Simple Online Photographic Dictionary

The antlion is the larval stage of a kind of flying insect. Antlions get their name because they eat mostly ants. They live in dry, sandy areas and make their cocoons out of sand stuck together with silk. The catch ants to eat by digging small pits in the sand. Ants fall into the pits and have trouble getting back out, and the antlion comes out from hiding at the centre of the pit and eats them.

Photo by Clearly Ambiguous

Aphids are a tiny, sapsucking insect. They are attracted to fresh new shoots of plants, especially developing fruit and flowerbuds. They can do a lot of damage to crops, and gardeners do not like them. Aphids can be killed by poison, removed by squirting them off with water from a hose, or their numbers can be reduced naturally by encouraging aphid-eaters like ladybugs and wasps into your garden.

The aphids in the picture are on a the developing flower bud of a rose.

Photo by Jez.atkinson

Bees are flying insects that collect nectar and pollen from flowers. Some kinds of bee make honey. Many kinds of bee live in colonies, with hundreds of worker bees and one queen bee.

Photo by _PaulS_

Beetles are crawling insects with hard shells. They often live in dead leaves, under tree bark or among the leaves of plants. Some beetles have wings under their outer shell and can fly. A small number of beetles can swim, and live in the water.

Photo by Benimoto

Butterflies are a kind of insect that changes completely as it goes through its life. A butterfly starts as an egg, which hatches into a caterpillar. Caterpillars spend all of their time eating leaves from their favourite plants.

When they are old enough, caterpillars spin a cocoon and while they are asleep inside it, they change into a butterfly. Butterflies eat nectar from flowers, and live for a much, much shorter time than caterpillars.

Photo by fmc.nikon.d40

Caterpillars are the larval stage of moths and butterflies. They hatch from eggs and grow very quickly, eating large quantities of leaves as they grow. When they are big enough they spin themselves into a cocoon and go to sleep. When they wake up, they have turned into a butterfly or moth.

Photo by me'nthedogs

Centipedes are crawling creatures with many pairs of legs. They are most active at night time, and hide under things during the day. Centipedes can move very fast, and eat insects. Their bite is poisonous and can be very painful, but isn't strong enough to kill a person. Centipedes are often confused with millipedes.

Photo by GregTheBusker

Cicadas are big, noisy insects that can be found all over the world. Most species are about 2-5cm long but some grow to 16cm long. Only male cicadas make the noise, and they are partly hollow to make the noise louder. Female cicadas are not hollow, and as they are very big and meaty, some people eat them.

Cicadas spend the first part of their life underground as nymphs, a time of their life which can last for up to 17 years. When the nymphs come to the surface, they shed their skin and emerge as winged adult cicadas.

Photo by Cyanocorax

Crickets are a type of insect distantly related to grasshoppers. Crickets have a distinctive "chirping" noise. Make crickets make this noise by rubbing their hind legs together.

There are many different varieties of cricket, and they all have a slightly different different "chirp".

Photo by Plutor

Dragonflies eat mosquitoes and other small insects like flies, bees, ants, and butterflies. They are usually found around water because their babies or larvae, known as nymphs, live underwater.

Photo by P/\UL