Do all insects have six legs?
Insects include many different types of creatures, such as ants, bees, beetles, butterflies, cockroaches, crickets, dragonflies, fleas, grasshoppers, silverfish, termites, wasps, and more.
The 4-stage life cycle of an insect is egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Some insects only have a 3-stage life cycle: egg, larva, and adult.
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The Fruit Fly (Drosophila melanogaster) is a small insect in the Drosophilidae family of flies. It is also known as the Vinegar Fly.
The Fruit Fly is yellow-brown with red eyes and black rings on its abdomen. The male has a black patch on its abdomen.
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What do ichthyologists study?
Ichthyology is the study of fish. An ichthyologist is a person who studies fish.
An example of what ichthyologists study is represented by the Paris National Museum of Natural History in their photography exhibition called ‘The Little Fish’ which is a series of photographs of fish larvae.
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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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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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The Black Mud Bee (Megachile parietina) is an insect in the mason bee family. It is a pollinator.
The Black Mud Bee is small, black, and shiny. It has a narrow, cylindrical body with a large head. It has black legs and black antennae.
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The Tube-Dwelling Anemone (Cerianthus membranaceus) is a marine (saltwater) invertebrate, without a backbone. It is an animal, not a plant. It is also known as the Cylinder Anemone.
The Tube-Dwelling Anemone has about 200 tentacles in two whorls around its central mouth, called an oral disc. The tentacles along the outer whorl are long and slender with stinging cells. The tentacles along the inner whorl are shorter. The tentacles can be many colours, such as white, yellow, orange, green, brown, blue, black, purple, pink, and violet.
The tentacles do not retract, but the whole animal can retract into its tube. It has a long cylindrical column which is buried in the soil. The tube is its permanent home.
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The Beadlet Anemone (Actinia equina) is a marine (saltwater) invertebrate in the Actiniidae family of anemones, which means that is has no backbone. It is also known as the Sea Tomato. It is an animal, not a plant.
The Beadlet Anemone is bright red with tentacles, and its mouth in the centre. It has short, conical tentacles arranged in rows of six or more, which is called the crown of tentacles. The crown surrounds its oral disc (mouth). The tips of the tentacles can be pointed or blunt.
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The Spiriflex Mud Dauber Wasp (Sceliphron spiriflex) is a medium-sized insect in the Sphecidae family of wasps. It is a sphecid wasp.
The Spiriflex Mud Dauber Wasp has a dull black body with a long yellow waist, called a petiole. Its legs are black with yellow bands. Its antennae are black, and its wings are translucent (clear).
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The Large White Butterfly (Pieris brassicae) is a small insect in the Pieridae family of white and yellow butterflies. It is also known as the Large Cabbage White. It is a close relative of the Small White Butterfly (Pieris rapae).
The Large White Butterfly is white with distinct dark-black tips on its forewings (front wings). The female has two large black spots in the middle of its forewings. The male has no black dots. Its upperside is creamy-white, and its underside is pale-greenish. Its body is black.
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The Small White Butterfly (Pieris rapae rapae) is a small insect in the Pieridae family of white and yellow butterflies. It is also known as the Small Cabbage White.
The Small White Butterfly has a white upperside—the male is creamy-white and the female is brighter white – with light-black tips on its forewings (front wings). The female has two large black spots in the middle of its forewings and the male has a small black spot on both its forewings and hind (back) wings. Its underside is yellowish with black speckles. It has club-shaped antennae.
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The Yellowjacket Hoverfly (Milesia virginieusis) is an insect in the Syrphidae family of hoverflies. It is also known as the Virginia Flower Fly or the Syrphid Fly. It is a syrphid. It is also a pollinator. It is related to the Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax).
The Yellowjacket Hoverfly looks like a hornet, bee, or wasp, but it does not have a stinger on its tail. It is harmless. It is bright, glossy yellow with dark bands on its abdomen. It has six short yellowish legs. It has very large, black compound eyes. It has one pair of translucent (clear, see-through) wings with dark veins.
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The Common Wasp (Vespula vulgaris) is an insect. It is also known as the European Wasp or the Common Yellow-Jacket. It is a vespid.
The Common Wasp has a black and yellow banded body with black dots and markings on its abdomen. It has yellow legs. Worker wasps have a stinger at the end of their tail. It can sting multiple times because the stinger stays in the body (the stinger of bees comes out of the body when the bee stings an animal, so it can only sting once). It has large black eyes and black antennae.
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What is an instar?
An instar is the development stage of an insect between each stage of moulting, or shedding its skin.
For example, each stage from egg to larvae (grub) to pupa (chrysalis or cocoon) to an adult insect, as an insect undergoes metamorphosis, is called an instar.
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The Monarch Butterfly (Danus plexippus) is an insect in the Nymphalidae family of milkweed butterfies. It is also known as the Milkweed Butterfly, Common Tiger Butterfly, Wanderer Butterfly, and the Black-Veined Brown Butterfly.
The Monarch Butterfly has black, orange, and white wings. The undersides of its wings are orange-brown. It has black veins and small white spots in the margins at the edge of its wings. The male has a black spot on each hind (back) wing. Its body and its six legs are black.
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The Red Knob Sea Star (Protoreaster linckii) is a starfish. It is a marine (saltwater) invertebrate, because it does not have a backbone. It is also known as the Red Knob Starfish, the Red Spine Star, or the African Red Knob Sea Star. It is not a fish, so scientists prefer to say that it is a sea star.
The Red Knob Sea Star has five elongated tube limbs, called arms or feet. It has several bright red tubercles on its arms. It has a grey body with red stripes that connect the tubercles.
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The Two-Spotted Ladybird (Adalia bipunctata) is a small insect in the Coccinellidae family of ladybird beetles. It is also known as the Two Spotted Lady Beetle or the Two Spotted Ladybug.
The Two-Spotted Ladybird Beetle can have a red or a yellow body with two black spots on its elytra (two wing cases). Its body is oval-shaped and slightly domed. Its wings are hidden underneath the wing cases. It has black compound eyes. Its antennae are light-brown, quite long, and slightly thickened at the ends. Its neck shield usually covers the head and has white spots. It has little black legs.
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The Purple-Striped Jellyfish (Chrysaora colorata) is a soft-bodied invertebrate marine (saltwater) animal. An invertebrate is an animal with no bones. It is also known as the Purple-Striped Sea Nettle.
The Purple-Striped Jellyfish has a translucent (see-through) bell-shaped or umbrella-shaped dome body with purple stripes. It has long tentacles (limbs) with eight long dark purple arms and four ‘frilly’ arms. It has no brain, no heart, no blood, no bones, no excretory system, and no gills or lungs. It has nerve receptors in its body that enables it to detect smell, light, pressure, and touch. It is about 98% water.
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What is a caterpillar?
A caterpillar is the larval stage of a butterfly or moth.A caterpillar pupates – it makes a chrysalis or a cocoon, which is a casing. Inside the casing, the caterpillar undergoes metamorphosis (changes), and it emerges as an adult butterfly.
A caterpillar has a soft body without an internal skeleton, so it is an invertebrate.
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The Giant Stag Beetle (Dorcus titanus titanus or Serrognathus titanus) is an insect in the Lucanidae family of stag beetles.
The Giant Stag Beetle has an elongated flat, dull black body. It has black antennae and black legs. The male has antler-like jaws with small teeth. The female has much smaller jaws.
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