insects

Insects are small animals that have three distinct body segments (head, thorax, abdomen), with six legs and usually have wings. There are about five million known species of insects, many more than mammals and birds, which only number in the thousands.

All insects start as eggs. There are two possible stages in between egg and adulthood: the larval stage and the nymph stage, which is when the insect looks like a small version of the adult insect.

Many people view all insects as pests, but most are beneficial to the environment by pollinating crops, producing useful products, and killing harmful organisms. Honeybees fit this very well; they pollinate and produce, and while they can become a nuisance, are mostly very helpful. Almost all insects have natural insect enemies, and these can be very useful for biological control methods in gardens.


Insects can also pose a problem in homes, gardens, farms, and for livestock. In homes, it can be frustrating to get rid of cockroaches, centipedes, and ants. Mites and aphids ruin gardens, and flies can transmit diseases to livestock. Some insects also transmit diseases to humans or bite and sting, like ticks and bedbugs. This makes insect conrol an important aspect of crop and garden maintenance and home safety.

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Original Technorati articles tagged “insects”

• in Lifestyle
  5 Insects that Are Good for Your Garden
  Having some bugs around can help your garden
  by sageone73 / on May 29, 2012
• in Lifestyle
  May Not Only Brings Spring Flowers, But Also Caterpillars
  The Caterpillars are blooming
  by sageone73 / on May 29, 2012
• in Lifestyle
  Light Pollution Transforming Insect Communities
  Researchers found that street lights are impact the specifics of bugs who are living together where once before they were not.
  by sageone73 / on May 24, 2012

Latest blogosphere posts tagged “insects”

 

• Insect Life

  
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  I just love these entomological studies by UK textile artist Claire Moynihan . Claire’s attention to detail is amazing and each tiny creature is lovingly hand embroidered and attached to a felted ball. Once a collection is complete, she assembles the specimens in gorgeous glass display cases, each worthy of ...
  1 day ago

• Sunspots 423

  
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  Things I have recently spotted that may be of interest to someone else: The Arts: Ive missed Garrison Keillor on " The Writers Almanac ." Hes on summer hiatus. The replacement is OK, but, for one thing, doesnt do Keillors great sign-off, which is "Be well, do good work, and keep in ...
  1 day ago

• Eyes on the Hairstreaks

  
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  There is a received wisdom that the false eyes that form part of the pattern of many butterflies has evolved to allow them to fool and thus evade bird predators. However, one researcher in the US recently wondered if it might be used against a much smaller, but perhaps deadlier butterfly predator. He began to conduct ...
  1 day ago

• The future of food: insects, GM rice and edible packaging are on the menu

  
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  As the global population rises and food prices do too, many scientists are looking for alternatives to traditional foodstuffs . . . → Read More: The future of food: insects, GM rice and edible packaging are on the menu
  3 days ago

• On the trail of the large tortoiseshell, the UKs most elusive butterfly

  
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  There have been fleeting sightings of the insect since 1950, but no one can be sure it really exists in Britains countryside It was, joked Matthew Oates , a "lunatic fringe" mission. Scouring the hedgerows for the caterpillar of a butterfly that has been extinct for more than half a century might not be most peoples ...
  3 days ago

• On the trail of the large tortoiseshell, the UKs most elusive butterfly

  
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  There have been fleeting sightings of the insect since 1950, but no one can be sure it really exists in Britains countryside It was, joked Matthew Oates , a "lunatic fringe" mission. Scouring the hedgerows for the caterpillar of a butterfly that has been extinct for more than half a century might not be most peoples ...
  3 days ago

• Letters to a Young Scientist by Edward O Wilson – review

  
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  Edward O Wilsons self-congratulatory book of advice will be heavy going to anyone but the keenest entomologist Reading EO Wilsons short book of unsolicited advice, I was unfairly reminded of a parody of lifelong scientific commitment from the satirical magazine the Onion : a depressed anteater expert regretting the ...
  3 days ago

• The Mad Hatterpillar

  
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  How to get ahead. Again and again. Moths and butterflies are just flying gonads that make new caterpillars. Caterpillars are feeding machines with one primary purpose: eating enough food to build the body of a future moth or butterfly. A caterpillar stuffs itself with food, but eventually is limited by its ...
  4 days ago

• The future of food: insects, GM rice and edible packaging are on the menu

  
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  As the global population rises and food prices do too, many scientists are looking for alternatives to traditional foodstuffs Eating insects Two billion people around the world, primarily in south-east Asia and Africa, eat insects – locusts, grasshoppers, spiders, wasps, ants – on a regular basis . Now, with ...
  4 days ago

• Cooperation...

  
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  Cooperation   gets the prey into the nest...
  4 days ago

• Dunbar Cave State Park Programs for June 16th through June 22nd, 2013

  
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  Clarksville, TN – Dunbar Cave State Natural Area has been a State Park since 1973. The cave and its surrounding 110 acres have considerable scenic, natural and historical significance. The entrance offered shelter to prehistoric Native Americans as far back as 10,000 years. Dunbar Cave State Natural Area ...
  4 days ago

• Pond 2013, Frogs, Turtles and Fish

  
  Taylor Marsh — Authority: 553
  Pond 2013, frogs, turtles and FISHIES! WE MOVED the pond this year! What an ordeal it was… I got it started one Saturday morning a few weeks back and 6 hours of manual gardening labor later, I had moved all the lilies, other plants, and even the frogs! I also got a start on digging out the clay & filling ...
  4 days ago

• "The naming and not naming of insects and animals, the casting away of names, of markings attributed..."

  
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  “The naming and not naming of insects and animals, the casting away of names, of markings attributed to these beasts by us humans, this is an attempt to tame what is wild, and in the poem, then, that was a deliberate act, and of course, any word is a name: “le animal” is a marking and a marking is a naming, so ...
  4 days ago

• RoboRoach Kit Lets You Control a Living Roach With Your Smartphone

  
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  I’m not particularly fond of roaches, but I don’t exactly hate them either. I’d just rather not come face to face with any one of these insects because creepy crawly insects just give me the heebie jeebies. That said, I’m still on the fence when it comes to the RoboRoach project by Backyard Brains. The ...
  5 days ago

• Lady Bug Pupa

  
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  The Dill plant hung around just long enough to get 2 swallowtail caterpillars off on a good foot, a bunch of aphids showed up and so did the lady bug larva.  And then they did this - pupated into actual lady bugs.  How awesome is that?  Unfortunately, that redish blog in the background is a new crop of leaf footed ...
  5 days ago

• (Not) Surveying Butterflies Around Boussay

  
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  I have two local survey areas which I monitor for STERF, the long term butterfly study run by the National Natural History Museum in Paris. The first area is around Chaumussay, and the second around Boussay. The Boussay transects are all wetter than the chalky Chaumussay ones, and include some wet natural grassland ...
  6 days ago

• Flatfaced longhorn: Leptostylus transversus

  
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  Leptostylus transversus | Holly Ridge Conservation Area, Stoddard Co., Missouri The longhorned beetle subfamily Lamiinae is one of the few subfamilies in the beetle world to have its own common name—flatfaced longhorns. This photo of one of its members, Leptostylus transversus , doesn’t show the character very ...
  6 days ago

• Cute Overload That Matters: Kids & Wildlife

  
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  I’ve never been afraid of spiders since I read Charlotte’s Web as a kid. In fact, I veer around their intricate knitting so I don’t mess it up. Selfishly I hope the spiders mess it up themselves with a few leaf-footed bugs after my tomatoes! I’m not afraid to plant out-of-control plants, like Zexmenia ( ...
  6 days ago

• 16 May, 2013 – This Week in Science

  
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  (http://www.twis.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/TWIS_podcast_logo-e1277863172926.jpg) Not So Random, Doomsday Higgs, Size Matters, Anxious Fish, Interview w/ Dr. Brian Hare About Dognition, And Much More...Disclaimer, disclaimer, disclaimer!!!Stem cells raise the specter of cloning ...
  6 days ago

• Here Comes The Sun – Tips To Help The Sensitive Child Cope

  
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  As the days and nights become increasingly warmer your sensitive child on the autism spectrum may require a little help in coping with the sensory issues that summer may bring. So here’s a few tips aimed at those parents of the sensitive child! After all everyone deserves to have a great summer don’t they! ...
  6 days ago

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