Showing posts with label insect. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insect. Show all posts

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Different Kinds Of Spider










Monday, June 9, 2008

Termites


Termites live in colonies (groups) with as many as several million members.Termites, sometimes incorrectly called "white ants", are a group of social insects usually classified at the taxonomic rank of order Isoptera .As truly social animals, they are termed eusocial along with the ants and some bees and wasps. Termites mostly feed on dead plant material, generally in the form of wood, leaf litter, soil, or animal dung, and about 10% of the estimated 4,000 species are economically significant as pests that can cause serious structural damage to buildings, crops or plantation forests. Termites are major detrivores, particularly in the subtropical and tropical regions, and their recycling of wood and other plant matter is of considerable ecological importance.
A large Termite Mound in Australia:

Termites build nests to house their colonies. Nests are commonly located in larger timber or in the soil in locations such as growing trees, inside fallen trees, underground, and in above-ground mounds which they construct, commonly called "anthills" in Africa and Australia.

Cricket(Insect)

  • Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Suborder: Ensifera
Superfamily: Grylloidea
Family: Gryllidae


Crickets belong to the order Othoptera, which also includes Grasshoppers, they have two pairs of wings but only the back pair are used for flying,Crickets are insects known for leaping and chirping. To attract females, male crickets chirp by rubbing their front wings together.
They have somewhat flattened bodies and long antennae. There are about 900 species of crickets. They tend to be nocturnal and are often confused with grasshoppers because they have a similar body structure including jumping hind legs.
Crickets are omnivores and scavengers feeding on organic materials, as well as decaying plant material, fungi, and some seedling plants. Crickets also have been known to eat their own dead when there is no other source of food available.

Crickets mate in late summer and lay their eggs in the fall. The eggs hatch in the spring and have been estimated to number as high as 2,000 per fertile female.[citation needed] Female crickets have a long needlelike egg-laying organ (ovipositor).

Crickets are popular as a live food source for carnivorous pets like frogs, lizards, salamanders, and spiders. Feeding crickets with nutritious food in order to pass the nutrition onto animals that eat them is known as gut loading.

Crickets are also eaten by humans in some African and Asian cultures. They are often considered a delicacy.

Monday, April 21, 2008

Species of insects that live in highly organized societies


Ant, common name for members of a family of about 11,000 species of insects that live in highly organized societies called colonies. Ant colonies have elaborate social structures in which the various activities necessary for the feeding, shelter, and reproduction of the colony are divided among specially adapted individuals.

Ants belong to an order of insects called the Hymenoptera, a group that also includes bees, wasps, and sawflies. Some species of wasps and bees resemble ants in that they live in colonies and are therefore said to be social, but ants are the only hymenopterans in which every species is social. Ants are distinguished from other hymenopterans in that they have bent, or elbowed, antennae and an indented abdomen that forms a narrow waist.