This document provides information about various insects through poems, facts, and images. It discusses the anatomy and behaviors of house flies, fireflies, mosquitoes, bees, wasps, grasshoppers, and dragonflies. For each topic, it includes 2-3 facts and a short poem about the insect. The document is intended to educate readers about common bugs through a mix of scientific information and creative writing.

1. Come with me to explore the world of insects . . . Next slide

3. FLIES The compound eyes of flies are large and are composed of thousands of individual lenses, up to 4000 in the case of the house fly. URL POEM Fun Facts POEM Fun Facts On to bees and wasps Why are lightning bugs disappearing? Fun Facts Venus Flytrap in action POEM

4. House Flies are hard to swat because they react to movement five times faster than humans do. Sensitive hairs on their bodies send data directly to the wings, so these flies can take off the instant motion is detected. In humans, the sensory data must usually first be processed by the brain. Flies do not have teeth or a stinger. Their mouths absorb food like a sponge. They can only eat liquids but they can turn many solid foods into a liquid through spitting or vomiting on it. Their tongues are shaped like straws so they can suck up their food. Female House Flies live for about 26 days; males, about 15 days. House flies taste with their feet, which are 10 million times more sensitive to sugar than the human tongue! 4. 3. 2. 1. FUN FACTS Housefly Back

5. Fly A fly flies by, quicker than the eye! On two thin wings, it darts up high. Those tiny wings can really fly! Beating 200 times a second - oh, my! The fly goes Buzz as it flaps in the air. The Buzz you hear are the wings going by! So if a fly ever catches your eye Don't ask why it buzzes - you now know why! Back

6. When attacked, fireflies shed drops of blood in a process known as “reflex bleeding.” The blood contains chemicals that taste bitter and can be poisonous to some animals. Because of this, many animals learn to avoid eating fireflies Firefly lights are the most efficient lights in the world—100% of the energy is emitted as light. Compare that to an incandescent bulb, which emits 10% of its energy as light and the rest as heat, or a fluorescent bulb, which emits 90% of its energy as light. Because it produces no heat, scientists refer to firefly lights as “cold lights.” Fireflies have short lifespans An adult firefly lives only long enough to mate and lay eggs—so they may not need to eat during their adult life stage. Fireflies emit light mostly to attract mates, although they also communicate for other reasons as well, such as to defend territory and warn predators away. 4. 3. 2. 1. FUN FACTS Firefly Back to firefly

7. Fireflies I like to chase the fireflies, Chase them to and fro' I like to watch them dart about, Their little lamps aglow. In the evening's twilight dim I follow them about, I often think I have one caught, And then his light goes out. I cannot tell just where he is Until he winks, you see, Then far away I see his light, He's played a joke on me. Grace Wilson Coplen Back

8. It’s the saliva (spit) that thins a person’s blood so the female mosquito can drink it. In fact, it's the mosquito's saliva that makes the bites itch In one large group of mosquitoes, the mouthparts of the female are long, adapted for piercing and for sucking blood. The male, which feeds on nectar and water, has very simple mouthparts. If you think you've been bitten by a mosquito, wash the bite with soap and water. Put on some calamine lotion to help stop the itching, or an adult can find an anti-itch cream at the drugstore for you. Placing an ice pack on the bite may also help. Female mosquitoes lay their eggs only in water. 4. 3. 2. 1. FUN FACTS Mosquito Back to mosquito

10. BEES AND WASPS Wasps help farmers by eating pests that can destroy crops. Amazzzzzzzing facts about honeybees POEM URL Amazzzzzzzing facts about wasps Will Global Warming Help the Honeybee Dance? Poem On to grasshoppers

11. Honeybees are the only insects that produce food for humans. Bees fly an average of 13-15 mph. Amazzzzzing Facts About Honeybees Just a single hive contains approximately 40-45,000 bees! Bees do not create honey; they are actually improving upon a plant product, nectar. The honey we eat is nectar that bees have repeatedly regurgitated and dehydrated. While foraging for nectar and pollen, bees inadvertently transfer pollen from the male to the female components of flowers. Each year, bees pollinate 95 crops worth an estimated $10 billion in the U.S. alone. All told, insect pollinators contribute to one-third of the world's diet. BACK

12. The Bee Andrew Downing The music of the busy bee Is drowsy, and it comforts me; But, ah! 'tis quite another thing, When that same bee concludes to sting! Back to Bees and Wasps

13. Wasps are believed to become very aggressive during the months from August to October. . . . Watch out!! An interesting thing about wasps is that when these insects die, they release a smell (called a pheromone). This smell warns other wasps of lurking danger and is an indicator that help is needed. Amazzzzzing Facts About Wasps The queen wasp is the only breeding female. Wasps, being omnivorous animals, eat a mixture of plants and other animals. As many as 10,000 wasps are believed to inhabit one nest. BACK

14. Plain Murder I saw a wasp upon a wall And did not like his face at all: And so the creature had no time To wonder whether he liked mine. A.G. Prys-Jones It seems to refer to the squashing of a wasp before it can sting the author. Back

15. GRASSHOPPERS A Grasshopper is an amazing insect that can leap 20 times the length of its own body. If you or I could do that, we would be able to jump almost 40 yards! Fun Facts Poem On to dragonflies

16. When a grasshopper is picked up, they "spit" a brown liquid which is known by most kids and adults as "tobacco juice". The grasshoppers greatest enemies include various kinds of flies that lay their eggs in or near grasshopper eggs. After the fly eggs hatch, the newborn flies eat the grasshopper eggs. Some flies will even lay their eggs on the grasshopper's body, even while the grasshopper is flying. The newborn flies then eat the grasshopper. Another dangerous enemy of the grasshopper is the shoe. The shoe comes in various shapes and sizes, but all are equally dangerous to the grasshopper. Grasshoppers can destroy entire crops of alfalfa, clover, cotton, corn and other grains, causing millions of dollars in crop damages every year. They live in fields, meadows, and just about anywhere they can find generous amounts of leaves to eat. 4. 3. 2. 1. FUN FACTS Grasshopper Back

17. Placeolder The Grasshopper – by Conrad Aiken Grasshopper grasshopper all day long we hear your scraping summer song like rusty fiddles in the grass as through the meadow path we pass such funny legs such funny feet and how we wonder what you eat maybe a single blink of dew sipped from a clover leaf would do then high in air once more you spring to fall in grass again and sing. Back

18. Dragonflies Fossil records date the dragonfly back 300 million years. Fun Facts Interesting . . . . Poem Back to beginning Metamorphosis

19. Dragonflies do not harm people. They do not bite and they do not sting. Dragonflies have a life span of anywhere from about six months to several years. Most of the dragonfly life span is spent in the water as a nymph. During this period, which can last up to a couple of years, it sheds its skin many times. Finally it crawls onto land to break out of its skin as a full fledged dragonfly. The largest dragonfly recorded from fossil records had a wing span of about two and one-half feet. Dragonflies are known as beneficial insects because they eat so many harmful insects such as mosquitoes, gnats, ants termites and even butterflies, spiders and other dragonflies. 4. 3. 2. 1. FUN FACTS Dragonfly Dragonflies can fly like a helicopter, moving in all directions, forward, backward, up and down. They can also hover. 5. Back

20. The Dragon Fly. In the bottom of an old pond lived some grubs. They could not understand why none of their group came back after crawling up the stems of the lilies to the top of the water. They promised each other that the next one who was called to make the upward climb would return and tell what happened to her. Soon, one of them felt an urgent impulse to seek the surface. She rested on top of a lily pad and went through a glorious transformation that made her a dragonfly with beautiful wings. In vain she tried to keep her promise - flying back and forth over the pond. She peered down at her loved ones below. Then she realized, even if they could see her they would not recognize such a radiant creature as one of their number. . . . just a story; but something to think about . . . Back

21. D own here in the pond, I’ve waited for months…years, R emained a nymph . A t last the season has come for me to G row wings, to shed the shell of childhood . O nward and upward ! N ow I’m ready to emerge F rom my watery world, to L ook to the future…the blue sky above, to leave all my Y esterdays behind . H ere is a poem from an unpublished collection, Spring into Words: A Season in Acrostics : by Elaine Magliaro Back

22. Yahoo kids . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://kids.yahoo.com/animals/insects Facts about fireflies . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.firefly.org/facts-about-fireflies.html Azure gardens . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://azuregardens.tripod.com/beefacts.html Pbs . (n.d.). Retrieved from www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bees/buzz.html Interesting and amazing facts about wasps . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://lifestyle.iloveindia.com/lounge/facts-about-wasps-7317.html Everything about . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals/arthropods/insects/flies/mosquito/index.shtml Kids health . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/kid/ill_injure/bugs/mosquito.html Rick walton . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://kidshealth.org/kid/ill_injure/bugs/mosquito.html Wasp site . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.waspsite.info/poem.php Pest control . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.allplatinumpestcontrol.com/Grasshopper.html Shelf elf: read, write, rave . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://shelfelf.wordpress.com/2009/07/24/poetry-the-grasshopper/ Green nature . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://greennature.com/article2583.html Magliaro, E. (2010, June 4). Dragonfly: an original acrostic [Web log message]. Retrieved from http://wildrosereader.blogspot.com/2010/06/dragonfly-original-acrostic.html Bibliography Discovery channel . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://dsc.discovery.com/videos/life-venus-flytrap-catches-flies.html Firefly . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.firefly.org/why-are-fireflies-disappearing.html You tube dragonfly metamorphosis . (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyIF7eX6qmo