WHY INSECTS ARE SO IMPORTANT?

• They provide food for other animals.
• They eat dead animals and plants.
• They help pollinate plants.
• Some make honey or silk.

Some insects can also be harmful because:

• They sting.
• They transmit diseases.
• They damage crops.
• They eat our food, clothes and wood.

Insects are food for other animals. Photo from Life123

Insects pollinate plants. Photo from Wikipedia

Bees make honey. Photo from Lachie Mathieson

Worms make silk. Photo from treehugger

Some insects sting. Photo from Adventure Malaysia

Some insects transmit diseases. Photo from Scientific American

Insects damage crops. Photo from Kansas State University

Termites eat wood. Photo from Cascade

THE LIFE CYCLE OF INSECTS

Insects are oviparous.
When the egg hatches, the offspring looks like a worm.
It hasn't got any wings or antennae.
It is called a larva for some insects, and a caterpillar for butterflies and moths.
Larvae and caterpillars eat all the time.
Silk moth: when the caterpillar grows large, it makes a cocoon.
An adult silk moth emerges from the cocoon.

1.- Butterfly egg. Photo from Wikipedia

2.- Caterpillar. Photo from Wikipedia

3.- Cocoon. Photo from Wikipedia

4.- Butterfly. Photo from Wikipedia

WHAT ARE INSECTS LIKE?

Insects are the largest group of animals.
Tehy are invertebrates.
Ants, beetles, cockroaches, butterflies, flies and mosquitoes are all insects.
Insects' bodies are divided into three main parts:

• The head: the mouth, the eyes and two antennae.
• The thorax contains six legs and four wings.
• The abdomen contains the organs.

Thanks to Fabián, who brought us the beetle, so I could take the photo

INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS VOCABULARY

SPIDERS

Spiders belong to a group of animals called arthropods.

Centipedes, crabs and insects are also arthropods.

Spiders have eight legs.

Most spiders spin webs to trap insects.

They eat the insects.

Photo from Wikipedia

Photo from Wikipedia

Photo from Wikipedia

MOLLUSCS

 There are many types of molluscs.

All molluscs have soft bodies.
They usually have hard shells for protection.
Snails, clams, scallops and mussels are molluscs.

Snails have a hard, spiral shell.

They have one flat foot for moving.

They eat plants.

Some molluscs do not have shells: the slug and the octopus.

Photo from Wikipedia

Photo from Wikipedia

Photo from Wikipedia

Photo from Wikipedia

Photo from Wikipedia

WORMS

Worms are long and thin.
Their bodies are soft, and they do not have legs.
Many worms live underground, while others live in the sea.

Some worms, such as the tapeworm, live inside the human body.
They can make people very ill.

Adult worms have a bump on the body called a clitellum.
It is part of their reproductive system.

JELLYFISH

Jellyfish are invertebrates that live in the sea.
They look like bags of jelly.
They have tentacles that sting.
Jellyfish do not swim.
They float with the sea currents and use propulsion.

INVERTEBRATE ANIMALS

Invertebrate animals haven´t got a backbone.
Jellyfish, worms, snails, mussels and spiders are invertebrates.
Insects are also invertebrates.
For example, butterflies, ants, flies and beetles are invertebrates.

All images taken from Wikipedia but fly: from Bugguide

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INVERTEBRATES

Invertebrate animals do not have a skeleton. Some protect their bodies with a shell. There are a lot of different types of invertebrates. They live in water and on land.
Jellyfish are transparent and live in the sea.
Worms are long and soft.
Spiders have eight legs.
Snails have a shell to protect them.
Bees have six legs and wings.

Imágenes obtenidas del Banco de recursos del ITE: Slug, Scorpion and Worm
(Jorge Martínez Huelves), Snail (John Foxx), Jellyfish (Joaquím Reberte Ferrán),
Spider (Duncan Smith), Octopus (Comstock images, Getty images)