Question
I know all insects have six legs but the painted lady looks like it only has four legs as an adult. Are there six legs on the painted lady butterfly?
Answer
Painted Lady butterflies are indeed insects, so they must have six legs.  This beautiful butterfly is a member of the brush-foot butterflies, all of which look like they have only four legs.  You need to look carefully for the other pair of legs.  The “missing” pair is the front-most pair.  Look right under the butterfly's “chin.”  They are short and stubby.  These legs are modified for maybe cleaning the all-important proboscis, which is the painted lady’s means of getting food.  She looks like she has only four legs, but the other two are easily seen...if you know where to look and what to look for.

Question
Are fishflies a type of mayfly or are they one and the same?
Answer
It appears that fishflies are a member of the group of insects known as mayflies. Encyclopaedia Britannica describes fishflies as a member of the order Ephemeroptera, which includes the group of insects known as mayflies. Other common names for the winged stage of the mayfly are shadfly, sandfly, dayfly, fishfly, and drake.

Question
Are mealworms hard to find?
Answer
Not really, if you know where to look. Mealworms are sometimes considered pests, but are usually only occasional pests of the homeowner. They are scavengers and are among the largest insects that infest stored products, like cereal and flour. Most prefer to feed on decaying grain or milled cereals in damp, poor conditions. Mealworms are usually found in places where they are not disturbed, such as dark corners, under sacks, in bins and where feed is stored. Indoors, they are usually found in basements. You can sometimes find them feeding on cornmeal, flour, cake mixes, cereals, meat scraps, dead insects, bran and litter from chicken houses. Mealworms have been found living under old carpeting and in straw-stuffed chairs in damp areas.

Question
Can insects live in water?
Answer
Yes, there are insects that live in water. They are called aquatic insects. Some aquatic insects are caddisflies, mayflies, and dragonflies. You can find out more about aquatic insects at this website:

http://rol.freenet.columbus.oh.us/Insects.html


Question
Can you show me the life cycle of a firefly?
Answer

The life cycle of a firefly varies slightly depending on the specific species. However, all fireflies begin life as an egg. Most of these eggs develop for 10 days to 4 weeks before a firefly larvae hatches out. Once the larvae has hatched it spends its time hunting for food and molting. Some underground species continue to develop for two years in this manner.

Later the larvae pupates and emerges as an adult firefly. The adults can vary in size from .5 to 2.2 cm (.2 to 1 inch) in length. These adults begin at once to search for a mate. Living only 3 to 4 weeks the males will mate with many females. However, once a female becomes impregnated she wanders off to a damp area and lays approximately 500 eggs on the underside of leaves, in moss, or in or near water. The cycle then begins again.


Question
From which plants do bumblebees suck nectar?
Answer
The bumblebee has a long tonguelike mouth called a proboscis. So it is very good at getting nectar from plants that have flowers made up of clusters of tubelike blossoms, like red clover.

Question
How big are grasshoppers?
Answer
The lubber grasshopper, a black grasshopper found in the southeastern United States can meaure up to 10 cm (4 in) in length.

Question
How big is the biggest butterfly on Earth?
Answer
According to EcoWorld.org, the biggest butterfly is Queen Alexandra's Birdwing (Ornithoptera alexandrae) of Papua New Guinea. Females can have a wingspan exceeding 28 cm and weigh over 25 g. For more information, check out the EcoWorld website at http://www.ecoworld.org/.

Question
How can a baby dragonfly live under water?
Answer
Baby dragonflies are known as larvae. Larvae crawl from eggs laid in or near water. After a larva hatches, it absorbs oxygen from the water using gills inside its rectum.

Question
How come when you touch a butterflies wing it gets powdery? What is it made of?
Answer
What you are feeling are the scales that coat a butterfly's or moth's wings. The scales are made of a hard material called chitin. Chitin could be compared to the material that makes up your fingernails.

Question
How did the butterfly get its name?
Answer
There are many stories about this. Some people said that the butterfly got its name because it flies into the kitchen and were attracted to milk and butter. Or there was another story from Europe saying that in the springtime when the butterfly starts to come out, the people were making milk into butter. You can find more information about butterflies here:

http://teacher.scholastic.com/researchtools/articlearchives/bugs/butterflies.htm

Question
How did the mealworm get its name?
Answer
Mealworms are sometimes found in meal, like cornmeal. That is how they got their name.

Question
How do bees eat?
Answer
Bees have jaws and a tongue-like mouth called a proboscis. They use the proboscis for sucking and lapping.

Question
How do writing spiders write?
Answer
"Writing spiders" are a type of "garden spider." They are called Black and Yellow Argiope. They are a type of orb-weaving spider. Orb weavers build spiral wheel-shaped webs often found in gardens, fields and forests. They can be almost 7 cm long from leg tip to leg tip. Argiope spiders are called "writing spiders" because of the bold zigzag pattern that they build into their web. You can find more information about "writing spiders" here:

http://www.uky.edu/Ag/CritterFiles/casefile/spiders/orbweavers/orb.htm

Question
How do you become a scientist?
Answer
Did you know you are already a scientist when you do the investigations in the FOSS Modules. If you want to make a career of being a scientist, it depends on the type of science you want to study. For example, if you want to become a geologist you will want to attend a college or university that has a geology department. You will need to take classes in both science and math, hopefully someplace where you will get some hands-on experience conducting scientific investigations. Many students are not really sure about what field or major to pursue until at least their second year in college. You can begin working as a scientist after you finish an undergraduate degree, but you may want to continue with your studies with the goal of gaining a Masters or PhD.

A career in science can be very satisfying!

Question
How do you get silk from worms?
Answer
This depends on what you mean by "worms." The earthworm type of worm won´t give you any silk. What we usually call a silkworm is really a larva (caterpillar) of the silkworm moth (an insect.) When the larva has reached about 4 inches long, it begins to spin a cocoon. The cocoon is made of silk and is a single thread that may be up to 2 miles long. As the larva spins, it becomes a pupa (the next stage of development of the moth). When the cocoon is complete, the larva is removed and the silk unraveled.

Question
How do you know if a caterpillar is sleeping or dead?
Answer
Caterpillars don’t do much besides eat. When they are ready to spin a cocoon, they will probably slow down and maybe even appear to be dead. You are going to have to observe them for a while to find evidence of movement, eating or spinning. Here is some information from the Insect Lore website that might help you understand what is happening with your caterpillar:

Larva: The larva (caterpillar) hatches from its egg and eats it. Then it eats milkweed leaves almost constantly. The caterpillar molts (loses its old skin) four times as it grows; after each molt it eats its old skin. When the larva is about 2 inches (5 cm) long, it will stop eating and find a place (like a protected branch) on which to pupate.

* Pupa: The caterpillar turns into a pupa (chrysalis). The caterpillar spins silk from its spinneret and attaches its hind end to a branch with the silk and small hooks in the anal prolegs. it hangs head down and molts for the last time.

Question
How does a wax pupa lay its eggs?
Answer
The "wax pupa" is one of four stages in the life of the common wax moth...egg, larva, pupa, and adult. The wax moth, like all moths and butterflies, goes through what is called compete metamorphosis. The life cycle starts with the egg, which hatches in a few days. The wormlike larva is the eating and growing stage of the life cycle. In about four weeks it grows from a tiny, fast moving pinhead-sized critter to a fat grub about the size of a shelled peanut. Then the larva changes into the pupa, which is a resting and changing stage. After a couple of weeks the pupal case splits open and the flying moth emerges. The male and female moths mate and then the female lays eggs, and the cycle starts over. So, the pupae do not lay eggs. The pupae change into adults (flying moths), which lay the eggs that become the next generation.

Question
How high do grasshoppers jump?
Answer
According to the Grasshopper Fact Page at http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/kkhp/1insects/grshprfax.html,

“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! While I wouldn’t have a problem with being able to jump so far, I think landing would be a problem.”

This website has a movie of a grasshopper jumping which suggests that a grasshopper can jump to a height of 25 cm.

http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/%7Ewjh/jumping/perform.htm

Question
How long can ladybugs live inside a plastic bag or jar?
Answer
It depends on how much food is available. They also get moisture from the food. Lady bug beetles eat aphids for food.  Without live food to eat in the jar, they will not live too long (a few days perhaps).  

Question
How long have spiders lived?
Answer
Paleontolgists have found evidence in Earth's rocks that spiders first existed around 380 million years ago during the Devonian Period. They were among the earliest animals to live on land.

Question
How many insects are there?
Answer
According to one source (Riverdeep.net),

“Ten years ago there were approximately 750,000 named insect species. Today, that number is over 1,000,000. And according to a recent article in Scientific American, entomologists estimate that there are likely over eight million different species of insects on Earth. When you compare that to 4,650 named and 4,809 estimated mammal species or the 72,000 named and 1,500,000 estimated fungi, it is easy to see that insects “out-populate” any other living taxonomic group on Earth.”

You can find out more about the importance of insects at the Riverdeep website:

http://www.riverdeep.net/current/2002/03/030402t_insects.jhtml

Question
How old can animals get?
Answer
This answer came from the BBC Extreme English site:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/polish/exr/extreme/extreme3.htm

Tortoises are probably the oldest animals on Earth. One tortoise lived for at least 188 years. It was a Madagascar radiated tortoise. The toroise was actually to the Tonga Royal Family by Captain Cook in the late seventeen hundreds. It remained in their care until it died in 1965.

Question
Is the number of dots on a ladiebugs back, really how old it is?
Answer
Actually the number of spots determines what kind of ladybug it is. There are about 5000 species of ladybug throughout the world.

Question
We have mealworms in our classroom. We have two different kinds of mealworms. We have King mealworms and regular tan colored mealworms. How many different kinds of mealworms are there?
Answer
There are a lot of different kinds of insects that fall in the general category of mealworms.  All are insects, as you know, and mealworms are in the order coleoptera, the largest order of insects in the world...probably several million different species, of which less than one million have been described (named).  The family that includes your two classroom critters is Tenebrionidae, known as the ground beetles,  Ground beetles all share structural similarities with your golden mealworms and  king mealswroms (superworms), but many ground beetles have different feeding habits.  Those that eat grains are lumped together as mealworms.

There are some 15,000 Tenebrionidae in the world (1300 in North America) sorted out into 180 genera.  Your little golden guys are in the genus tenebrio; the kings are in the genus Zoophobus.  As you can see your classroom organisms are in very diverse company with thousands of similar organisms among their numbers.

Question
We learned how to tell male and female milkweed bugs and crickets. Is there a way to identify male and female mealworms and darkling beetles?
Answer
Mealworms and darkling beetles can tell who's who, but it's difficult for us to tell them apart.

Question
What are the beetle’ s wings made of? Are they bone?
Answer
No, insect wings are not made of bone, they are made of the same material that the rest of the exoskeleton of insects is made of, a material called chitin (pronounced Kite*in).  Chitin is most like cellulose in plants, the tough material that makes up wood, straw, and leaves.  In mammals, the material that is most like chitin is horn and fingernail.

Unlike birds and bats, the wings of insects are not modified legs.  Insect wings are actually highly specialized modifications to the exoskeleton.  Some insect wings, like butterflies and moths, are covered in tiny scales that can have wonderfully varied colors and refractive properties, accounting for the dazzling beauty of their wings.  Others, like mosquitoes and flies, are pretty bland and transparent.

Insect flight is one of the marvels of life on Earth.  You can spend a lifetime coming to understand it in all its glory.

Question
What bug was the first bug in the world?
Answer
The oldest insect fossils so far discovered are tiny imprints of wingless insects found in sandstone rocks of the mid-Devonian Period (c. 380 million years old). These earliest fossils closely resemble modern springtails (Collembola). For more information about the evolution of insects, check out these websites:

http://www.kendall-bioresearch.co.uk/fossil.htm

University of California at Berkeley
Museum of Paleontology
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/arthropoda/arthropoda.html

Question
What do scientists do?
Answer

Here is an answer from the Encyclopaedia Britannica:

Scientists spend tremendous amounts of time making observations and gathering information, or data. They work using the scientific method. Scientists may first become intrigued with a specific problem. They learn about these problems in a variety of ways. Sometimes they discover them through chance observation. Awareness may also result from reading, from laboratory experiments, or simply from thinking. Once the problem is firmly grasped, the scientist tries to learn as much as possible about it. Frequently this involves studying books and journals that contain information about the problem. This is called searching the literature.

After data has been collected and analyzed, the scientist formulates an educated guess, called a hypothesis. The scientist then designs experiments to test the hypothesis. The experiment may involve designing a theoretical model to be simulated and tested by a computer. Whatever form the experiment takes, the scientist must obtain measurements or other data from the experiment. Analysis of the data will either suggest the validity of the hypothesis or suggest a revision of the hypothesis.

Once revised and retested, the hypothesis may gain the acceptance of other scientists with similar interests. They will repeat the experiment to retest the validity of the hypothesis. An idea, model, or explanation that has been rigorously tested, analyzed, and accepted by the scientific community is called a theory. The theory will continue to be an accepted explanation unless new information is uncovered that the scientific community agrees disproves it. The continuous scrutiny under which scientists operate helps to avoid errors.

Scientists in all fields, e.g. physics, geology, biology, usualy follow these same steps while focusing on their special interests.


Question
What does a butterfly cocoon feel like?
Answer
Caterpillars that will become butterflies actually create a hard chrysalis as the stage between caterpillar and butterfly. A caterpillar turns into a butterfly while inside the chrysalis. Moths (e.g. silkworm moths) grow inside silky cocoons. For more butterfly facts check out this information at the Butterfly Garden: http://butterflygardens.com/learn_butterflies.html

Question
What is it like to be a scientist working in a lab?
Answer
Here is a website that describes a day in the life of several scientists in a lab at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute:

http://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/cancer/vogelstein_lab.html

Question
What is the difference between a bug and an insect?
Answer
A bug is a kind of insect. The name bug refers to certain insects with piercing and sucking mouthparts but is often also applied to insects in general.

Question
What is the length of the longest proboscis?
Answer
The Morgan's sphinx moth Xanthopan morgani has the longest proboscis, 30 to 35 centimeters (12 to 14 inches). It uses it to get the nectar out of a deep orchid.

Question
What is the smallest butterfly?
Answer

The smallest butterfly is the Western Pygmy blue (Brephidium exilis) with a wingspan of .62 inch (1.5 cm).

To see a photograph, go to this web page www.asahi-net


Question
What type of insect does a waxworm become?
Answer
The waxworm is the larva of the greater wax moth, a small flying insect that lays its eggs in beehives, where the growing larvae feed on honey and wax.

Question
What's the big deal about insects? Why are they important?
Answer
Edward Wilson, an important entomologist (insect scientist) says, “If all insects were to disappear, humanity probably could not last more than a few months.” Here's how that works. There are more insects living today than any other kind of animal, and most are plant eaters. There are many animals that have to eat other animals to survive. Animals like toads, spiders and snakes could not survive without eating insects. Then there are lots of animals, like bears and monkeys that eat insects as well as other animals. Even the lowly mosquito is important to people. Freshwater fish eat mosquito larvae and adults. Bigger fish eat the small fish, and people catch the fish for dinner.

Insects, like bees and butterflies, spread pollen to flowers to help them make new plants. Some insects eat other insects or plants that ruin our food. Digging insects like ants and beetles dig tunnels that let water and air into the soil, helping plants grow. Finally, all insects fertilize the soil with the nutrients from their droppings.

Question
Whay is the difference beetween a Butterfly and a Moth?
Answer
According to scientists at the USGS Prairie Wildlife Research Center, you can tell the difference between moths and butterflies by the shape of their antennae. Most butterflies have simple antennae that end in a swelling or "club." Moth antennae range in shape from simple to feather-like, but all of them lack the clubbed tip. Most butterflies are also active during the day and are brightly colored. Their bodies are slender and not "furry" (the big science word for this is pubescent). Adult moths are usually active during the night or during dawn or dusk. Some moths are colorful and have eyespots, but most are drab, have bulky bodies, and are pubescent.

Question
Where did the ladybird beetle gets its name?
Answer
According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, the beetle named during the Middle Ages when it was dedicated to the Virgin Mary and called “beetle of Our Lady.”

Question
Why are spiders not insects?
Answer
What have you learned about insects in this module? How many legs do insects have? How many legs do spiders have?

Question
Why do butterflies have different patterns on their wings?
Answer
For several reasons, including:
  • To help them survive in their specific habitat by blending in
  • To identify themselves to other butterflies of their species
  • For purposes of display to attract a mate
  • To warn potential predators that they are poisonous

Question
Why do waxworms spin silk?
Answer
First off, all moths spin silk during their larval phase. (Have you ever seen the silky enclosures in bushes and trees made by tent caterpillars?) The use they put the silk to varies widely, depending on the natural history of each different species. Waxworms, the larva of the waxmoth, use silk in several interesting ways. They can use it to make a kind of lifeline, thus lowering themselves downward as they generate the silk fiber. The spinnerets are located under the chin-like part of the larvae. Students can sometimes catch hold of the end of the silk and hold a larva in air (slightly above a desktop) and observe the larva descend as it spins.

Waxworm larvae also make galleries, or runways. These runways provide a degree of protection for the larvae. In nature, wax moths invade bee colonies, eating the wax and honey. If they are particularly successful at establishing themselves in a colony, they can destroy it. The bees, of course, act to evict the intruders, but if the waxworm numbers are large, and the silk protection equal to the task, the invasion may be decisive.

The third use of silk is to spin a protective cocoon. (Moths spin cocoons; butterflies form naked chrysalises.) When the larva reaches full growth and is ready to pupate, it can spin a silk shell that completely surrounds it. The cocoon is made from one continuous thread wound around and around from the outside in. (The relatively large silk fiber spun by the commercial silkworm is produced in this way by a distant relative of the waxmoth.)

The tunnels do not indicate that the larvae are on the verge of pupating, but they will eventually pupate in the tubes

The waxmoths you have are doubtless laboratory raised, and have been for countless generations. They have, in many cases, kind of lost their natural ways. As a result you might get quite a bit of more or less random silk spinning, resulting in a kind of chaotic stringy web that serves no real identifiable function. This can be removed if it interferes with observation. The larvae can also be removed carefully from the silk runways so students can observe the larvae closely. When returned to the habitat, they will either nip back into the remains of the old runways or create new ones.
--Larry Malone, FOSS Developer

Question
Why do winged bugs have dust on their wings?
Answer

As far as I know bugs do not naturally have dust on their wings.  They may get dusty as a result of being in a dusty environment, but they don’t produce dust.  This is also true of beetles, flies, bees, ants, and most other families of insects.  Most flying insects have clear wings and no dust.

Now, the family that does produce wing “dust” is lepidoptera.  That's the family name of the moths and butterflies, and lepidoptera means scaly.  Moth and butterfly wings are covered with tiny scales, sorta like fish scales.  The scales are colored or have the ability to refract light to produce color.  The scales serve to attract mates during the breeding time.  So, when you see a butterfly or moth with a beautifully colored pattern on its wings, it is a mosaic of microscopic scales.  The scales may be up to 20 layers thick.

The scales can be easily dislodged, so handling a moth or butterfly roughly will take off some of the scales.  They look like dust.  A ragged butterfly that has had all the scales knocked off its wings has clear wings.

Go to the Web and look up “butterfly wing, scales” and you will be able to see close-up images of wings.

Question
Why does a bee die when it stings something, and what happens when it does?
Answer

The stinger of a bee is actually a modified form of the ovipositor. The queen bee uses the ovipositor to lay eggs, in fact that’s what the word ovipositor means. (ovi=egg, and positor= layer) The ovipositor is a thin hollow tube, much like a hypodermic needle that the doctor uses to give you shots. The worker bees, which are also female do not lay eggs. Their egg laying structure (ovipositor) has evolved so that instead of pushing eggs through the tube like the queen bee, they pump poison through the tube. This poison causes the stinging sensation that you feel whenever you are stung. The ovaries in worker bees are modified to produce poison instead of eggs, and are connected to the stinger/ovipositor.

When a bee stings you, the stinger sticks into your skin and usually tears away from the bee. What you may not realize is that the ovary and other organs stay attached to the stinger and are ripped out of the bee. The bee cannot live for very long since it is missing some of its organs—don’t forget that now the bee has a gaping hole in the end of its abdomen, too! But wait, there’s more. Even after the stinger and associated organs are ripped out of the bee and the bee has flown away, tiny muscles connected to the modified ovaries continue to secrete and pump the poison into your skin for several more minutes. Amazing!

Question
Why is the glowworm a beetle?
Answer
A glowworm beetle has the right body parts to be a beetle. Beetles are insects having biting mouthparts and front wings modified to form horny covers overlying the membranous rear wings. Try doing an Internet search to find more information about glowworm beetles.