The Creepy, Crawly Insect Page

Icky! Yuck! Bugs live on your eyelashes! They live on your skin, in the ground, on the ground, and in the air you breathe. That means they even live in your body. Those creepy crawlies exist everywhere. Do you like bugs? Did you know that there is a difference between a bug and an insect? Some insects, like ants, are very social creatures, and chew food with their jaws. Other bugs, like mosquitoes, suck up blood through a tube. Other bugs are tiny, some help digest food in our bodies or eat up old cells on our skin. Those on our skin are called mites. But they're not as mighty as ants! Ants can lift up to 50 times their body weight!

Just How Many Bugs Are There? Did you know that approximately 60 to 120 billion humans have ever lived on the Earth? There's 6.5 billion people living right now. In contrast, scientists have identified over one million known species of insects and bugs, although some scientists estimate well over ten million exist. That's species of insects and bugs, not individual insects and bugs. In one study conducted during World War II, scientists found over one billion bugs in just one acre of farmland in Great Britain. That makes human beings a tiny minority of living things and insects and bugs the majority.

Many species of bugs and insects are so tiny that you can only see them under a microscope. Those microscopic creatures are some of the smallest bugs in the world. But they share many anatomical characteristics with the largest bugs in the world, the beetle. The Acteon beetle, from South America, is almost four inches long and two inches wide. Although some insects, such as locusts, can harm crops; many insects are beneficial, helping mankind by decomposing dead animals, eating other harmful bugs, and keeping the world's ecosystem in balance. Besides, bugs can be fun to watch and play with.

Types of Insects 

• Is it an insect...or a bug?: Did you know that true bugs don't chew with their jaws, but eat with a feeding tube?

• Let's Talk About Insects: Meet C. P. Ant and let him introduce you to a world of over a million insects! Even create your own insect! In Español and English.

• Everything Insects: For students, parents, and teachers. Check out bug databases, collections, research, images, by type of bug, by type of study, even find out what kind of bugs and insects are in your home state!

• Bug Bios: Get to know bugs up close and personal. Insects are so interconnected with human life and culture that these alien creatures aren't so alien as we think! Sift through the bios and don't forget to check out the bug classification page.

• Beetle Science: The most diverse and plentiful insects on earth. Cool, interactive activities.

• Butterflies and Moths: Where they live, how many there are, photos and checklists for each county in the United States and Mexico.

• Digital Dragonflies: History and photos of some of the world's most beautiful fliers.

Insect Anatomy

• Ant Anatomy: Ants have lots of body parts, including a poison sac at their back end to help ward off predators.

• Butterfly Anatomy: Butterflies are different than moths. Their bodies are similar, but not the same. And you can identify a butterfly by its wing position.

• Beetle Bodies: Did you know if an insect has six legs that it is considered a beetle? Take a look at the drawing. Beetles may look like a funky shell waddling around the yard, but they actually are very complex creatures.

• Insect Skeletons: Also called exoskeletons. They don't grow with bugs so they have to be shed now and again so insects can grow.

• Honeybee Information Sheets: Learn about honeybee bodies and what makes their stingers sting.

• True Bugs: These bugs differ from insects as they eat by feeding tube.

• Body Basics: The basic makeup of all insects depicted by diagram.

Insect Lifespans

• How Long Will Butterflies Live?: Some will live a week or two, while some born in the fall may live nearly a year. But only a small amount of larvae make it to be a butterfly.

• It's an Insect's Life: Insect life cycles inhabit four phases: egg, young larva, mature larva, pupa, and adult.

• Do Insects Have Babies?: How do insects and bugs reproduce?

• Alien Empire: PBS series about insects, their lives and survival.

• What Do Insects Eat?: And other facts about insect survival, such as "where do they go in the winter?"

• Insect Life History: Describes a generation of an insect.

• Insect Slides and Information: Slides showing the stages of an insect's life.

Are Insects Harmful?

• Bedbugs: Call them the travel bugs. These pests are found in homes, in mattresses, on bed linens, in hotels. Similar to ticks, they feed on the blood of their host. The are nocturnal bugs.

• How Are Insects Harmful?: Not only can insects sting and cause allergic reactions like anaphylaxis, they can also cause epidemics like the bubonic plague, and diseases like malaria and lyme.

• Get This Bug Offa Me!: Bugs like cockroaches, fleas, ticks, centipedes, and lice make you want to scratch or run away!

• Bad Bugs Slideshow: Slides of 29 harmful bugs and insects with descriptions. From WebMD.

• Good Bug, Bad Bug: Some bugs just don't know when to quit eating!

• Bug Guide: Find out if that bug you see is a harmful bug.

• The Orkin Pest Library: What kind of pests are in your home? Termites? Ants? Cockroaches? What they are and how to treat them.

Are Insects Beneficial?

• Not All Bugs Are Bad Bugs: Which bugs can stink up your house? Which help pollinate crops? Which eat bad bugs? Lots of bug stories with interesting facts.

• What is Good about Insects?: Diagram, project, and fun test get you thinking about why insects are good for the environment.

• Beneficial Backyard Bugs: Most insects and spiders are good for pest control in your yard. Only about three percent of bugs in your backyard are harmful to your landscape. All the rest are beneficial or are "innocent bystanders" who just keep to themselves.

• Doodlebugs: Better known as an the antlion, a beneficial insect who preys on the pesky ant.

• Honeybee Losses: If we lose our honeybees, farmers will lose their crops. What can we do to keep our honeybees helping?

• Choosing Beneficial Insects: Did you know you can buy insects for your yard?

• 11 Bugs That Help: Ladybirds, lacewings, tiger beetles, and even the stinkbug!

• Good Predators: The praying mantis, big-eyed bugs, pirate, and assassin bugs.

Fun Insect Facts

• Creepy Crawlers: The "Itsy, Bitsy, Spider," and other fun poems, songs, and finger plays for preschoolers.

• Fireflies and other Bugs: Did you know lightning bugs flash their lights in unique patterns known only to other fireflies in their own subspecies?

• Most Wanted Bugs: The Federal Bug Intelligence Agency wants you to check out the 12 most wanted bug mug shots.

• Crazy Bug Facts: One in every four species on the planet is a beetle! Can you tell how many legs every beetle has?

• Insect Songs: Online guide lets you hear the songs of 76 species of cicadas, katydids, and crickets. Learn insect lingo.

• Cool Insect Facts: Which insects have the best senses? What are their worst enemies? Which insect can have the most babies? Hint: It's more than one hundred million!

• 4H Insect Information and Projects: Links to Mystery Bugs, 4H projects, and tons of bug facts.

• The Yuckiest Site on the Internet: Roaches. Everything you ever wanted or not wanted to know about the ickiest bug in the world.

• Bug Recipes: Most bugs are edible, but only a few taste good enough to eat! Check out the mealworm cookies and the chocolate-covered crickets.