Seventh grade science slide shows on insects and arachnids

1. Insects and Arachnids

2. Emperor Scorpion

3. Body Structure:
The Emperor Scorpion’s body
structure includes, 8 legs, 2
pedipalps, a metasoma that has 5
segments and a telson. The main part
of the body has 2 parts a prosoma and
abdomen. They have 2 eyes on top of
the prosoma and five additional pairs
are at both front sides.

4. Life Cycle and Reproduction:
A female Emperor Scorpion
gives live birth to about 10-12
young. The Emperor Scorpion
life expectancy is 5-8 years.
Most scorpions molt multiple
times before becoming adults,
though juveniles look like
adults.
Baby Emperor
Scorpion (above)Teen
Emperor (below)
adult emperor
Scorpion
(above)

5. Where do they live?
The Emperor Scorpion is found
in Africa. To be more specific
including Benin, Burkina Faso,
Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana,
Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Togo,
Liberia, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal,
Sierra Leone and Cameroon.

6. What do they eat and How?
The Emperor Scorpion eats other insects such as
termites. They also may eat small rodents and lizards.
They get their prey by paralyzing it with their stinger.
Then tear it apart with their claws.

7. Who are their Predators?
Since the Emperor Scorpion has poor eyesight it gets
preyed upon by bats, birds, large lizards, large spiders
and other scorpions.

8. What is their size?
The Emperor Scorpion is the biggest but not the
longest. Its length is about 7.9 inches. Its weight is
about 30 grams.

9. Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Scorpiones
Family: Scorpionidae
Genus: Pandinus
Species: Pandinus Imperator
Family Tree

10. How do they move?
They move by using their 8 legs to walk. They also use
their pectens which are sensory organs that help them
identify the terrain.

11. Unique feature
The Emperor scorpion can paralyze its prey with 1 or 2
stings with its telson unlike other arachnids. This
helps makes it a strong predator.

12. Early Bumblebee
Bombus Pratorum

13. Description
The early bumblebee is a very small
insect. It has 3 pairs of jointed legs, a
pair of antennae, a pair of compound
eyes, three body segments, and wings.
It also has a very short tongue. The
bumblebee has a yellow bar on the
middle of the thorax and middle of the
abdomen but has a red, pink, orange,
or brown tail. These bees are
considered stingless bees.

14. Early Bumblebee’s
Lifespan
Early bumblebees, both
male and female, live for
about 28 days. As
bumblebees get older
the color of their hairs
become less vibrant.
They often become a
dirty white color.

15. HabitatEarly bumblebees are found in most parts of Europe and
Asia. Their habitat includes fields, meadows, gardens, and
parks. They are found on small flowers such as Lavender,
White Clover, and other Daisy type flowers. Their nests are
located above the ground mainly in abandoned bird and
rodent nests.

16. Early Bumblebee’s Diet
Early bumblebees
feed on the
nectar of flowers
with short petals
such as Lavender,
and Sage.

17. Early bumblebees’ nests are
parasitized by bees of the
Psithyrus species. These bees,
also known as Cuckoo
Bumblebees, don’t show much
aggression but eventually they
begin to destroy and eat the
Early Bumblebees’ eggs and
destroy larvae.
Predators
Cuckoo
Bumblebees

18. Size
Early bumblebees are pretty
small. They can be
anywhere from 10-17 mm.
The queen bee tends to be
about 15-17 mm, while
workers are about 10-14
mm. Males are around
11-13 mm.

19. Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Apidae
Genus: Bombus
Species: Bombus Pratorum
Classification

20. Unique Features
The first workers can emerge as early as
February or March, which is about a month
earlier than other bees. Another unique feature
is their tail. It is a red, pink, orange, or brown
color.

21. MovementEarly bumblebees fly as well as walk.

22. Bombus Pratorum (Early bumblebee)
Size: 10-17 mm
Habitat: parts of Europe and Asia
Season: emerge in February or
March
Nests: above ground
Early Bumblebee vs. Common Eastern Bumblebee
Bombus Impatiens (Common
Eastern Bumblebee)
Size: 8.5- 21 mm
Habitat: eastern U.S. , southern
Canada
Season: March- November
Nests: underground

23. The Praying Mantis

24. Parts of a Praying Mantis
The praying mantis is an insect so it has a head,
thorax, and abdomen. It also has antennae, wings,
and six legs.

25. Praying Mantis Life Cycle
Praying mantises can lay
between 100 and 400 eggs.
They hatch as nymphs which
look similar to the adults and
they usually live for 6 to 12
months.

26. Where Praying Mantises Live
Praying mantises can live in almost any environment on any
continent except for Antarctica but they are most common in
warm and tropical areas. They usually use plants like trees and
bushes as their homes.

27. How a Praying Mantis Eats
When they are young, praying mantises eat insects with soft
bodies like mosquitos and caterpillars. When they are adults,
they eat bigger things like beetles and spiders. They use their two
strong front legs to catch their prey and hold on to eat while
they’re eating.

28. What Eats Praying Mantises
Praying mantises are usually hunted by bats, birds, and frogs.
Praying mantises defend themselves by using their front legs to
attack predators or they make noises with their wings to scare
them away.

29. How Big is a Praying Mantis?
Praying mantises are usually 2 to 5 inches long
but some grow to 7 inches.

30. Scientific
Classification
Kingdom- Animalia
Phylum- Arthropoda
Class- Insecta
Order- Mantodea
Family- Mantidae
Genus- Mantis
Species- Religiosa

31. Praying Mantises’ Unique Features
One unique feature a praying mantis has is its ability to turn its
head around like a human. Other bugs can’t do this because their
necks are too rigid. Another unique feature is its two strong front
legs.

32. Praying Mantises’ Movement
Praying mantises usually only move by walking.
Most mantises also have wings but usually only
males can fly with them.

33. Harlequin Ladybug
(Harmonia axyridis)

34. Body Parts and AppendagesThe Harlequin Ladybug has a head,
a pair of antenna, two eyes, a
pronotum (which helps make the
head look round, protects the
ladybug and helps it to hide), two
elytra (which shows the colors and
patterns of the ladybug which are
symmetrical on the right and left
sides), 6 short jointed legs, an
abdomen and two wings. They also
have an exoskeleton and a
segmented body.

35. Life Cycle
The Ladybug starts off in an egg and is usually hatched in 3-7
days. Then they go to the larva stage which is 2-4 weeks. Next
they are in the pupa stage that lasts 5-7 days, and then finally they
arrive at the adult stage. The life span there is only a few months.
So a ladybug usually lives for about a year total.

36. The Harlequin Ladybug lives in a wide variety of
places from urban and agricultural areas to
woodland, wetlands and meadows.
Where Do They Live?

37. What Do They Eat + How Do They Eat?
Harlequin Ladybugs eat aphids which are
abundant. They also eat other ladybug larvae and
other ladybugs of its kind. Ladybugs have a
pharynx and mandibles like we do and they
also,chew and swallow like we do.

38. What Eats Ladybugs?
Ladybugs are usually eaten by assassin bugs,
stink bugs, spiders and toads. To protect
themselves they usually release a toxic fluid
called hemolymph that is released from their
legs.

39. Size
The size of this
Ladybug is
usually from 7-8
mm long (about
¼ inch).

40. Kingdom: Animalia (All
animals)
Phylum: Arthropoda
(Invertebrates)
Class: Insecta (Insects)
Order: Coleoptera
(Beetles)
Family: Coccinellidae
Genus: Hippodamia
Species: Convergens
Family Tree
Kingdom
Phylum
Class
Order
Family
Genus
Species

41. Unique Features
Some unique features of this ladybug are that:
● They eat up to 5,000 insects in its lifetime.
● An adult ladybug can eat up to 50 aphids a day.
● They have bilateral symmetry.

42. How They Move
Ladybugs move by
walking and flying.

43. Wolf Spiders

44. Description:
Wolf spiders are brown spiders with a
broad back, fuzzy body and legs, and a
big furry brown abdomen. Their
abdomens and cephalothorax are about
the same size. They have long thick legs,
and two small legs that are used to catch
prey. They have two forward looking eyes,
two upward looking eyes on the side, and
four eyes below.

45. Young VS. Old
There aren’t many differences
between older and younger wolf
spiders other than the size. There
are some differences in the male
and female wolf spiders like the
male spider can live up to a year,
while the female wolf spiders can
live up to several years.

46. Where Do They Live?
Wolf Spiders live almost everywhere in North America.
They are mostly found in grasslands and meadows. They
can also be found in mountains and wetlands. They
sometimes liveunder large rocks, or in shallow tunnels
or burrows they dig in the dirt, they use this space to rest
over winter.

47. Eating Wolf Spiders eat flies, crickets,
grasshoppers, and cockroaches. Some
have even been known to eat American
toads. Wolf Spiders mainly hunt at night
to catch their prey. Most stay on the
ground, but they can climb trees to
catch food. Some chase down their
prey, while others wait for it and
ambush it. Wolf spiders often jump on
their prey, hold it between their legs,
roll over on their back, and then bite it.

48. What Eats Them?
Even though wolf spiders eat American
Toads, some amphibians and reptiles eat the
wolf spider, depending on their size.
Shrews, Coyotes, and birds are wolf spider
predators. The mother wasp paralyzes it and
then puts its larvae into the spider. Some
will trap it to protect the larvae, others let it
go free. Either way, the spider will die when
the larvae mature.

49. S P F H :
W f S
,
f ,
f ,
’ . T
.

50. Defense Mechanisms:
Their good eyesight, quickness, sensitivity to
vibration, camoflauge, and large jaws are all
defense mechanisms that help the wolf spider
stay alive if attacked. They are also willing to
lose a leg.

51. Wolf Spiders range
from 0.4 inches to
1.38 inches. Wolf
SPiders walk and
typically stay low
to the ground.
Staying low to the
ground makes it
look like they’re
always on the
prowl.
Size and Movement

52. Family
Tree
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Arachnida
Order: Araneae
Family: Lycosidae
Genus: Hogna
Species: Carolina

53. Unique Features:
● When a female spider’s eggs hatch, the babies stay on her back for
about a week.
● Wolf spiders are not dangerous, however they may bite if they are
captured/ attacked and they can cause medical problems.
● There are more than 100 genera and 2,300 species of wolf spiders.
200 species live in the U.S.
● The word Lycosidae comes from an Ancient Greek word meaning“wolf”
● They are named Wolf Spiders because of their hunting.
● Wolf Spiders put a pebble in front of their burrows so rain doesn’t get
in.

54. Black Widow Spider

55. Body Parts
They have 8 legs.
They have a pair of
fangs. They have a
cephalothorax and an
abdomen which has a
red hourglass
symbol. They also
have a pair of
spinnerets.

56. How long do they Live for?
They lay 200-900 eggs
per sac where
they are born.
They live for
between 1-2 months.

57. Where they live
❖ Outdoors
➢ Wood pies, rubble, hollow logs, loose bark, holes,
stones, burrows, small trees, bushes, water
meters, crawl spaces, sheds, walls, root cellars,
drainage pipes
❖ Indoors
➢ Dimly lit locations, garages, dark corners,
basements, closets and cluttered spaces

58. Where they live
Black widows live in North
America, southern Europe
and Asia, Australia, Africa,
and much of South
America.
They like dimly lit areas.

59. Eating
❖ They eat small insects such as mosquitoes,
grasshoppers, beetles, and caterpillars. They
sometimes eat mice, lizards,and snakes caught
in their web.
❖ They build a tangled web to capture food.

60. What they eat, how they eat and capture food
When a black widow spider bites, the
venom subdues the prey. The prey is
bathed with digestive fluids. The softer
parts dissolve into a liquid that is sucked
into the spiders stomach. The spiders
pincer-like appendages (chelicerae) can
be used to puncture the exoskeleton of
hard-bodied insects to get to the juices.
The shell is discarded afterwards.

61. What eat them, How they defend themselves
❖ The black widow’s red and orange markings warn
predators of danger. It is very quick and is able to
detect small vibrations made by predators. If
threatened, it escapes down to the ground on a silk
safety line. When disturbed, it oftens play dead.
❖ Black widow venom is poisonous. When fangs enter
skin, they remain there for several seconds.

62. What eat them, how they defend themselves
A few wasps can sting and paralyze before eating the
black widow. She is also the favorite food of a praying
mantis. Some birds can eat these spiders but end up with
a upset stomach from her poisons.

63. What is the size?
The black widow female
will grow to be about 1.5
inches. Males are half the
size of females.

64. Family Tree❖ Kingdom- Animalia
❖ Phylum- Arthropoda
❖ Class- Arachnid
❖ Order- Araneae
❖ Family- Theridiidae
❖ Genus- Latrodectus
❖ Species- Mactans

65. Unique Features/Fun Facts
❖ The hourglass shaped marking most commonly red, may
range in color from white to yellow to various shades of
orange and red
❖ Male black widows are lighter in color, with red or pink spots
on their backs
❖ The females often kill and eat the males after mating
❖ Their venom is reported to be 15 times stronger than a
rattlesnake’s
❖ The babies often eat each other when born, and 30 babies
survive

66. How they move
Black widows can move by web or running. They
move by web to get to the ground or to other places
to string up more web. They use running when trying
to get places on the ground away from their web.

67. European

68. Parts of a European Hornet
The European hornet has two pairs of
reddish-yellow wings and six legs which are
almost as long as its body. Its abdomen is brown
and yellow striped. It has hair on the thorax
and abdomen. A male’s abdomen has seven
segments, whereas a female’s abdomen has six.
Only a female possesses a stinger; therefore, a
male does not sting. The antennae of a male are
slightly longer, with 13 segments compared to 12
segments of a female. It has five eyes. Three
eyes are in a shape of a triangle.

69. Life Cycle ● Starts as an egg
● Turns into larva
● Then turns into a pupa
● Final stage is the adult
● As you can see from the life cycle, the young
look different than the adults.
● The male and female workers live for several
months during the spring and summer then die
but the Queen lives through the winter to
reproduce again the next spring.

70. Where do they live?
They live in most northern areas, Europe, North China,
North America, Ukraine and European Russia.
Habitat: hollow trees, wall cavities, chimneys and wooded
areas. Their homes are nests with a single hole made of
branches, twigs and plant parts.

71. Eating
and
Digestion
The European hornets use their digestive system to get nutrients from food. Food
enters through the mouth where chemical and mechanical digestion break the
food into small particles. They eat nectar and sugar-rich plants. They also kill
other insects with their stinger to feed the larvae in the nests. The hornets may
store large amounts of food in the crop. Food then goes through the
proventriculus which acts as a valve to keep the food moving. Then food passes
through the midgut and eventually the hindgut. Finally food passes through the
rectum and out the anus.

72. Predators and Defense
Mechanisms
Their predators are frogs, lizards, birds, bats, mice, rats,
weasels, badgers and raccoons. Their defense
mechanism is their stinger. They sting in response to
being stepped on, grabbed, or threatened. They are
peaceful animals and avoid conflict unless disturbed.

73. Size of a European Hornet
2-3 5
Males and female workers are 2-3
cm long but Queens are up to 5
cm in length.

74. Family Tree
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hymenoptera
Family: Vespidae
Genus: Vespa
Species: Vespa crabro

75. Unique Features
● Hornets have a special gland which produces
floating cells. These cells make the hornets’
bodies lighter and it helps them move around.
● They can sting multiple times and secrete venom.

76. How do they move?
They can fly and walk. They can only walk
short distances. They cannot fly for long
distances without taking a break.

77. The Goliath Birdeater

78. T G B B P
● These are the Goliath bird
eaters body parts.
● The Goliath Birdeater has
ten total appendages .
● 4 pairs for walking and 1 pair
of chelipeds.
● The Goliath Birdeater has an
abdomen and a
cephalothorax.

79. Young and
adult goliath
bird eaters
A male goliath birdeater
lives for 3-6 years while the
female lives 15-25 years.
The male goliath bird eaters
rarely molt while the
females do a lot more of it.
The females lay 100-200
eggs and don't eat the males
like other spiders do.

80. Where does it live?
Goliath birdeaters live in
northern South America in
countries like Brazil,
Guyana and Venezuela.
Their habitats are wet
swampy areas that are deep
in the rainforest.
The brown is
where the goliath
birdeater lives

81. What do they eat
and how do they
eat?
They rarely eat birds other
than hatchlings. They usually
eat frogs, small snakes,
beetles, and insects. They will
even eat lizards, bats, and
pinky rats. They sneak up on
their prey, pounce on them
and then inject venom into
them to paralyze them. They
have fangs that dig into their
prey.

82. What eats them? The predators to these
spiders are humans,
mammals, other
tarantulas, and hawks .
Their defense mechanism
is their fangs and ability
to paralyze their prey
with venom.

83. What is the size?Its legs can reach up to
1 foot or 30 centimeters
and according to
Guinness world records,
it is the biggest spider
on earth. It can weigh
up to 170 grams or 6 oz.

84. Classificationkingdom animalia.
phylum arthropoda
class arachnida
order araneae
family theraphosidae
genus therphosa
species blondi.

85. FeaturesThey have stripes on
the back of their
hind legs and their
bodies are covered
with hair that is
deadly to humans
who breathe it in.

86. They pounce on their
prey and crawl
around the
rainforest floor..
They only pounce
when catching their
prey and they
walk/crawl
everywhere else .
Movement

87. Fun Facts
● Individuals only come
together to mate
● They are mostly active
at night
● In human care they
can live 15-20 years
● Their fangs fold under
their body
● People in South
America eat toasted
goliath bird eaters

88. Killer Insect:
Assassination bug

89. W ?
T A
6 ,
f ,
.

90. Baby Assassination bugs are
black with colorful backends.
They can live for one or two
years

91. The Assassination bug lives
in 28 of the States in the U.S.

92. What do they eat?They eat the Praying
Mantis and smaller
bugs like ladybugs

93. Their Predators
Caterpillars and leafhoppers are their main
predators. Caterpillars can resist the poison and
leafhoppers can get the jump on the killer
Assassination bug.

94. How big is it?
It is 0.5 inches which is the size of a
Cockroach!

95. Family Tree
Kingdom Animalia
Phylum Arthropoda
class Insecta
Order Hemiptera
Family Reduviidae
Genus Zelus
Species Luridus

96. Special abilities
These bugs use special saliva to stun and
kill praying mantis.

97. How do they move?
They walk and never use any other types of
movement but they are very slow so they can
sneak up on prey.

98. Monarch Butterfly

99. The Monarch butterfly
body parts
The Monarch
butterfly has three
main parts: the head,
thorax, and abdomen
like all insects.

100. The Monarch has 6 legs- 4
long and 2 short and 2
antennae. The butter ly also
has 2 compound eyes and 2
wings. To eat, the monarch
butter ly like all butter les
has a proboscis.

101. The life of a Monarch butterfly
The life of a Monarch butterfly starts
as a caterpillar hatching out of its
egg. This same caterpillar starts to
grow and eventually molts into a
cocoon. Finally the caterpillar
emerges into a butterfly. The adult
Monarch butterfly only lives for 2 to
6 weeks.

102. Where Monarch butterflies live?
Monarch butterflies live in the
northern United States in the spring
and summer seasons. In the fall the
Monarchs migrate down to Mexico
for the autumn and winter seasons.
Then they migrate to the southern
United States to lay their eggs in
milkweed plants.

103. What the Monarch butterflies eat
The Monarch butterflies
eat milkweed so they
can lay their eggs. The
butterflies eat with the
proboscis to get the
milkweed easier.

104. Things that eat the Monarch Butterfly
Monarch butterflies can
be eaten by frogs, birds
and lizards but they
don’t taste good and
their camouflage is their
defensive mechanism.

105. The size of the monarch butterfly
The size of the monarch
butterfly is 3-4 inches from
wingtip to wingtip. If they were
longer or heavier, they would
not of be as quick to handle
their long migration to Mexico.

106. Classification

107. Unique features of the monarch butterflies
They can fly from 12 to 25 miles per hour. In 2000,
the monarch butterfly covered more than 217 acres
on their migration. The monarch butterflies are
poisonous.

108. How the monarch butterfly moves
The monarch butterflies move by flying when
they migrate to and from mexico. They also
have six legs and are able to walk short
distances.

109. Yellow
Jacket

110. The parts of a Yellow Jacket
The parts of a Yellow Jacket are six
jointed legs, an exoskeleton and four
wings. And like all insects they have
a head, thorax and abdomen.

111. Their Life
A typical yellow jacket can live
from 12 to 22 days, but the
queen can live to almost a year.

112. Habitat Yellow Jackets live in many
different places. They are very
common in southeastern states in
North America. Most of their nests
are found in the ground or in
rotting logs.

113. How Yellow Jackets Eat?
Yellow Jackets usually eat bugs like
caterpillars, but they also eat meat and sweet
things. They have special mouthparts that help
grab and break down the food.

114. What eats them?
Bears,skunks,badgers, racoons and other
mammals eat them, they smell their honey and
get attracted to it and then they eat them.

115. Its size
The average Yellow Jacket is about 12
mm or .5 inches long. The Queen is
bigger, they are 19 mm or .75 inches long.

116. Family tree

117. How Yellow Jackets move?
Yellow Jackets can walk and they can fly with their wings.
They can’t swim but they are attracted to running water.
They will fly when they are moving long distances like moving
their nests, and when they are escaping predators.

118. DRAGONFLY

119. The dragonfly
has a head,
thorax and an
abdomen. On the
thorax there
are three
pairs of
jointed legs
and two pairs
of long,fragile
wings and a
pair of
compound eyes.

120. The Life Cycle
Dragonfly eggs are laid in
a body of water and a
dragonfly nymph emerges and
stays in a lake,pond or in
a moist flower.

121. Nymph to adult stage of
the dragonfly
Nymphs live in water
while they
grow and develop
into adult
dragonflies. Did you
know this part of
the dragonfly’s life
can take up to 4
years to complete?

122. Where do they live?
They are
found in
freshwater
habitats such
as rivers,
ponds,and
lakes.

123. What Do
They Eat?
Adult
dragonflies
mostly eat other
flying insects.
The nymph eats
anything that is
smaller than
itself. So the
Dragonfly is a
carnivore.

124. How do
they eat?
Dragonflies eat by
using pinchers near
their mouth and
crushing the prey’s
head. They then
swallow little bits of
its prey at a time
and digest it.
Fun fact dragonflies
can eat their own body
weight of food in a
little under 30
minutes

125. Dragonfly
predators
Arthropods,birds
reptiles, fish,
tiny mammals and
fellow insects
are all predators
of the dragonfly.
Bees routinely go
after mature
dragonflies for
invading their
territory.

126. How big is a
dragonfly
Is head
thorax and
abdomen are
about 85
millimeters
or about the
size of your
hand and a
wingspan of
about 120
millimeters.

127. Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Odonata
Family: Anisoptera
Genus: Anax
Species:impreditor

128. The unique
structure of
the dragonfly
The head is
mostly covered
by its eyes
The Thorax hold
3 pairs of legs
and the wings
that rest on
the abdomen
The abdomen
hold almost all
the organs and
is the biggest
part of a
dragonfly.

129. The
dragonfly
moves by
flying and
occasionally
using its
legs to
attack and
eat the
prey. It can
fly up to 38
mph.
How
does
it
move?

130. Fun
Fact
Saint George's
horse became a
giant flying insect
when cursed by the
devil. In the Roman
language, the word
for dragonfly
translates into
Devil's Horse or
Devil's fly. That's
how the dragonfly
got its name.