Category Insects, Arachnids, and Bugs

Fallacy: All Bees Live in Hives

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A fallacy is something that is not true.

All bees live in hives is a fallacy.

Do all bees live in hives? No, not all bees live in hives. There are social bees and solitary bees.

A colony of bees—many thousands of bees—are social bees that live together in a hive. The Bumblebee and the Honeybee (or Honey Bee) are social bees, living in colonies, and living in hives.

However, solitary bees do not live in hives. 

Most bee species are, in fact, solitary bees.

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Juvenile Firebug

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The Firebug (Pyrrhocoris apterus) is a common insect in the Pyrrhocoridae family. 

It is hemimetabolous, which means that it does not undergo full metamorphosis. Instead, the life cycle includes only nymphs (juveniles) and adults. 

The juvenile Firebug does not look like its parents. It has the same shape and the same colour as its parents, but it does not yet have the same black markings. Instead, the juvenile has one black strip on the back of its head (not two), an M-shaped black mark at the top of its shell (not a triangle), and three small black dots in the middle of its shell. 

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Eyed Longhorn Beetle

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The Eyed Longhorn Beetle (Oberea oculata) is an insect in the Cerambycidae family of longhorn beetles. It is also known as the Eyed Longicorn.

The Eyed Longhorn Beetle has an elongated, brown body with brown wing cases called elytra. It has an orange thorax and underbelly. It has two black dots on its pronotum (the section behind its head). It has a shiny black head with long, black antennae. 

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European Dark Bee

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The European Dark Bee (Apis mellifera mellifera) is an insect and a sub-species of the Western Honeybee, also called the European Honeybee (Apis mellifera). It is also known as the German Black Bee or the German Dark Bee.  

The European Dark Bee has a head, thorax (chest), and abdomen (stomach) with a stinger. It has a brown-black abdomen with a few lighter spots on its abdomen. Its wings are transparent. It has six legs, and large eyes.

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What are the differences between the Asian Hornet and the European Hornet?

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What are the differences between the Asian Hornet (Vespa velutina) and the European Hornet (Vespa crabro)?

The Asian Hornet and the European Hornet are both insects in the family of eusocial wasps. They both live in colonies of several thousand individuals.

The Asian Hornet has a smooth, black and yellow-orange body with yellow legs and black wings, whereas the European Hornet has a smooth, black and yellow body with distinctive yellow legs and reddish-orange wings.

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Asian Hornet

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The Asian Hornet (Vespa velutina) is an insect in the family of eusocial wasps. It is a vespine. It is also known as the Yellow-Legged Hornet. 

The Asian Hornet has a smooth black and yellow-orange body with black wings and yellow legs, called tarsi. Its thorax (chest) is brown or black. Its abdomen (stomach) is brown. Each abdominal segment has a narrow yellow border, except for the fourth segment, which is orange. Its head is black with a yellow-orange face and black antennae. The female worker hornet has a smooth barbless stinger that can repeatedly sting an animal.

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Mediterranean Wood-Boring Bee

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The Mediterranean Wood-Boring Bee (Lithurgus chrysurus) is an insect in the Megachilidae family of wood-boring bees.

The Mediterranean Wood-Boring Bee has a slightly flattened, elongated body. It is black with pale-yellow or white bands. It has six legs, two pairs of wings, and three body parts: (1) head, (2) thorax, and (3) abdomen. Its wings are translucent (see-through). Its body has bristly hairs on its sides.

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Bird Dropping Spider

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The Bird Dropping Spider (Celaenia excavata) is an arachnid in the Araneidae family. The toxicity of the Bird Dropping Spider is unknown. It is also known as Death’s Head Spider, Orchard Spider, and Bird-Dung Spider.

The Bird Dropping Spider looks like bird droppings – bird poop – to avoid predators, such as birds. It has a broad, triangular, black-brown body with a pair of bumps near its rear end. Its legs are usually folded against its body. 

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Brown Marmorated Stink Bug

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The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (Halyomorpha halys) is a small insect in the Pentatomidae family of shield bugs. It is called the Stink Bug because it has an unpleasant smell when it is squashed.

The Brown Marmorated Stink Bug has a dark-brown and bluish hard, shield-shaped exo-skeleton and a cream-coloured underbelly. The shield is called a scutellum. Marmorated means ‘marble-like’ or light and dark bands. Its six greyish-black legs, called tarsi, have three segments. It has forewings (front wings) called hemelytra, and it also has hindwings (back wings). It has a sucking mouthpart. 

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European Mantis

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The European Mantis (Mantis religiosa) is a large insect in the Mantidae family of mantids, commonly known as the Praying Mantis.  

The front pair of legs of the European Mantis has spikes and are bent in a praying position. It is long and green and can be camouflaged in plants. It can also be brown, reddish-brown, or yellow-green. It has a hard shell, called an exo-skeleton. The male and the female have wings, but the wings of the female are too small for flying. It has a triangular head on a thin flexible neck. It has large compound eyes.

Its movement is rhythmic. It sways back and forth or side to side. 

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Violet Valga Carpenter Bee

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The Violet Valga Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa valga) is an insect in the bee family. It is not a Bumblebee, because a Bumblebee has a hairy body. Xylocopa violaceaand Xylocopa valgaare two species of the Violet Carpenter Bee.

The Violet Valga Carpenter Bee is glossy black all over with sparse black hairs. The opaque wings are dark brown with a blue-coloured sheen. It has six legs, two pairs of wings, and three body parts: (1) head, (2) thorax, and (3) abdomen. Its wings are dark (not translucent like other bees). Its antennae are medium-sized, and the male has slightly bent antennae. The male has a yellow patch on the top of its thorax, whereas the female does not (she has a black thorax). The male does not have a stinger. The female has a stinger on her abdomen, but she is not aggressive.

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Scarlet Dragonfly

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The Scarlet Dragonfly (Crocothemis erythraea) is an insect in the Libellulidae family of dragonflies. It is also known as the Broad Scarlet or the Common Scarlet-Darter.

The Scarlet Dragonfly has a long, flattened abdomen. The adult male has a bright scarlet-red abdomen, red-veined wings, and small amber-gold patches at the base of its hindwings (back wings). The female has a yellow-brown abdomen and a pale stripe on the top of its thorax (chest).

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Protaetia Beetle

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The Protaetia Beetle (Cetonia aeruginosa or Protaetia aeruginosa) is an insect in the Scarabaeidae family of chafers. It is related to the Scarab Beetle. 

The Protaetia Beetle has an oval body with six legs. It is metallic iridescent green with a copper-brown head. Its underbelly is coppery brown. The male has dents on its wing cases, whereas the female has fewer or no dents. Its wing cases protect its wings.

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Balta Wood Cockroach

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The Balta Wood Cockroach (Balta spuria) is an insect in the Ectobidae family (formerly the Blattellidae family) of cockroaches. 

The Balta Wood Cockroach is mostly golden brown with some darker parts on its wing cases. It has a white band at the back of its shell. The female has shorter wings than the male. The male’s wings cover his whole abdomen, whereas the female’s wings cover part of her abdomen. 

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Violet Carpenter Bee

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The Violet Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa violacea) is an insect in the bee family. It is not a Bumblebee, because a Bumblebee has a hairy body. 

The Violet Carpenter Bee has six legs, two pairs of wings, and three body parts: (1) head, (2) thorax, and (3) abdomen. It has a shiny black body with short dark-grey hairs, called bristles. Its wings are dark (not translucent like other bees) with a violet-blue sheen. Its antennae are medium-sized, and the male has slightly bent antennae.

The male has a yellow patch on the top of its thorax, whereas the female does not (she has a black thorax). The male does not have a stinger. The female has a stinger on her abdomen, but she is not aggressive.

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