There are well over 1 million different known species of insects in the world, and some experts estimate that there might be as many as 10 million and now the number of insect orders have climbed to 30.
NEW DISCOVERIES happen all the time. As recent as 2002 an Entomologist Oliver Zompro from Germany discovered an entirely new insect order. You can read about it in the science magazine Science in Africa
 80% of the world's food crops are pollinated by insects.
The main food of mosquitoes is nectar from flowers, not blood. Blood is needed by females for its protein, which helps the female lay its eggs.
An insect has no lungs. They take air in through special openings called spiracles or directly through their skin. This is done by diffusion. (Diffisuion: The movement of oxygen from an area of high concentraion to one of lower concentration. In other words things sort of spread out to fill up the space like Kool Aide in a glass of water.) Diffusion works best over small distances which is one of the reasons insects are small.
A mosquito beats it wings up to 600 times a second.
Ants
Florida has the Fire Ant. These are small, red and mean. They are very quick to bite and sting anything they can. To find out more about Fire Ants check out the Poisonous page.
Ants can lift 20 times their own body weight.
Ants live between 46 to 60 days.
Adult ants cannot chew and swallow solid food. They eat juice which they squeeze from pieces of food.
There are over 10000 known species of ants.
Ants have two stomachs. One to hold food they eat and the other to hold food for other ants.
If an ant finds a good food source it will leave a trail of scent so that the other ants in the colony can find the food.
Some birds put ants in their feathers because the ants squirt formic acid which gets rid of parasites.
Some ants grow gardens under ground for food.
Some ants "herd" aphics and milk them for nector like food.
Ants will build "water traps" in their homes to keep out rain.
Palmetto bug
The palmetto bug is just an other name for the American cockroach. This is a very large cockroach and it can fly. These insecets can be 1-3/8" to 2-1/8" large. They are quite disconcerting to find.
Cicadas
We don't know which kind of Cicada this one is. Male Cicadas have sound producing organs below the base of their abdomens. Some people call these insects locusts but Cicadas don't jump. Each species has its own song which can be a loud buzz or pulsing clacking. Some species have life cycles of 13 or 17 years though the most common nymph stage is 1 to 3 years. Most of the time is spent underground in the nymph state eating roots of trees that they later climb as adults.
This photo on the left shows the Cicadas excellent use of camouflage.
The earliest known cicada was found in a fossil that is 65 million years old, dating back to the time of dinosaurs in the Cretaceous Period. Cicadas can sing as loud as 91 decibels. An overhead jet is between 70 and 80 decibels.
From the Cincinnati Enquirer who's citizens are currently experiencing the emergence of billions of 17 year cicadas (7 - 10 billion is estimated)
"Male cicadas have three distinctive calls. This is how females from the three cicada species can distinguish males of their own kind. Males of all three species also make a fourth sound, similar to a squawk, which researchers believe is either a warning call to alert others of predators or an attempt to intimidate predators. When males from all three species sing together, it's called chorusing.
Females of all three species click their wings together to let prospective mates know they are receptive."
Southeastern Lubber Grasshopper
The Lubber Grasshopper, at 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 inches is a large insect. These grasshoppers have two different color forms. One is dull straw-yellow with black markings and the other has a reddish stripe on the fore wing. The last occurs in the south and is the one pictured here. These grasshoppers are slow moving and cannot fly. It has spiny hind tibiae that can cut human skin.
Definition: Tibiae: The fourth division of an insect's leg.
The Lubber above is an adult. The one on the right is a nymph or immature grasshopper. Their bright color pattern is a warning to predators that they contain toxic substances. I can't find where these grasshoppers are toxic to humans though.
These are flightless, slow moving and sometimes clumsy insects. They are large and very beautiful!
Clay Scherer, of the University of Florida, has a great discussion on these impressive grasshoppers.
Dragonfly Nymph
These are the teenage form of the dragonfly before it transforms into an adult. They can inflict a sharp bite if held carelessly. They live on plants, leaf litter, or at the bottom of ponds or slow-flowing rivers. Dragonfly Nymphs are predators and feed mostly on other insects in the water. Sometimes, they can be cannibals and eat each other. Some of the larger species have been known to feed on small fish and tadpoles. Much of a dragonfly's life is spent in the larval stage where it molts six to 15 times. The nymph crawls out of the water and moults one last time, emerging as an adult with functional wings. They keep the populations of mosquitoes and flies under control.
Excerpts from Bugasaurus Explorus. An Australian site
As an adult this nymph will become a beautiful and fascinating Dragonfly
Bugs, Bugs And More Bugs!
If you love bugs you'll love What's That Bug?
It would be nice to learn a bit about the following insects. If any one has any information please let us know at catiche@comcast.net
 Ok, this is a fly. But he was just hanging in the air for a minute or two, darting a foot to the side, then hanging in the air before darting a foot to the side again, then doing it all over. It was as if he was looking us over or posing for Gill! Something that obviously in need of a photo had to be taken.
This is another fly and not the same fly as the one on the left. He or she was in the drying marsh. We wonder why some flies are shiny and bright and some are hairy and ugly.
Update:
I have found some information that might concern the flies above. The one on the left that held still for the photo looks like it is the blow fly (also called the bottle fly). This fly feeds on animal carcasses and can transmit disease. The popular T.V. show, CSI often mentions blow flies.
The fly on the right could be a Dolichopodid fly. These flies are described to be small to very small with bright metallic colors and long legs. The adults feed on smaller soft bodied insects such as aphids. This makes this fly a "good bug".
I have discovered there are many good flies. Hover flies are welcomed in the garden as they eat the insects that harm plants. Some Hover flies looks so much like bees that they can be mistaken for them. Flies, it seems, are much more interesting that we believe.
No creature is too small for notice. Each and every one is fascinating!
Here is an insect we found on our front door. They are very tiny creatures. The 'stick' in photo 1 is a toothpick. It looks like they've just hatched from these eggs. I hope they don't eat my flowers!
We have no idea what this insect is yet.
If you know please contact us at catiche@comcast.net
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Gill Henry
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