The Useful, Harmful and Social Insects in the World

Insects

Insects are small creatures that can be seen creeping, crawling or flying about every where. You might see them indoors or outdoors in the garden or at times creeping on the walls. Some of them move around only at night.

Insects hatch from eggs. Their body is divided into three parts- head, thorax and abdomen. The head contains two eyes, mouth and a pair of feelers. These are used for feeling things, for smelling and for tasting. Thorax is the middle part of an insect’s body. The six legs and two wings are attached to the thorax. Most of the insects have wings. The abdomen is at the end of the body.

Useful Insects

We generally consider insects as pests. However, some insects are very useful for us. Butterflies and bees collect nectar from the flowers. Honeybees live in beehives. They store nector in these hives and make honey. They also carry the pollen from flower to flower. This helps the plants in reproduction.

Many insects feed on waste materials found in the soil. So they help to clean up the place. Rhinoceros beetles, dung beetles are some examples of such insect.

Harmful Insects

They can be rightly called pests. Insect like houseflies carry germs from dirty places to wherever they sit. These germs spread diseases. That is the reason why we should always keep the food items properly covered.

Mosquitoes spread diseases like Malaria and Dengue when they bite a person. The bite of some insects causes rashes. In some caes, their bites can result in the death of the person they bite.

Social Insects

Some insects live in a society. Many of them live in colonies. Ants, Bees, Wasps live in colonies. Sometimes, you must have seen anthills in open ground. Worker ants, soldiers, male ants and queen ant live in a colony. worker ants are very hardworking. They collect food for all the other ants. Soldier ants guard the anthill.

Bees live in a beehive. There is only one queen bee and she lays eggs. The worker bees collect nectar from flowers and store it in the hive and protect it. The drone (male) bee helps the queen bee to lay eggs. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in dirty water. Never let stagnant and dirty water collect around your homes. Snails carry a shell on their backs. They withdraw into it to take cover from their enemies.

Worms are different.They have segments in their bodies. They have no bones. They are usually found in damp areas. Some examples of worms are centipedes, millipedes and earthworms. Earthworms are called the farmer’s friends. They help in making the soil fertile.