Dangerous or docile. Spindley or slimy. Beautiful or ugly. Insects are fascinating creatures. An insect can be anything from a beetle to a dragonfly.

Insects are classified in the Animalia kingdom of animals. Unlike humans, who have endoskeletons, most bugs have a hard outer shell called an exoskeleton. An insect’s Phylum is Arthropoda, which means jointed legs. To be classified as an insect, a creature must have six legs, three body regions, and sometimes it may have wings. There are around 6-10 million different species of these tiny critters and 700 distinct families. Taxonomy is the classification of an animal. The name of an insect is also important during classification. All insects have a common name and a scientific name.

There are three different ways insects evolve. The first way is called No Metamorphosis, where insects hatch as miniature adults. Incomplete Metamorphosis is gradual change through molting, which is the shedding of the exoskeleton. And finally, Complete Metamorphosis is a four-stage transformation process from egg to adult. 

Now that we’ve covered some basics, it’s time for our first insects: beetles and ladybugs. There are approximately 400,000 species of beetles. Shockingly, the Hercules Beetle can lift 850 times its body weight. Ladybugs have a shell over their wing called an Elytra. The order beetles and ladybugs are in is the Coleoptera order, meaning sheathed wing. Both of these interesting insects go through Complete Metamorphosis. 

Butterflies and moths also go through this same transformation. A butterfly spends its Pupa stage in a Chrysalis. When they enter the Chrysalis, they’re a larva, and when they emerge, they’re a full-grown butterfly with wings. Here are some differences between butterflies and moths: butterflies are active during the day and exceedingly colorful, while moths are night-time creatures and usually dull. 

Now let’s cover ants. Army ants move in massive groups. They overwhelm their prey, melt them with acid, and devour them with scissor-like jaws. I had an assignment to observe some ants. The one I found was trying to carry a dead worm much greater than his size back to its colony. He was determined, but opted to carry a smaller worm instead. Termites look like ants, except they eat lumber and they’re heads are red. A termite queen can lay 30,000 eggs a day, 10,950,000 a year, and in its 15-year life span, can lay up to 164,250,000 eggs. Incredible!

Houseflies are 6-7mm long and love eating rotting animals and excrement. There are about 240,000 species of houseflies. Another disgusting insect is mosquitos. They can transmit diseases like Malaria and West Nile Virus due to the fact that they suck blood to feed themselves. Dragonflies and Damselflies are not grotesque, but are extremely colorful. These two bugs can be hard to tell apart at times, so it’s important to recognize their differences. Dragonflies have four wings and are larger than a Damselflies, while Damselflies have only two wings and are smaller than Dragonflies. 

Because they have eight legs and only two body regions, spiders are not classified as insects. Balck Widows are part of the Theridiidae family, which means cobweb spiders. They are easy to recognize with the red hourglass symbol on the underside of their abdomen. There are different variations of Black Widows, like the North Widow Spider that has white stripes or the European Black Widow that can have orange, yellow, or red marks. The Goliath Birdeater is the largest spider in the world. Despite its name, the birdeater rarely eats birds but consumes rodents and insects. Other birdeater species can live up to 30 years. 

In this paper, I have covered just a handful of insects and spiders out of the millions that have been discovered. Even just common insects are captivating in their own way, so it’s fun to observe them from time to time.