These Bugbites provide additional information and are primarily for older children and the parent/reader.
Ants
Ants can be found almost anywhere in the world, except Greenland, Antarctica and some of the Hawiian Islands.
Ants make up about 15-25% of the total animal biomass on earth.
Ants are social insects and live in highly organised colonies. Some colonies are made up of millions of individuals. Within the colony there are:
| Infertile female ants | workers | they live for 1-3 years |
| Fertile male ants | drones | they live for just a few weeks |
| A fertile female ant | the queen | she can live for up to 30 years |
Ants have an exoskeleton which is a skeleton on the outside of their body. They don’t have lungs but breathe through spiracles (little tiny holes) in their exoskeleton.
Ants have compound eyes and, although their eyesight is mediocre to poor, they can see movement very well.
Ants leave special trails which have their own smells and these leave different messages for other ants. They are called pheromones.
Forager ants will find food and leave a pheromone trail all the way home. Other ants can then follow this trail back to find the food.
A crushed ant emits an alarm pheromone and any nearby ants will be warned of danger.
Ladybird
Ladybirds are found worldwide and like to live in fields, meadows, parks, woods and gardens.
Their size ranges from about 3mm - 10mm.
They have black heads, legs and feelers and can have yellow or orange or red or black backs with black or red or yellow spots.
The 2 spot ladybird can have a black back and can have 2 or 4 or even 6 red spots.
The 7 spot ladybird is the most common.
There are 10 spot and 11 spot ladybirds.
The 14 spot ladybirds have yellow or black backs with black or yellow spots.
The 16 spot ladybirds like to eat mildew.
The 22 spot ladybirds are tiny and like to eat mildew and other microscopic fungi.
It is difficult to tell make and female ladybirds apart.
Ladybirds lay their eggs near aphids, or other plentiful sources of food, to provide a good meal for the larvae. Extra infertile eggs are laid to provide extra food.
Ladybirds hibernate. Sometimes they hibernate in groups, clustered together. They like to hibernate in sheds or buildings, under tree bark, amongst dense vegetation or inside hollow stems.
During a harsh winter 90% of hibernating ladybirds will die, whilst during a mild winter 90% will survive.
Ladybirds are bred and some organic farmers will buy them and put them on their crops to protect them from the aphids.
For hundreds of years, ladybirds have been regarded as lucky.
Some people think that if a ladybirds lands on you then the wish you make will come true.
Some people used to chew ladybirds as they thought the yellow poison was a good painkiller for toothache.
