Insects & Science

Butterflies have a way of capturing our attention because they are such colorful and beautiful creatures. Butterflies go through a metamorphosis, changing from an egg to a larva, to a chrysalis to...

Someone who goes into their attic and opens a box full of their old newspaper clippings can find that silverfish have been at work. These insect pests frequently will invade dark places and cause...

Although there are around 700 species of dermestid beetle (carpet beetle/flesh- eating beetle), they all begin life as an egg. All species of dermestid beetles lay tiny white eggs. The number of a...

Officially known as Sarcoptes scabiei var. hominis, scabies mites are microscopic burrowing insects that infect the skin of both animals and humans. Highly contagious, they cause rashes and...

Tetranychus urticae is commonly known by at least 60 different names, including red spider mite, glasshouse mite and two-spotted mite. This arachnid is primarily found in the United States and...

There are two different types of bloodworms. One is from the genus Glycera, a group of bristly worms. They are actual worms that grow to be 15 inches long and live at the bottom of shallow,...

The black stink bug, or Proxys punctulatus, comes from a very large family. There are more than 250 known stink bug species in the United States alone and almost 5,000 worldwide. Stink bugs are...

Typically, a cricket lives from four to six months. Different species may have shorter or longer lifespans, and the longevity of individuals within species also varies. Given special care, the...

Stink bugs, sometimes called shield bugs, are in the scientific order Hemiptera and in the family Pentatomidae. There are 221 species of stink bugs in North America. Among the various species, the...

Scale insects belong to the order Hemiptera, which includes aphids, whiteflies and cicadas. Their name is due to the fact that they secrete a protective wax covering that resembles the scales of...

Silkworms are readily available for purchase both on the Internet and in insect supply stores. They vary in cost depending on the species, how many you are buying and whether you wish to buy them...

The roundworm is a parasite that relies on animals and plants to survive, without providing any benefit back to their hosts. The roundworm reproduces sexually, meaning that it takes both a female...

The silkworm is actually the larvae, or caterpillar stage, of the silkworm moth's life cycle. If allowed to develop from pupa, and not destroyed at this stage in the cycle so that silk can be...

Silverfish are a common insect pest that is capable of causing damage in a home. People usually only see a silverfish after it traps itself in a sink or bathtub and cannot climb back up the...

The annual life cycle of aphids involves two types of reproduction. Since the lifespan of an aphid is very short, multiple generations of the insect will live and die during the year.

As its name implies, Aedes aegypti is originally from Africa. Today, it is seen worldwide and is most prevalent in tropical and subtropical climates. The species has been observed in cooler, more...

Simulium are more commonly known as blackflies. They generally have large compound eyes composed of facets called ommatidia. Their bodies are segmented, and their wings are veined, and appear...

Red spider mites are wingless arachnids that start life with six legs and add two more as adults. They are barely visible to the human eye, but seen up close they look like their name suggests:...

Also known as threadworm, Strongyloides stercoralis is a parasite common in humans and animals such as cats, dogs and primates. Its presence is not considered a serious threat to health but it can...

More commonly known as the two-spotted red spider mite, Tetranychus urticae is a serious agricultural and home garden pest. Although the species does best in warm, dry weather, Tetranychus urticae...

There are 700 species of sandflies and about 10 percent of these species are known to transmit to diseases to people. Sandflies are found mainly in tropical locations, but some species can be...

It's a good sign if mothlike caddisflies are present near lakes and other bodies of water, because it means pollution levels are low and the quality of water is good. Caddisfly larvae are no...

Silverfish are pests that dart in and through items in kitchen drawers, gnaw on the pages of books in bookshelves, and make themselves at home in boxes or bags of food items on pantry shelves....

There are 3,000 different species of mosquito in the world which transmit diseases like encephalitis and malaria, yet only their females bite people. Not all mosquitoes bite people, and many...

The bumblebee life cycle begins in the spring when a hibernating queen bee emerges from the leaf litter that has kept her warm since the previous autumn and looks for a site to build her nest....

The order Diptera is the order of what are known as "true flies." These flies are noted for having only one pair of wings. The order includes the common housefly, the horse fly, deer flies and...

Most species of bees live in colonies, where every member works for the benefit of all. The queen bee is the most important member of a bee colony. Without her, the bee colony collapses. If every...

A flea infestation in the home can be most effectively eradicated with an understanding of the flea's life cycle. Products that prevent eggs from hatching, combined with those that kill adult...

As their name suggests, Japanese beetles are native to Japan. The insects found their way into the United States via New Jersey in 1916. Because the beetles have no natural predators in the United...

Mealworms are types of beetles known as tenebrio or darkling beetles. Mealworms have four stages of life: egg, larva, pupa, and the adult stage.

Immediately following mating, the adult female damselfly lays her eggs in the water, generally on or into submerged vegetation, though sometimes she will lay eggs in a protected area of water...

The mosquito is a small flying insect found all over the world. The mosquito must have water in order to reproduce, and its appetite for blood results in a bite that spreads disease to many...

The blow fly is highly valued in the scientific world. By studying the blow fly's life cycle, a scientist can determine the post-mortem interval, or time of death, of a body at a crime scene or of...

Ants are colony insects in the same order as wasps and bees--Hymenoptera. They are found in varied ecosystems across the planet, from deserts to the near arctic. Their society consists of...

Blowflies are a group of insects that inhabit the contiguous United States and other temperate climates. They typically feed and lay their eggs on decaying cadavers and other organic matter, but...

At first glance, the queen ant's role consists of putting on perfume (pheromones), attracting a mate, digging a burrow and then lying around the rest of her life eating ant bon-bons and laying...

Walking stick bugs (from the Phasmida family) are very aptly named, because they look like sticks with legs and antennae, but even those will look as if they are twigs attached to a small branch....

Dermestid beetles are also known as flesh-eating beetles because they eat carrion (dead animals). Museums and taxidermists use dermestid beetles to eat the flesh off skeletons. The beetles quickly...

When butterflies mate, the male or female will perform courtship movements and release pheromones, the butterflies will turn abdomen to abdomen and then mate for an hour or more. The male...

Butterflies reproduce by mating after a courtship procedure, which results in the female laying as many as 200 eggs on the caterpillar food plant. Find out how caterpillar eggs are hatched on a...

Ticks lay eggs as opposed to giving birth. Female ticks need to feed on a host animal's blood in order to get the energy to make eggs. She feeds first and then goes to find a mate. The much...

Contrary to popular belief, it is not the adult moths that eat clothing. Rather, it is the larvae of the moths. Quite simply, adult moths do not eat at all. In fact, their mouth parts are not...

Termites are insects that eat wood and can cause thousands of dollars of damage to a home in a relatively short period of time. Recognizing what termites and termite eggs look like, as well as...

Crickets are insects with large back legs used for jumping, closely resemble grasshoppers and are related to Katydids. Crickets have long antennae that can sometimes be longer than their bodies....

Fruit flies, or Drosophila melanogaster, are tiny, 1/8-inch-long insects, with long legs and a tan body. They live wherever fruit is allowed to ferment, including homes, supermarkets and even...

A bed bug is a parasitic insect that likes to feed on human blood. They will readily feed on a pet, rodents, birds, and other warm-blooded animals as well. They have been known since the 1600's as...

Earwigs are insects that acquired their name from an old European superstition. They are also called "pincher bugs," but they don't really harm humans. They are found all over the globe...

The reproductive cycle of bees is unique, and is fundamentally interconnected with the caste system of bee colonies. Within any colony, there are three types of adult bees: the queen, male drones...

All insects spend their entire lives mating, and the mating process for most insects is generally the same. They use various skills to track down a mate: For instance, insects like the fly rely on...

One of the most dangerous spiders found in the United States is the female black widow spider. The female black widow has a shiny black, bulbous body, with long extended legs. A distinctive red or...