Like or hate bugs here are 31 facts about them you did not know.
1) Some ants farm caterpillars like we farm sheep and cows.
2) Spiders can produce several different types of silk.
3) Ants (and bees and wasps) use their antennae to taste their food before they eat it.
4) Golden Orb-Weaver Spiders build webs that are big and strong enough to catch small birds.
5) There are 8 times as many beetle species as there are fish, amphibian, reptile, bird and mammal species put together.
6) The Sydney Funnel-web can survive for many hours under water.
7) Only the female wasps have stings (not all species of wasp sting).
A single German Cockroach is capable of producing 20,000 offspring a year.
9) Large Fire Ant colonies can contain up to 100,000 individuals.
10) The Giant Agrippa Moth from South America has a wingspan of 30 cm.
11) The Southern Petaltail is the second largest dragonfly in Australia. Its larvae may live for 30 years.
12) Bees not only produce the honey that humans use, they also produce beeswax which we use to polish furniture.
13) Female Wolf Spiders carry their babies around on their backs until they are old enough to look after themselves.
14) The world has around 20,000 species of grasshoppers and crickets. Australia has around 2,800 species.
15) The smallest spiders in the world are Armoured Spiders with bodies the size of a pinhead.
16) Australia has over 200 species of Mosquito.
17) Crickets and grasshoppers have their ears on their front legs.
18) Scientists estimate that 30% of the animal biomass in the Amazon basin is made up of ants.
19) A female House Fly can lay between 500 and 600 hundred eggs during her life.
20) Weight for weight, the muscles in a locust’s hindlegs is a thousand times more powerful than human muscle.
21) There are 15,000 described species of ants. 15% live in Australia.
22) Snails are hermaphrodites. This means they are both male and female.
23) Almost all spiders have 8 eyes. The remainder have six eyes.
24) Honey bees see different colours than we do. They cannot see red, but can see blue, yellow and ultraviolet.
25) The biggest butterfly in Australia is the Cape York Birdwing.
26) Only the female wasps have stings (not all species of wasp sting).
27) Australia has 400 different species of Butterfly.
28) Golden Orb-Weaver Spiders build webs that are big and strong enough to catch small birds.
29) Bees eat by scooping up nectar with a wide-tipped tube or proboscis called a ‘honey spoon’.
30) There are 8 times as many beetle species as there are fish, amphibian, reptile, bird and mammal species put together.
31) Giant Stick Insects can grow to 35 cm.