the adaptive radiation of the angiosperms, and, in turn, the bees themselves.

A recently reported bee fossil, of the genus Melittosphex, is considered "an extinct lineage of pollen-collecting Apoidea, sister-group to the modern bees", and dates from the Lower Cretaceous (~100 mya). Features of its morphology place it clearly within the bees, but it retains two unmodified ancestral traits of the legs which betray its origin. The issue is still under debate, and the phylogenetic relationships among bee families are poorly understood.

Description

It is usually easy to recognise that a particular insect is a bee. They differ from closely related groups such as wasps by having branched or plume-like setae (bristles), combs on the forelimbs for cleaning their antennae, small anatomical differences in the limb structure and the venation of the hind wings, and in females, by having the seventh dorsal abdominal plate divided into two half-plates.

Behaviourally, one of the most obvious characteristics of bees is that they collect pollen to provide provisions for their young, and have the necessary adaptations to do this. However, certain wasp species such as pollen wasps have similar behaviours, and a few species of bee scavenge from carcases to feed their offspring. The world's largest species of bee is thought to be the Indonesian resin bee Megachile pluto, whose females can attain a length of 39 millimetres (1.54 in). The smallest species may be dwarf stingless bees in the tribe Meliponini whose workers are less than 2 millimetres (0.08 in) in length.

The thorax has three segments, each with a pair of robust legs, and a pair of membranous wings on the hind two segments. The front legs of corbiculate bees bear combs for cleaning the antennae, and in many species the hind legs bear pollen baskets, flattened sections with incurving hairs to secure the collected pollen. The wings are synchronised in flight and the somewhat smaller hind wings connect to the forewings by a row of hooks along their margin which connect to a groove in the forewing. The abdomen has nine segments, the hindermost three being modified into the sting.

Haplodiploid breeding system

According to inclusive fitness theory, organisms can gain fitness not just through increasing their own reproductive output, but also that of close relatives. In evolutionary terms, individuals should help relatives when Cost < Relatedness * Benefit. The requirements for eusociality are more easily fulfilled by haplodiploid species such as bees because of their unusual relatedness structure. In haplodiploid species, females develop from fertilized eggs and males from unfertilized eggs. Because a male is haploid (has only one copy of each gene), his daughters (which are diploid, with two copies of each gene) share 100% of his genes and 50% of their mother's. Therefore, they share 75% of their genes with each other. This mechanism of sex determination gives rise to what W. D. Hamilton termed "supersisters", more closely related to their sisters than they would be to their own offspring. Workers often do not reproduce, but they can pass on more of their genes by helping to raise their sisters (as queens) than they would by having their own offspring (each of which would only have 50% of their genes), assuming they would produce similar numbers. This unusual situation has been proposed as an explanation of the multiple independent evolutions of eusociality (arising at least nine separate times) within the Hymenoptera. However, some eusocial species such as termites are not haplodiploid. Conversely, all bees are haplodiploid but not all are eusocial, and among eusocial species many queens mate with multiple males, creating half-sisters that share only 25% of their genes. Haplodiploidy is thus neither necessary nor sufficient for eusociality. But, monogamy (queens mating singly) is the ancestral state for all eusocial species so far investigated, so it is likely that haplodiploidy contributed to the evolution of eusociality in bees.

Eusociality

Bees may be solitary or may live in various types of communities. Sociality, of several different types, appears to have evolved independently many times within the bees. The most advanced of these are species with eusocial colonies; these are characterised by having cooperative brood care and a division of labour into reproductive and non-reproductive adults, plus overlapping generations. This division of labour creates specialized groups within eusocial societies which are called castes. In some species, groups of cohabiting females may be sisters, and if there is a division of labour within the group, they are considered semisocial. The group is called eusocial if, in addition, the group consists of a mother (the queen) and her daughters (workers). When the castes are purely behavioural alternatives, with no morphological differentiation other than size, the system is considered primitively eusocial, as in many paper wasps; when the castes are morphologically discrete, the system is considered highly eusocial.

The true honey bees (genus , of which there are seven currently-recognized species) are highly eusocial, and are among the best known of all insects. Their colonies are established by swarms, consisting of a queen and several hundred workers. There are 29 subspecies of one of these species, Apis mellifera, native to Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Africanized bees are a hybrid strain of A. mellifera that escaped from experiments involving crossing European and African subspecies; they are extremely defensive.

Stingless bees are also highly eusocial. They practise mass provisioning, with complex nest architecture and perennial colonies also established via swarming.

Many bumblebees are eusocial, similar to the eusocial Vespidae such as hornets in that the queen initiates a nest on her own rather than by swarming. Bumblebee colonies typically have from 50 to 200 bees at peak population, which occurs in mid to late summer. Nest architecture is simple, limited by the size of the pre-existing nest cavity, and colonies rarely last more than a year. In 2011, the International Union for Conservation of Nature set up the Bumblebee Specialist Group to review the threat status of all bumblebee species worldwide using the IUCN Red List criteria.

There are many more species of primitively eusocial than highly eusocial bees, but they have been studied less often. Most are in the family Halictidae, or "sweat bees". Colonies are typically small, with a dozen or fewer workers, on average. Queens and workers differ only in size, if at all. Most species have a single season colony cycle, even in the tropics, and only mated females hibernate. A few species have long active seasons and attain colony sizes in the hundreds, such as Halictus hesperus. Some species are eusocial in parts of their range and solitary in others, or have a mix of eusocial and solitary nests in the same population. The orchid bees (Apidae) include some primitively eusocial species with similar biology. Some allodapine bees (Apidae) form primitively eusocial colonies, with progressive provisioning: a larva's food is supplied gradually as it develops, as is the case in honey bees and some bumblebees.

Solitary and communal bees

Most other bees, including familiar insects such as carpenter bees, leafcutter bees and mason bees are solitary in the sense that every female is fertile, and typically inhabits a nest she constructs herself. There is no division of labor so these nests lack queens and worker bees for these species. Solitary bees typically produce neither honey nor beeswax.

Solitary bees are important pollinators; they gather pollen to provision their nests with food for their brood. Often it is mixed with nectar to form a paste-like consistency. Some solitary bees have advanced types of pollen-carrying structures on their bodies. A very few species of solitary bees are being cultured for commercial pollination. Most of these species belong to a distinct set of genera which are commonly known by their nesting behavior or preferences, namely: carpenter bees, sweat bees, mason bees, polyester bees, squash bees, dwarf carpenter bees, leafcutter bees, alkali bees and digger bees.

Most solitary bees nest in the ground in a variety of soil textures and conditions while others create nests in hollow reeds or twigs, holes in wood. The female typically creates a compartment (a "cell") with an egg and some provisions for the resulting larva, then seals it off. A nest may consist of numerous cells. When the nest is in wood, usually the last (those closer to the entrance) contain eggs that will become males. The adult does not provide care for the brood once the egg is laid, and usually dies after making one or more nests. The males typically emerge first and are ready for mating when the females emerge. Solitary bees are either stingless or very unlikely to sting (only in self-defense, if ever).

While solitary females each make individual nests, some species. such as the European mason bee Hoplitis anthocopoides, and the Dawson's Burrowing bee, Amegilla dawsoni, are gregarious, preferring to make nests near others of the same species, and giving the appearance of being social. Large groups of solitary bee nests are called aggregations, to distinguish them from colonies. In some species, multiple females share a common nest, but each makes and provisions her own cells independently. This type of group is called "communal" and is not uncommon. The primary advantage appears to be that a nest entrance is easier to defend from predators and parasites when there are multiple females using that same entrance on a regular basis.

The egg is generally oblong, slightly curved and tapering at one end. In the case of solitary bees, each one is laid in a cell with a supply of mixed pollen and nectar next to it. This may be rolled into a pellet or placed in a pile and is known as mass provisioning. In social species of bee there is progressive provisioning with the larva being fed regularly while it grows. The nest varies from a hole in the ground or in wood, in solitary bees, to a substantial structure with wax combs in bumblebees and honey bees.

The larvae are generally whitish grubs, roughly oval and bluntly-pointed at both ends. They have fifteen segments and spiracles in each segment for breathing. They have no legs but are able to move within the confines of the cell, helped by tubercles on their sides. They have short horns on the head, jaws for chewing their food and an appendage on either side of the mouth tipped with a bristle. There is a gland under the mouth that secretes a viscous liquid which solidifies into the silk they use to produce their cocoons. The pupa can be seen through the semi-transparent cocoon and over the course of a few days, the insect undergoes metamorphosis into the form of the adult bee. When ready to emerge, it splits its skin dorsally and climbs out of the exuviae as a winged adult and breaks out of the cell.

In Antoine Magnan's 1934 book Le vol des insectes, he wrote that he and André Sainte-Laguë had applied the equations of air resistance to insects and found that their flight could not be explained by fixed-wing calculations, but that "One shouldn't be surprised that the results of the calculations don't square with reality". This has led to a common misconception that bees "violate aerodynamic theory", but in fact it merely confirms that bees do not engage in fixed-wing flight, and that their flight is explained by other mechanics, such as those used by helicopters. In 1996 it was shown that vortices created by many insects' wings helped to provide lift. High-speed cinematography and robotic mock-up of a bee wing showed that lift was generated by "the unconventional combination of short, choppy wing strokes, a rapid rotation of the wing as it flops over and reverses direction, and a very fast wing-beat frequency". Wing-beat frequency normally increases as size decreases, but as the bee's wing beat covers such a small arc, it flaps approximately 230 times per second, faster than a fruitfly (200 times per second) which is 80 times smaller.

Navigation, communication, and finding food

The ethologist Karl von Frisch studied navigation in the honey bee. He showed that honey bees communicate by the waggle dance, in which a worker indicates the location of a food source to other workers in the hive. He demonstrated that bees can recognize a desired compass direction in three different ways: by the sun, by the polarization pattern of the blue sky, and by the earth's magnetic field. He showed that the sun is the preferred or main compass; the other mechanisms are used under cloudy skies or inside a dark beehive. Bees navigate using spatial memory with a "rich, map-like organization".

Floral relationships

Most bees are polylectic (generalist) meaning they collect pollen from a range of flowering plants, however, some are oligoleges (specialists), in that they only gather pollen from one or a few species or genera of closely related plants. Specialist pollinators also include bee species which gather floral oils instead of pollen, and male orchid bees, which gather aromatic compounds from orchids (one of the few cases where male bees are effective pollinators). Bees are able to sense the presence of desirable flowers through ultraviolet patterning on flowers, floral odors, and even electromagnetic fields. Once landed, a bee then uses nectar quality and pollen taste to determine whether to continue visiting similar flowers.

In rare cases, a plant species may only be effectively pollinated by a single bee species, and some plants are endangered at least in part because their pollinator is also threatened. There is, however, a pronounced tendency for oligolectic bees to be associated with common, widespread plants which are visited by multiple pollinators. There are some forty oligoleges associated with the creosote bush in the arid parts of the United States southwest, for example.

As mimics and models

Bees are themselves Müllerian mimics of other aposematic insects with the same colour scheme, including wasps, lycid and other beetles, and many butterflies and moths ( Lepidoptera) which are themselves distasteful, often through acquiring bitter and poisonous chemicals from their plant food. All the Müllerian mimics, including bees, benefit from the reduced risk of predation that results from their easily recognised warning coloration.

Bees are also mimicked by plants such as the bee orchid which imitates both the appearance and the scent of a female bee; male bees attempt to mate (pseudocopulation) with the furry lip of the flower, thus pollinating it.

As brood parasites

Brood parasites occur in several bee families including the apid subfamily Nomadinae. Females of these bees lack pollen collecting structures (the scopa) and do not construct their own nests. They typically enter the nests of pollen collecting species, and lay their eggs in cells provisioned by the host bee. When the cuckoo bee larva hatches it consumes the host larva's pollen ball, and often the host egg also. The Arctic bee species, Bombus hyperboreus, in particular are an aggressive species that attack and enslave other bees of the same subgenus. However, unlike many other bee brood parasites, they have pollen baskets and often collect pollen.

In the south of Africa, hives of African honeybees ( A. mellifera scutellata) are being destroyed by parasitic workers of the Cape honeybee, A. m. capensis. These lay diploid eggs ("thelytoky"), escaping normal worker policing, leading to the colony's destruction; the parasites can then move to other hives.

The cuckoo bees in the Bombus subgenus Psithyrus are closely related to, and resemble, their hosts in looks and size. This common pattern gave rise to the ecological principle "Emery's rule". Others parasitize bees in different families, like Townsendiella, a nomadine apid, two species of which are cleptoparasites of the dasypodaid genus Hesperapis, while the other species in the same genus attacks halictid bees.

Nocturnal bees

Four bee families (Andrenidae, Colletidae, Halictidae, and Apidae) contain some species that are crepuscular. Most are tropical or subtropical, but there are some which live in arid regions at higher latitudes. These bees have greatly enlarged ocelli, which are extremely sensitive to light and dark, though incapable of forming images. Some have refracting superposition compound eyes: these combine the output of many elements of their compound eyes to provide enough light for each retinal photoreceptor. Their ability to fly by night enables them to avoid many predators, and to exploit flowers that produce nectar only or also at night.

Predators, parasites and pathogens

Specialist ambush predators of visitors to flowers include crab spiders, which wait on flowering plants for pollinating insects; predatory bugs, and praying mantises, some of which (the flower mantises of the tropics) wait motionless, aggressive mimics camouflaged as flowers. Beewolves are large wasps that habitually attack bees; the ethologist Niko Tinbergen estimated that a single colony of the beewolf Philanthus triangulum might kill several thousand honeybees in a day: all the prey he observed were honeybees. Other predatory insects that sometimes catch bees include robber flies and dragonflies.

Honey bees are affected by parasites including acarine and Varroa mites. However, some bees are believed to have a mutualistic relationship with mites.

Bees and humans

In mythology and folklore

Three bee maidens with the power of divination and thus speaking truth are described in Homer's Hymn to Hermes, and the food of the gods is "identified as honey"; the bee maidens were originally associated with Apollo, and are probably not correctly identified with the Thriae. Honey, according to a Greek myth, was discovered by a nymph called Melissa ("Bee"); and honey was offered to the Greek gods from Mycenean times. Bees were associated, too, with the Delphic oracle and the prophetess was sometimes called a bee.

The image of a community of honey bees has been used from ancient to modern times, in Aristotle and Plato; in Virgil and Seneca; in Erasmus and Shakespeare; Tolstoy, and by political and social theorists such as Bernard Mandeville and Karl Marx as a model for human society. In English folklore, bees would be told of important events in the household, in a custom known as "Telling the bees".

In literature

Beatrix Potter's illustrated book The Tale of Mrs Tittlemouse (1910) features Babbity Bumble and her brood (pictured).

W. B. Yeats's poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree (1888) contains the couplet "Nine bean rows will I have there, a hive for the honey bee, / And live alone in the bee loud glade." At the time he was living in Bedford Park in the West of London.

Kit Williams' treasure hunt book The Bee on the Comb (1984) uses bees and beekeeping as part of its story and puzzle.

Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life of Bees (2004), and the 2009 film starring Dakota Fanning, tells the story of a girl who escapes her abusive home and finds her way to live with a family of beekeepers, the Boatwrights.

Dave Goulson's A Sting in the Tale (2014) describes his efforts to save bumblebees in Britain, as well as much about their biology.

The playwright Laline Paull's fantasy The Bees (2015) tells the tale of a hive bee named Flora 717 from hatching onwards.

The humorous 2007 animated film used Jerry Seinfeld's first script and was his first work for children; he starred as a bee named Barry B. Benson, alongside Renée Zellweger. Critics found its premise awkward and its delivery tame.

Beekeeping

Humans have kept honey bee colonies, commonly in hives, for millennia. Beekeepers collect honey, beeswax, propolis, pollen, and royal jelly from hives; bees are also kept to pollinate crops and to produce bees for sale to other beekeepers.

Depictions of humans collecting honey from wild bees date to 15,000 years ago; efforts to domesticate them are shown in Egyptian art around 4,500 years ago. Simple hives and smoke were used; jars of honey were found in the tombs of pharaohs such as Tutankhamun. From the 18th century, European understanding of the colonies and biology of bees allowed the construction of the moveable comb hive so that honey could be harvested without destroying the colony. Among Classical Era authors, beekeeping with the use of smoke is described in the History of Animals Book 9 (a book not written by Aristotle himself). The account mentions that bees die after stinging; that workers remove corpses from the hive, and guard it; castes including workers and non-working drones, but "kings" rather than queens; predators including toads and bee-eaters; and the waggle dance, with the "irresistible suggestion" of άpοσειονται (aroseiontai, it waggles) and παρακολουθούσιν (parakolouthousin, they watch).

Beekeeping is described in detail by Virgil in his Eclogues; it is also mentioned in his , and in Pliny's Natural History.

As commercial pollinators

Contract pollination has overtaken the role of honey production for beekeepers in many countries. From 1972 to 2006, feral honey bees declined dramatically in the US, and they are now almost absent. The number of colonies kept by beekeepers declined slightly, through urbanization, systematic pesticide use, tracheal and Varroa mites, and the closure of beekeeping businesses. In 2006 and 2007 the rate of attrition increased, and was described as colony collapse disorder. In 2010 invertebrate iridescent virus and the fungus Nosema ceranae were shown to be in every killed colony, and deadly in combination. Winter losses increased to about 1/3. Varroa mites were thought to be responsible for about half the losses.

Apart from colony collapse disorder, losses outside the US have been attributed to causes including pesticide seed dressings, such as Clothianidin, Imidacloprid and Thiamethoxam. From 2013 the European Union restricted some pesticides to stop bee populations from declining further. In 2014 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report warned that bees faced increased risk of extinction because of global warming.

However farmers have focused on alternative solutions in order to mitigate these problems. By raising native plants, they provide food for native bee pollinators like L. vierecki and L. leucozonium, leading to less reliance on honey bee populations.

Honey is a natural product produced by bees and stored for their own use, but its sweetness has always appealed to humans. Before domestication of bees was even attempted, humans were raiding their nests for their honey. Smoke was often used to subdue the bees and such activities are depicted in rock paintings in Spain which have been dated to 15,000 BC. Indigenous people in many countries eat insects, including consuming the larvae and pupae of bees, mostly stingless bees. They also gather "bee brood" (the larvae, pupae and surrounding cells) for consumption. In the Indonesian dish botok tawon from Central and East Java, bee larvae are eaten as a companion to rice, after being mixed with shredded coconut, wrapped in banana leaves, and steamed.

The painful stings of bees are mostly associated with the poison gland and the Dufour's gland which are abdominal exocrine glands containing various chemicals. The secretions of these glands could also be used for nest construction.

Related pages

Images for kids

The mason bee Osmia cornifrons nests in a hole in dead wood. Bee "hotels" are often sold for this purpose.

Fried whole bees served in a Ukrainian restaurant

In Spanish: Anthophila para niños

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Honeybees live in colonies with one queen running the whole hive. Worker honeybees are all females and are the only bees most people ever see flying around outside of the hive. They forage for food, build the honeycombs, and protect the hive. Many species still occur in the wild, but honeybees are disappearing from hives due to colony collapse disorder. Scientists are not sure what is causing this collapse. Honeybees are important pollinators for flowers, fruits, and vegetables. They live on stored honey and pollen all winter and cluster into a ball to conserve warmth. All honeybees are social and cooperative insects. Members of the hive are divided into three types. Workers forage for food (pollen and nectar from flowers), build and protect the hive, clean, and circulate air by beating their wings. The queen’s job is simple—she lays the eggs that will spawn the hive’s next generation of bees. There is usually only a single queen in a hive. If the queen dies, workers will create a new queen by feeding one of the worker females a special food called “royal jelly.” This elixir enables the worker to develop into a fertile queen. Queens regulate the hive’s activities by producing chemicals that guide the behavior of the other bees. Male bees are called drones—the third class of honeybee. Several hundred drones live in each hive during the spring and summer, but they are expelled for the winter months when the hive goes into a lean survival mode.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
View the Ladybugs collection on Epic plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
View the grasshoppers collection on Epic plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
View the DRAGONFLIES collection on Epic plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
View the ANTS collection on Epic plus over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under.

Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
online access fun thousands children great kids ebooks books

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Built on a collection of 40,000+ popular, high-quality books from 250+ of the world's best publishers, Epic safely fuels curiosity and reading confidence for kids 12 and under. Get Started

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Flies (Order: Diptera) - Amateur Entomologists’ Society (AES)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Information on flies (Order: Diptera). The Diptera are familiar to everyone as just ‘flies’ - such as house flies and blue bottles - and this order of insects also includes daddy long legs, midges and mosquitoes.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
A photograph of one of the most attractive butterflies in the British Isles, the Red Admiral ( Vanessa atalanta).

Introduction

A little known passion of Sir Winston Churchill's was his concern for the diminishing numbers of British butterflies. In 1946 he planned a butterfly garden to increase the numbers of common species around his house at Chartwell, Kent. About 1,500 chrysalids were hatched each year in a summer house. Churchill would spend hours waiting for the moment when the butterflies emerged. Once on the wing he set them free.

The Order Lepidoptera comprises over 160,000 species of butterflies and moths, with most of these being moths. Only the Coleoptera (Beetles) form a larger order of any animal.

The Lepidoptera are probably the most widely studied order of invertebrates, and have been for more than 400 years. More books have been written about them than on any other group of invertebrates. Indeed, the long history of their study by Lepidopterists has itself been the subject of a few books, and is a fascinating study on its own!

Scientifically, there is no real distinction between butterflies and moths. However, in general, butterflies are day flying, whilst moths fly mainly at night. Butterflies are usually slimmer bodied, and have thin antennae with distinct clubs at the end. Moths have antennae of various designs, from thin and tapering to wide and 'feathery'. Feathery antennae are found in male moths, and help them to sniff out females!

Due to their often bright colours and association with warm sunny days, butterflies have tended to catch the popular imagination over the centuries, more than any other insects. They can even be found adorning some ancient Egyptian tombs.

Moths are not always thought of so highly, no doubt due to their nocturnal habits and duller colours. However, many moths are brightly coloured and fly during the day. On the other hand, some butterflies are active at twilight, and some are no more brightly coloured than many moths. Even the tiniest moths can look spectacularly beautiful when viewed closely.

Moths are often arbitrarily split into two groups - the larger moths, or macrolepidoptera (macros) and the smaller moths, or microlepidoptera (micros). While the micros tend to be more primitive in evolutionary terms, this is not always the case; and, some micros are in fact larger than some of the macros! So, like the division between moths and butterflies, this distinction is arbitrary too, and has no scientific basis.

The one advantage these subdivisions do have is that people can study and get to know the Lepidoptera in stages! Often, people start with the butterflies (around 70 species in the UK) then their curiosity takes them on to the larger moths (around 900 species) and finally to the microlepidoptera (around 1,500 species). Most of these species are resident in the UK, others are recorded when they migrate here every year from warmer climes.

A photograph of an adult Puss Moth ( Cerura vinula).

Main characters of Order

The scientific name of the order, Lepidoptera, is derived from one of their main characteristics, namely their having wings covered in tiny scales (from the Greek lepidos = scale and pteron = wing). Indeed, it is these coloured scales which give them their patterns. These scales are specially modified flattened hairs.

The Lepidoptera undergo complete metamorphosis, i.e. ova (egg), from which emerge larvae (caterpillars), which become the quiescent pupae (chrysalis) from which emerge the imago (winged adult). This lifecycle can take anywhere between a few weeks to more than a year, depending upon the species.

Lepidoptera are 'typical' insects, in that they have 4 wings, 6 legs, 2 antennae and a body divided into 3 sections - a head, thorax and abdomen. The leg and wings are attached to the thorax. In a few species of moths, the females have evolved to become wingless.

Most butterflies and moths feed through a specialised tube formed by some of the mouthparts, known as a proboscis. Nectar is the usual food for adults.

Sense organs on the feet can taste certain food substances with a greater sensitivity than the human tongue.

The wings consist of an upper and lower membrane supported by a system of hollow veins.

Most Lepidoptera larvae feed exclusively on plant matter, but a few are carnivorous for at least part of their life. Some species feed on a wide variety of plants, whilst others are willing to accept only one or two.

The larvae moult several times, usually 4, 5 or 6 depending upon the species.

The final moult reveals the pupa, which can be attached to part of the foodplant or other nearby item, unattached amongst debris such as leaf litter, or in a silk lined chamber underground.

Survival strategies of butterflies and their earlier stages include camouflage, toxic defence such as being distasteful/harmful or mimicking species that are distasteful/harmful.

Some species are quite small, having a wingspan of only a few millimetres, whilst others are giants among the insect world, being 30cm across.

Finding butterflies and moths

Butterflies

Providing the weather is reasonably warm, it is not difficult to find butterflies during the day, and moths are often attracted to a source of light during darkness. However, that is not to say it is easy to find all species of Lepidoptera. Although some are widespread, others are highly specialised in their habitat requirements, and many of them are rare and only found in a few limited areas.

Finding butterflies usually means finding a suitable area of countryside, such as a woodland, hillside, meadow or other such place and patiently observing the species that are found there. Since different species have different flight times, what can be found one month will not necessarily be there the next. A good field guide book will be invaluable for the enthusiast who wishes to find any particular species. This will have clear pictures (illustrations or photos) to enable the butterfly to be identified and will give information on preferred habitat types and flight periods.

Traditionally, adult butterflies are usually caught in hand held butterfly nets and placed temporarily in a transparent container while they are identified. The ova, larva and pupa can also be searched for, but finding the flying adults is much easier.

Butterfly populations can be recorded and monitored by means of transect walks. This involves dividing an area of land into sections of different habitats and defining a route across it. The route is then walked regularly between April and September and the numbers of each species of butterfly noted down.

Moths

Although moths are usually nocturnal, there are also many day flying species which are often quite colourful and can be spotted on a country walk. Bushes and long grass can be scrutinised during daylight, and walks just before, and at, dusk will reveal more species.

Nevertheless, the most usual method used nowadays for finding and recording the nocturnal species of moths is a moth trap. This is normally a light source, which attracts the moths, and this can be placed in front of a white sheet or fixed to a box or other receptacle, which traps the moths when they arrive. Bulbs with a high ultraviolet component tend to attract many more moths than ordinary bulbs.

You don't need an expensive moth trap to find moths, a light bulb suspended over a bed sheet will attract a suprising number of moths and other nocturnal insects.

Other light sources, such as house windows, also attract small numbers of moths, and it is always useful to check house lights. However, not all species are attracted by light, and other methods include using sweet substances, perhaps on a fence post, a technique known as ' sugaring'. The sugaring mixture can be applied to ropes hung from trees and some wine added to make the moths drowsy - these are ' wine ropes'.

Why are moths attracted to light?

Nobody really knows. There are many possible reasons why moths are attracted to light but the most common theory is that many moths use the moon to navigate at night. By keeping the moon in a particular position the moth can fly in a straight line and in the direction it wants. Unfortunately moths confuse bright lights for the moon and when they get close to the light they can't navigate properly and end up flying round and round in decreasing circles until they reach the source of the light.

Breeding butterflies and moths

Some butterflies and moths have amazing lifecycles. Some blue butterflies, for example, spend part of their lives underground being looked after by ants before they become fully grown butterflies. Many species have been studied closely by breeding them in captivity, but the early stages - eggs, caterpillars and pupae - of some species are still comparatively unknown. This is especially true of the smaller moths, some groups of which spend their larval life in leaf mines - in-between the upper and lower membranes of leaves - and in other unexpected places. There are therefore still many exciting opportunities left for amateur entomologists to research moth lifecycles.

See also our caterpillar caresheet.

Reference collections

Many museums, societies and some individual entomologists maintain a reference collection of preserved specimens of butterflies and moths (and other insect orders) for reference or study. These specimens are kept in either glass topped drawers in a cabinet, or in purpose made storage boxes.

Briefly, the specimens are arranged on setting boards and left to dry, normally for a period or 2 to 3 weeks. When ready they are then transferred to the drawer/storage box where they can be kept indefinitely if kept correctly.

However, it should be remembered that many insect species are declining, and most people now prefer to study the living insects than to collect dead specimens. Digital photography has lessened the need to maintain reference collections, thereby releasing more time to watch and study these fascinating creatures.

Suggested bibliography

The following books were selected for their quality and appeal to both beginners and seasoned entomologists. However, there are also large numbers of other books in print and out of print which are excellent.

Modern field guides (butterflies & larger moths)

Both of the following books show the insects in their natural resting positions and are excellent guides for beginner and seasoned lepidopterist.

The Butterflies of Britain and Europe
Second edition

J. Thomas. Illustrated by R. Lewington.

British Wildlife Publishing, April 2010. ISBN 978-0-9564902-0-9

Guides to the Microlepidoptera

In addition to the Moths & Butterflies of Great Britain and Ireland (above), the following are some of the books that focus exclusively on the microlepidoptera:

Microlepidoptera of Europe.
(Vol. 1: Pterophoridae. Vol. 2: Scythrididae. Vol. 3: Gelechiidae I. Vol. 4: Scopariinae. Acentropinae. Vol. 5: Momphidae l. 2003).

Edited by P. Huemer, O. Karsholt & L. Lyneborg.

Apollo Books. 1996 onwards.

Other selected books: Butterflies & moths

A Handbook for Lepidopterists
Covers all aspects of capturing, breeding and photographing butterflies and moths
Compiled by Peter May

AES, 2014

Other selected books: Butterflies

Other selected books: Moths

Essential reading from the Amateur Entomologists' Society

Useful links

The following is a representative list of the Web sites dealing with the Lepidoptera. However, they are a relatively small sample of many very useful Web sites that are available.

Related links: Butterflies and Moths (Order: Lepidoptera)

Moths Count - National Moth Recording Scheme
Moths Count aims to encourage interest in moths throughout the UK and to establish an ongoing National Moth Recording Scheme to improve knowledge and conservation of the 900+ species of larger moths.
http://www.mothscount.org/

Suffolk moths
Includes a useful "What's flying tonight?" guide.
http://www.suffolkmoths.org.uk/

UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme
The scheme has monitored changes in the abundance of butterflies throughout the United Kingdom since 1976.
http://www.ukbms.org/

UK Moths
A guide to the moths of Great Britain and Ireland.
http://ukmoths.org.uk/

Worldwide Butterflies
Livestock and equipment suppliers
http://www.wwb.co.uk

Back to Insect Orders.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Butterflies and Moths (Order Lepidoptera)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A photograph of one of the most attractive butterflies in the British Isles, the Red Admiral ( Vanessa atalanta). A little known passion of Sir Winston Churchill's was his concern for the diminishing numbers of British butterflies. In 1946 he planned a butterfly garden to increase the numbers of common species around his house at Chartwell, Kent.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Possibly the most well known of Britain's beetles, the Stag beetle Lucanus cervus. The males have large 'antlers' and this gives them their common name. The smaller female does not possess large antlers.

Introduction

The Order Coleoptera or beetles forms the largest group of insects worldwide with about 370,000 described species. In addition many others have been recognised as new but have not yet been described and a conservative estimate is that at least the same number are still awaiting discovery. For these reasons it is impossible to estimate the true number of beetle species in the world.

However, the situation in the British Isles is slightly different and beetle diversity comes third with about 4,100 species, being surpassed by both Diptera (flies) and Hymenoptera (bees, wasps, ants, etc.).

General features

Beetles belong to the Endopterygota or insects having a complete metamorphosis, with a distinct pupal stage between the larval and sexually mature adult stages. A high proportion of beetle species are able to fly and these possess two pairs of wings. In most species the forewings or elytra consist of a pair of hard shells that protect the membranous hindwings which are normally folded away, but hinge outwards during flight. Flightless species may have reduced hindwings concealed beneath normal elytra or sometimes the elytra are fused together with no hindwings at all.

Beetles can be found in almost every imaginable terrestrial or aquatic habitat but many more species are found in tropical countries than in places with more temperate climates. Continental land masses tend to be richer in beetles than isolated islands, although these often support unique communities of species. Some species live deep underground in caves and a few are even able to survive in the inter-tidal zone along the seashore. There is enormous variation in size, body mass and form, the smallest adults being less than 1 mm long and the largest about 20 cm. Some longhorn species possess enormously long antennae, the variety is almost endless.

Special features

A number of beetle species are dependant upon other insects for their survival. For example, some ground beetles (Carabidae) are known to be parasitic on the early stages of other beetles - sometimes just one particular species. Other beetles breed in the nests of various Hymenoptera (bees, wasps and ants).

Collecting and studying beetles

To study most families of beetles it is necessary to collect a few specimens and make a reference collection. This is because many beetles need to be examined under a microscope in order for them to be identified.

Setting

Should a reference collection be required, there are several ways of preparing beetle specimens for permanent storage. The method chosen is partly one of personal preference but much depends on the beetle group chosen for study. The aim should always be to display the most essential characters needed for identification purposes. Large specimens may be direct-pinned by passing a stainless steel pin through the right elytron about one third from its base. It is best to fix smaller specimens onto specially manufactured white card mounts, with antennae and legs arranged symmetrically, using a water-soluble gum.

Although a certain degree of neatness helps when comparing one species of beetle with another it is not essential to 'set' specimens perfectly but the degree of neatness is a decision each entomologist must make. Gum tragacanth or any clear water soluable gum is equally suitable (the AES links directory has a list of entomological equipment suppliers). The latest edition of The Coleopterist's Handbook provides all the essential information required.

Identification

Beetles can be identified by referring to keys in a range of excellent books currently available. If a book on a particular family is out of print it is often possible to obtain a second-hand copy. Many dealers have searchable web sites for this purpose. With a little experience it is possible to identify specimens to family, and often genus level on site. This greatly speeds up the identification process. It is also suggested that Web sites with a good photo galleries, e.g., The Coleopterist are visited.

Recommended reading

Essential reading from the Amateur Entomologists' Society

Related links: Beetles (Order: Coleoptera)

Back to Insect Orders.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Possibly the most well known of Britain's beetles, the Stag beetle Lucanus cervus. The males have large 'antlers' and this gives them their common name. The smaller female does not possess large antlers. The Order Coleoptera or beetles forms the largest group of insects worldwide with about 370,000 described species.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Honey bee workers clustering on a honeycomb.
Photograph by Waugsberg, used under .

Introduction

The most familiar Hymenoptera are the bees, wasps and ants; insects feared by many people because of their stings. However, these make up only a small proportion of the order. The Hymenoptera also includes Ichneumons and other parasitic "wasps" and Sawflies. Unfortunately, there is no English name to embrace the whole order as there is for beetles, bugs and true flies.

Hymenoptera characteristically have two pairs of wings, a large fore pair and a smaller hind pair. These wings are held together by a series of hooks (called a frenulum) and may appear like a single pair to the naked eye. Hymenoptera also tend to have prominent antennae, generally with nine or more segments and biting mouthparts.

The most conspicuous Hymenoptera are the fast-flying, often black and yellow, bees and wasps. Ants, too, are easily noticed when intruding on our lives. However, many of the smaller and less familiar Hymenoptera can have a jewel-like beauty on close examination and are interesting in a great variety of ways.

In the British Isles, there are at least 6,700 species of Hymenoptera, occurring in all terrestrial habitats. On a world scale are at least 100,000 species, so this is only a brief introduction to the group and deals mainly with the main British groups.

Hymenoptera and Man

Honey

Honey is associated with all manner of positive things; so often so that it is easy to forget that it is regurgitated by insects! A concentrated form of flower nectar stored by certain bees for their young, honey has been sought since earliest times. There is a 9000-year-old cave painting in Spain depicting the gathering of wild honey and beehives are illustrated on friezes in ancient Egyptian tombs. Honey bees are also valued for their beeswax, royal jelly (used to supplement the diet of developing queens) and other products. Find out more about bees and beekeeping.

Pollination

Many winged Hymenoptera visit flowers. Bees do so to collect pollen and nectar for themselves or to provision their developing young, while wasps are often on the lookout for other insects to prey upon. Flowering plants have, in an evolutionary sense, taken great advantage of this by offering nectar to insects most likely to carry their pollen to another flower. With many important crops dependent on insect pollinators, Hymenoptera have a huge role to play in feeding the world's human population. Bumblebees are routinely introduced into commercial greenhouses where pollinators are in short supply, and the contribution pollination makes to the world's economy is tens of billions of dollars per annum.

Pest control

A parasitic wasp, Peristenus digoneutis, laying an egg in a plant bug nymph.
Scott Bauer,

Wasps are a gardener's best friend killing countless garden pests. In fact, Ichneumons and other Parasitica are used as successful biological control agents. For example, the parasitic wasp Habrolepis dalmanni (Encyrtidae) was introduced from North America into New Zealand for the control of Golden Oak Scale insect Asterolecanium variolosum ( Hemiptera:Asterolecaniidae), a serious pest of oak. Ants are also valued in some forests for their role in controlling pests in large numbers.

That said, not all Hymenoptera are quite so welcome. The larvae of Sawflies and Wood Wasps damage crops and ants can encourage aphid blooms by protecting the aphids from predators.

Life Cycles

Life stages

Hymenoptera undergo complete metamorphosis - that is, they have an egg, larva, pupa and adult stage. The larvae are usually soft and white with no legs, looking similar to diptera larvae; the larvae of some Sawflies have small fore and hind legs like caterpillars.

The sexes are separate, but males are rare in several Parasitica, and the sexes are "redefined" a little in the social aculeates. Many Hymenoptera are protandrous, that is the adult male starts to emerge before the female, awaiting the emergence of females to mate with or even mating before or while she is trying to emerge. In contrast, females of some Parasitica will wait for their own male offspring to emerge before promptly mating with them!

Types of life cycle

There are a bewildering variety of types of life cycle among Hymenoptera. These are intimately bound up with the way in which food is provided for the offspring.

In the Symphyta, eggs are laid in plant tissue and simply abandoned. Other plant-feeding Hymenopterans, such as the Gall Wasps (Parasitica), induce plants to grow protective structures ( galls) that shelter the young as they feed. In the Parasitica, and some aculeates, parasitoid life cycles are common. Parasitoid larvae behave like parasites, feeding off the tissues of living animals, but unlike true parasites usually kill the host at the end of their development. Parasitoids are often extremely specialised, attacking only a single species. When this itself is the larva of a parasitoid insect, they may be called hyperparasitoids.

Nest-building is well-developed in the aculeates, with social organisation being a special case. Solitary, as opposed to social, aculeates may build one or more nests, each supplied with food for the larvae. Other Hymenoptera take advantage of the hard work done by others to supply food. This is known as kleptoparasitism, and the species are often called "cuckoo wasps" or "cuckoo bees". Eggs are laid on another species' store of food, which is eaten by the developing larva, usually killing the rightful heir in the process. There are even social kleptoparasites, in which a whole colony of bees, wasps or ants is taken over from within by another, often closely related, species.

Social Organisation

The phenomenon of sociality among insects is best developed among the aculeate Hymenoptera (it also occurs in termites and a single mammal, the naked mole rat).

Social animals, in this sense, are those in which individuals have evolved different reproductive roles, with at least two types ( castes) of female (a fertile queen and sterile workers) that co-operate in raising the young.

A social colony is like a single organism in that it has a single set of genes to be passed on at reproduction, in the form of a new queen or queens. In the most advanced cases, seen in ants, some bees, and some wasps, the different castes are strikingly different in appearance from one another.

It is in these groups that many fascinating co-operative behaviours have evolved, for example, the paper-making habits of wasps, the waggle-dance communication of honeybees, and the seemingly suicidal defence of colonies by workers with no reproductive interests other than that of the colony as a whole.

The apparent selflessness of honeybees still inspires admiration, as it did to Shakespeare's Henry V: Creatures that by a rule in nature teach / The act of order to a peopled kingdom. It is only since Shakespeare's time that it became widely known that bees have a queen and not a king; and more recently still that the complexities of hymenopteran societies have begun to be fully appreciated.

Diversity and Classification

The Hymenoptera are divided into two suborders, the Symphyta (Sawflies and their relatives) and the Apocrita (species with a thin "waist" including all the wasps, ants and bees). Within the Apocrita, there are two groups, the Parasitica (the most diverse of all Hymenopteran groups) and the Aculeata, species that have modified their egg laying tube ( ovipositor) into a sting. The list below summaries the groups that are dealt with in this introduction to the Hymenoptera, although there is not space here to go into the full classification and evolutionary history of the group.

Essential reading from the Amateur Entomologists' Society

Resources

Related links: Bees, Wasps and Ants (Order: Hymenoptera)

Books

Hymenoptera in general

Gauld, I.D., Bolton, B., Huddleston, T., Fitton, M.G., Shaw, M.R., Noyes, J.S. , Day, M.C., Else, G.R, Fergusson, N.D.M. & Ward, S.L. The Hymenoptera. British Museum (Natural History) Oxford University Press, 1988.

Bethyloids

Perkins, J.F. Hymenoptera Bethyloidea (excluding Chrysidae). Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 6, Part 3(a). London: Royal Entomological Society, 1976.

Ants

Bolton, B. & Collingwood, C.A. Hymenoptera, Formicidae. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 6, Part 3c. London: Royal Entomological Society, 1975.

Skinner, G.J. & Allen, G.W. Ants. Naturalists Handbooks 24. Slough: Richmond Publishing Co Ltd, 1966.

Cuckoo Wasps

Morgan, D. Cuckoo wasps (Hymenoptera, Chrysididae). Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 6, Part 5. London: Royal Entomological Society, 1984.

Spider Wasps

Day, M.C. Spider wasps (Hymenoptera:Pompilidae). Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 6, Part 4. London: Royal Entomological Society, 1988.

Social Wasps

Else, G.R. Identification. Social wasps. British Wildlife, 5, 304-311, 1994.

Potter and Mason Wasps

Archer, M. E. The British Potter and Mason Wasps. A Handbook. Published by the author, 2003, 2nd ed.

Solitary Wasps

Lomholdt, O. The Sphecidae of Fennoscandia and Demark. 2nd edition. Fauna Entomologica Scandinavica, 4. Leiden: Brill, 1984.

Richard, O. W. Scolioidea, Vespoidea and Sphecoidea (Hymentoptera, Aculeata). Handbooks for the identification of British Insects, 6. Part 3(b). London: Royal Entomological Society, 1980.

Yeo, P.F. & Corbet, S.A. Solitary wasps. Naturalists Handbooks 3. The Richmond Publishing Co. Ltd, 1995, 2nd ed.

Bees

Else, G.R. In prep. Handbook of the bees of the British Isles.

Perkins, R.C.L. The British species of Andrena and Nomada. Transactions of the Entomological Society of London, 1919, 218-319.

Perkins, R.C.L. The British species of Halictus and Sphecodes. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, 58, 46-52, 94-101, 167-174, 1922.

Perkins, R.C.L. Notes on some aculeate Hymenoptera, with corrections of errors. Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, 67, 20, 1931.

Saunders, E. The Hymenoptera Aculeata of the British Isles. London: Reeve & Co.Ltd, 1896.

Bumblebees

Edwards, M. & Jenner, M. Field Guide to the Bumblebees of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by Ocelli Ltd.

Prys-Jones, O. & Corbet, S.A. Bumblebees. Naturalists Handbook 6. The Richmond Publishing Co. Ltd, 1991, Second edition, revised.

Sawflies

Benson, R.B. Hymenoptera: Symphyta. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 6, Part 2(a). London: Royal Entomological Society, 1951.

Benson, R.B. Hymenoptera: Symphyta. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 6, Part 2(b). London: Royal Entomological Society, 1952.

Benson, R.B. Hymenoptera: Symphyta. Handbooks for the Identification of British Insects, 6, Part 2(c). London: Royal Entomological Society, 1958.

Wright, A. British Sawflies a key to the adults of genera occurring in Britain. Field Studies Council, 1990.

Back to Insect Orders.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Bees, Wasps and Ants (Order: Hymenoptera)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Honey bee workers clustering on a honeycomb.Photograph by Waugsberg, used under . The most familiar Hymenoptera are the bees, wasps and ants; insects feared by many people because of their stings. However, these make up only a small proportion of the order. The Hymenoptera also includes Ichneumons and other parasitic "wasps" and Sawflies.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Stick insects and Leaf insects (Order: Phasmatodea) - Amateur Entomologists' Society (AES)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Information on Stick insects and Leaf insects (Order: Phasmatodea). The Stick insects (sometimes called "walking sticks") and Leaf insects are some of the most well known of all insects.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Grasshoppers and Crickets (Order: Orthoptera) - Amateur Entomologists' Society (AES)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Information on Grasshoppers and Crickets (Order: Orthoptera). In both crickets and grasshoppers, the hind legs are large in proportion to their bodies, and this enables them to jump really long distances.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Tawny Cockroach ( Ectobius pallidus) is one of three cockroach species native to Great Britain.
© http://www.entomart.be/

Introduction

Cockroaches first evolved around 350-300 million years ago and are probably one of the most despised of all insects. For some people the mere mention of cockroaches will send them running for cover. However, there are roughly 4,500 described species of cockroaches and only about 25 are considered to be pests. The rest of the order are extremely beneficial insects in a variety of ecosystems.

However, when you mention the name cockroach, most people will think of the relatively small number of species that infest homes and other dwellings. Cockroaches seek out warm places and often enter homes or business premises. In these sheltered areas they breed and populations can become very large indeed.

Main characteristics of Cockroaches

Most species of cockroach are omnivorous (that is, they'll eat almost anything from plants, dead animals and even glue) and are predominantly found in tropical and sub-tropical regions.

Adult cockroaches are small to large insects (3 - 90 mm in length) and usually have a broad flattened body. The pronotum (a shield-like structure on the top of the thorax behind the head) often overhangs the body on either side and covers the head.

Not all species have wings but, when these are present, the fore wings are thick and leathery and the hind wings are thin and fan-like.

Life-history

In most species of cockroach the female produces a hardened egg case called an ootheca. Commonly this is carried by the female and, in some species, the ootheca may be carried inside the abdomen and not visible. The ootheca can contain 10-50 eggs depending on the species. Cockroaches undergo incomplete metamorphosis with nymphs looking like small versions of the adults. In the winged species, the wings appear at the final moult.

Most species of cockroach have little to do with their young once they hatch from the oothecae. However, some species show a significant amount of parental care. In some species, the nymphs are carried on the back (underneath the wings) of the female cockroach and the nymphs feed on liquid secretions from pores on her back and even by piercing the membrane between her abdominal plates and feeding on the haemolymph (insect blood) coming from the wound.

In some species, and warm conditions, adulthood is reached within 40 days but in colder climates this can take over a year. However, many cockroach species are reasonably long lived and commonly kept pet species, like Madagascan Hissing Cockroaches, may live for up to three years.
The American Cockroach (Periplaneta americana) is a common pest species found in the home. Photograph by Gary Alpert, used under
Classification

At one time the cockroaches were considered to be part of the Order: Orthoptera (Grasshoppers and Crickets) but have since been classified as a separate Order called Blattodea.

The Blattodea contains seven families but some of the most well known are the pest species (found in the family: Blattidae) such as Periplaneta americana (the American Cockroach) and Periplaneta germanica (the German Cockroach).

Perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of cockroach classification is that of Termites now being thought of as a family of eusocial (living together in a colony with only some individuals being able to reproduce) cockroaches. Termites were previously thought to be a separate order ( Isoptera) of their own.

How to find them

Pest cockroaches can be commonly found in poorly kept food storage facilities, restaurants and blocks of flats. Within Great Britain there are only three native species of cockroach and these have a scattered and local distribution in southern England. The three native species are never pests.

Related links: Cockroaches (Order: Blattodea)

Back to Insect Orders.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Tawny Cockroach ( Ectobius pallidus) is one of three cockroach species native to Great Britain.© http://www.entomart.be/ Cockroaches first evolved around 350-300 million years ago and are probably one of the most despised of all insects. For some people the mere mention of cockroaches will send them running for cover.