Click to Enlarge Listen to Captions (289 KB) Asian Tiger Mosquito (top left) Only the females suck blood, which they need to develop eggs. Males feed on nectar and plant juices. Biddy (Dragonfly) (top right) Do you have a pond or a stream close by? This dragonfly may be eating mosquitoes there. Carpenter Bee (bottom left) The carpenter bee gets its name from its habit of boring into wood, where it lays its eggs. This helps break down wood into organic matter. The males lack stingers, and the females rarely sting. Tiger Beetle If you’re lucky enough to live near a glade (a kind of rocky, deserty area), you might see this bug. Good luck trying to catch it, though. It can move 125 times its body length per second, making it one of the fastest animals on Earth. It uses its speed to catch other insects that might bug you. Click to Enlarge Listen to Captions (302 KB) True Katydid (top left) You’ll probably hear this bug before you see it. Green, leaf-shaped wings help it hide in trees, where it lives. Katydids sing by rubbing their front wings together to make a chirping noise, which they hear with ears located in their legs. Luna Moth (top right) If you’re lucky, you may see this big green moth on your porch door at night! Its wing span can be more than 4 inches. Crane Fly (bottom left) You’ve probably seen this fly hanging around outside your door at night. It looks like a giant mosquito, but it eats nothing, living only to reproduce. Periodical Cicada This mysterious bug lives underground for up to 17 years before emerging to mate. You might find its empty brown shell clinging to a tree.   The Buzz about Bugs by Bonnie Chasteen and Mike Reinke, illustrations by Steve Buchanan Listen to "The Buzz about Bugs" (1.8 MB) Don’t reach for the fly swatter or bug spray! That sound you hear isn’t a mosquito whining around your ears. It’s the buzz about bugs and all the important things they do to keep the natural world running smoothly. For every mosquito that bugs us, there are countless other insects that help maintain life on Earth. Turn the page to meet some of them! Bugs are with us everywhere, all the time. They live in our gardens, our houses, our books and even on us. There’s a tiny, squiggly, wormlike mite enjoying the smorgasbord of minerals, moisture and protein at the roots of your eyelashes right this very minute. Almost every place on Earth gives a well-adapted bug all it needs to eat, take shelter and reproduce. There are even bugs in the Arctic! Bugs have been on Earth forever. Even before the dinosaurs crawled out of the primordial ooze about 200 million years ago, dragonflies had already been zipping around for 150 million years. Bugs rule! In terms of sheer numbers, bugs are huge. By some estimates, we have about 30 million different kinds of bugs on this planet. That’s a lot! If you knew the name of every different kind of bug, it would take you a whole year to say them all. So far, though, scientists have found and named only 900,000 insect species, which make up nearly 80 percent of all the organisms known to live on Earth. Even though bugs are plentiful and almost everywhere, we rarely notice them unless they’re bugging us. Then we reach for the fly swatter and the bug repellent to keep the bugs out of our barns, houses, cupboards and underwear. Don’t you just hate chigger bites? Bugs run the world Truth is, we couldn’t live without bugs. Don’t think so? Then imagine the world without decomposers. These are nature’s garbage men. They make yucky things disappear. They break down organic matter (dead plants and animals) into nutrients and return them to the soil. Without this food, new life—especially plants—would have a hard time growing. What’s your favorite fruit? Apples? Peaches? Pears? Guess what you’d be eating if we had no insects? Algae. Ferns. Liverworts. Club mosses. Mmmmmm. Not! Flowering plants can’t make seeds and fruits if they don’t get pollinated. And guess what pollinates most flowering plants? That’s right—bugs! Most bugs are our friends Right here in Missouri several native bugs are hard at work recycling nutrients so new plants can grow, pollinating flowers so seeds and fruits will develop and killing pests to protect crops and forests. Next time you see a helpful bug, give it a salute. It’s helping to keep Missouri clean, green and natural. Bugs abound in summer In summer you don’t even have to open your eyes to learn about Missouri’s awesome arthropods. Morning, noon and night, you can hear them sing. If it isn’t the katydid’s chirring call, it’s the cicada’s high-pitched buzzing drone in the afternoon, followed by the cricket’s chirp all evening.  Do these bugs live in your part of Missouri? Go outside and discover how many of these arthropods abide in your neighborhood! A Bug By Any Other Name… Want to bug an entomologist (a scientist who studies bugs)? Call a bug a bug. That just drives them buggy! Here’s why. Not all bugs are bugs, but all bugs are arthropods. This is a phylum (FILE-uhm) or big group of creatures that includes insects, spiders and centipedes, as well as shrimp and crabs. Think about that the next time you chomp down on a juicy fried shrimp! These creatures all have skeletons on the outsides of their bodies (exoskeletons) and legs separated into segments. According to scientists, true bugs are insects such as stink bugs, assassin bugs and cicadas. Parts of a Bug Listen to "Parts of a Bug" (880 KB) It’s a spider, a beetle, a cockroach—no, it’s a KATYDID! How do you tell one bug from another? Look at its body parts. Insect Head Thorax Abdomen Antennae Compound Eye Fore wing, hind wing Three pairs of legs (all attached to thorax) NOTE: Not all insects have wings; but to be an insect they must have the other parts Spider Cephalothorax Abdomen Eyes Palps (feelers) Legs (four pairs all attached to cephalothorax) How many different species of bugs can you find around your home? First, observe the bugs in their habitat. Some feed only on certain plants or live in only one type of habitat. Note how it moves. Does it fly? Can it walk up trees and plants? Can it jump a long distance? For a closer look, place it in a jar with air holes in the lid. Use a magnifying glass to see the different body parts. Does the bug have pinchers? What does the mouth and eyes look like? Don’t keep the bug very long. Return it to the exact place where you found it so it can continue to be a valuable part of the environment. Show Me More Bugs! Want to learn more about Missouri’s freakiest wildlife? Check out Show-Me Bugs! It’s a new book from the Missouri Department of Conservation. An uncommonly colorful guide to 50 common bugs in Missouri, this easy-to-carry field guide is full of cool illustrations and fun facts about the creepy, crawly creatures that keep Missouri’s natural systems running smoothly. Find it at any Conservation Department nature center or go to www.mdcnatureshop.com to buy it online.