18 – Monday, May 19, 2014

Liz ZelencichProgram Manager

WASPSWasps live in nests of around 10,000 workers and one queen. They eat fruit, nectar from flowers and other insects. They build paper nests from chewing wood and other materials. Wasps can sting if they feel threatened.

FLYA fly beats its wings 200

times a second. They can

walk upside down using their

sticky toe pads.

A house fly lives for about

21 days. If a house fly sees

a group of flies, it will join

them.

DRAGONFLIESDragonflies have been on the earth before dinosaurs were around. Their eyes have 30,000 lenses – human eyes have one. They have two sets of wings and can fly backwards and in loops.

After they first hatch, they live under water for about a year.

BUTTERFLIESButterflies taste with their feet. They don't have mouths but drink with a long 'tongue'.

Butterflies start as eggs, then caterpillars before becoming butterflies. People used to call them "flutter-bys".

THE FOOD CHAINMinibeasts are a vital part of the food chain. Some minibeasts feed on dead materials, helping to turn it into useful compost. Some make passages in soil, preventing it from getting too compact. Minibeasts such as ladybirds eat aphids in the garden.

together?

invertebrates were killed?

on the other wildlife?

WOODLICEWoodlice live in damp, dark places under rocks and logs. They have 14 legs and a hard grey shell.

As they get bigger, their small shell falls off and they grow a new one. They are related to lobsters and crabs.

SNAILYou will usually see snails when it's damp or at night. If the weather's too dry, they can hide in their shells for months. They have four tentacles – two are eyes and two are for feeling. They lay about 100 eggs in an underground nest.

HARVESTMENslim legs and are also known as “daddy longlegs”.

They are not spiders as they only have one body part instead of two. They only have one pair of eyes, unlike spiders who have eight.

They eat other minibeasts.

APHIDSAphids are tiny insects that suck juices from plants.

There are hundreds of different species. Most are green or black, but some are pink, red, yellow or purple. Some species will only stay on one type of plant.

HONEY BEES

over the world.

Bees can sting, but only once.

other by dancing. They make

honey using nectar from

flowers.

CENTIPEDEThe word "centipede" means

"a hundred legs", but most

only have 30. They can live for up to

three years. They eat other minibeasts

and even other centipedes.

If a centipede loses a leg

it can grow another one to

replace it.

MOTHSMoths have hairy bodies to keep them warm. They are attracted to lights.

They use the moon to help them navigate. There are over 10,000 different species in Australia.

WRITE ALL ABOUT ITWhat it is like to be a fly in the classroom, or a spider in the corner. What are they doing, how are they feeling? What happens when a human comes and tries to catch them? Now how do they feel?

Minibeasts are small

animals that do not have an internal skeleton – animals known as invertebrates. Unlike vertebrates

(animals with a backbone) they don’t have a skeleton inside them. This makes them soft and bendy, and because of this some of them

have a hard shell to live in. Some, like insects and spiders, have a thin, strong outside covering called

an exoskeleton. This means they have protection for their bodies and they have legs, and often wings,

which let them move more quickly and easily than other minibeasts. They live all around us in

a multitude of habitats, even in our yards and in our homes. There are more invertebrates

on earth than any other type of animal. Minibeasts can be found on land and

in water. Another popular name for invertebrates is

bugs.

GRASSHOPPERA grasshopper can jump 20

times its own length.

Most grasshoppers have

two pairs of wings.

They have five eyes.

They make music by

rubbing their wings together

or on their legs.

Minibeasts need air, food and water to survive. They are small animals and normally live outside in places which are warm and moist (wet) like: between leaves, in soil, inside rotting logs, on the sides of trees.

BUILD A BUG Research, design and build a model of a giant insect or spider using only the newspaper and some sticky tape.

Later you could add some extra features.

THE MARVEL OF MINIBEASTS

Atiws

2

ow

N

thinhaspAIN

get

NNN

s have

n ess

sts

ansst

ns t