The class Insects belongs to the phylum Arthropods (in this phylum there are crustaceans, spiders and centipedes). The body of insects on top is usually covered with a more or less thick chitinous cuticle, and is divided into the head, thorax and abdomen. The thoracic region carries three pairs of legs (and an abdomen), and in winged insects there are also wings. Insects breathe using the tracheal system.
The importance of insects in human life
And finally, we should not forget that insects bring great, although not always conscious, aesthetic pleasure to humans, enriching the world of colors, movement and sounds of living nature.
When speaking about the practical significance of insects, they most often mean private manifestations of their vital activity, the consequences of which are not indifferent to humans.
The progress of scientific research in the field of bionics has awakened the attention of scientists to the world of insects, which, despite their miniature size, reliably and highly efficiently perform many complex functions and represent interesting model to improve the range technical devices. Representatives of Diptera - Drosophila fruit flies- are an important object of genetic research. Fossil insects serve as one of the indicators of the age of sedimentary rocks and provide considerable assistance to geologists in the search for minerals.
The damage caused by insects is sometimes very great and, as the above list shows, affects human health and many areas of his economic activity.
Features of the habitat of butterflies.
Most monarch butterflies found in the eastern United States migrate to the coniferous forests of the mountains of Mexico for the winter. So far, scientists know only one place for their wintering, although, apparently, there are others. Over 14 million monarch butterflies gather together on tree trunks and branches in an area no larger than 125m across. It is surprising that this wintering place for butterflies remained unknown until 1975.
Nest designs.
Unprotected egg laying
Insects that do not build nests and do not use natural shelters for their offspring, nevertheless, are quite strict in the choice of places for laying eggs. Most often, females attach eggs to the surface of a substrate suitable for feeding individuals that have completed embryonic development. Therefore, the choice of substrate on which eggs are laid is usually determined by the specific nutrition of insects during the post-embryonic period of their development.
Oviposition shelters.
Natural shelters. Many types of insects, in accordance with their lifestyle, hide their eggs in various natural shelters. Therefore, the arsenal of typical shelters used to protect eggs is usually limited by the sphere of natural life activity of the species.
Nests built by insects are in most cases intended for developing offspring, which, having reached the stage, could leave their shelters. The builders of most types do not usually live in their own buildings. They are used in adulthood for protection from enemies and unfavorable physical factors environment representatives of only a relatively small number of species of solitary insects. The life of adult individuals in their own buildings is typical for social insects.
Underground structures. Some species of solitary insects that build shelters for themselves and their offspring live in the soil. This is associated not only with the development of certain building instincts, but also with the appearance of specific morphophysiological structures. In this regard, mole crickets are noteworthy. Their front legs have turned into typical digging organs, with the help of which insects perform large volumes of work. earthworks. Suffice it to say that the common mole cricket digs a whole network of branched passages underground at a depth of 10-20 cm. summer time, and in the winter deepens them to 1 m. This activity of the mole cricket is associated with its Latin name, which translated into Russian means “mole cricket.”
Ground buildings.
They are attached to various subjects. As a building material for the construction of above-ground nests, many species of insects use clay or various types of soils, which acquire plasticity when wetted and retain their shape when subsequently dried. Depending on the specifics of nesting behavior, insects use wet building material to build nests or wet it themselves. For wetting, water, plant sap, or secretions of the insects themselves can be used. The strength of the structure and resistance to soaking largely depend on this. Nests built in plants. Living and dead herbaceous plants, shrubs and trees are used by many types of insects to settle in them. Bark beetles are distinguished by their high adaptability to life in woody plants. These insects spend most of their lives under trees, less often in wood or bark. The dispersal of bark beetles, during which they penetrate into other trees, occurs during the mating season. They usually choose weakened trees to colonize. If there are not enough of them, then bark beetles can settle in healthy trees. However, in such cases a large number of insects die as a result of the fact that the tunnels, together with the bark beetles located in them, are filled with abundant secretions of healthy trees that thicken over time.
Social insects include those in which daughter generations live together with the maternal one or with one female - the founder, and take care of raising the offspring. Such a group of interconnected individuals is called a family. Depending on the level of social organization of insects, it can exist permanently or be formed on a short time- usually for the period of raising sexually mature offspring. In families of social insects, especially in species occupying the highest levels of social organization, a high number of adult and developing individuals is observed. Thanks to the participation of a large number of individuals in plant activity, social insects have developed and achieved high perfection of building instincts. In terms of implementation principles and performance results, they often differ significantly even among representatives of similar taxonomic groups. However, regardless of this, in all species, nesting buildings provide increased stability in the fight against biological and physical environmental factors.
Bumblebee nests.
Bumblebees living in various climatic conditions, are at different levels of social organization. Species living in areas with short summers do not have time to organize a family and live like solitary insects. In the latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere with a temperate climate, the bumblebee family exists for one summer. For some tropical species long-term families are typical.
The nest of a one-year-old bumblebee colony is laid by the overwintered female in the spring or early summer. To build a nest, she usually chooses places protected from the sun, wind and rain. Bumblebees often settle in abandoned bird nests, etc. Having found a suitable place, the female begins building a nest by constructing a cell in which the working individuals will develop. Like solitary bees, bumblebees remain in closed cells throughout the entire period of postembryonic development, feeding on a mixture of pollen and nectar during the larval phase. Several individuals usually develop in one cell. At the initial phases of family development, working individuals (underdeveloped females) appear. They initially help the founding female, and later, as the family develops, i.e., its number increases, the queen is freed from construction activities. The workers complete the construction of the nest.
About relocating wasp nests.
In zones temperate climate The wasp family, like the bumblebee, exists for one summer. It is organized in the spring by one or several overwintered females. In tropical and subtropical climates, species of wasps have been found that live in long-term families. They can reproduce and disperse through swarming - part of the adult working individuals with one or several sexually mature females is separated from the family. At unfavorable conditions All adult family members can leave the nest. Having left the old nest, they settle in a new place.
Among social insects, ants have a large range, extending from the tropics to the tundra. This, along with species specificity, gave rise to the diversity of their nesting structures. They differ significantly in location (in the ground, on the ground, above the ground), shape and used building material. Often, representatives of the same species living in different ecological conditions build nests that are very similar in significantly different climatic conditions. Construction of various earthworks- the most common type of nesting. Among them, the most primitive are those in which all living quarters are underground. An anthill of this type is usually a network of underground passages and chambers communicating with the external environment through one or more entrance tunnels. The entrance to the tunnel is usually bordered by an earthen rampart. It is formed and increases in the process of building and expanding a nest from soil, brought to the surface of the earth when digging underground passages and chambers. For example, when settling in dense grass, Myrmica sulcinodis builds mounds at the entrance hole 10 cm high. If there is no vegetation around the nest, then the excavated soil is located in a gently sloping mound 0.5-1 cm high. Such earthen ridges are often built at the entrance holes by light brown lasius when settling in open places. The nests of this species are relatively big number entrance tunnels. For 1 sq. m there can be up to 12.
Termite dwellings (termite mounds).
Most species of the termite order (the total number of species is about 2 thousand) live in the tropics and subtropics. Only a few representatives of this order have adapted to life in temperate zone. Suitable conditions On the territory of the USSR they found only seven species, of which four species live in Central Asia. On the European part of the USSR. The border of termite distribution runs through the southern regions of Ukraine.
Protection from enemies.
Passive protection. One form of protection from enemies is to settle in various natural shelters, for example in the ground or inside plants. Many insects live in hard to reach places using geographic barriers and vegetation. Cacti provide this kind of protection against the Costa Rican wasps Microcytarus immagrinatus. They protect wasp nests from accidental destruction by large animals.
Active protection.
An insect, having chosen a place to build a nest, usually protects it. Defensive behavior is a complex of reactions, usually following in a certain sequence, in accordance with changes in the biological situation. The initial phases of defensive behavior are most often expressed in the generation of acoustic signals and the demonstration of threatening postures. For example, ground beetles Cychrus caraboides take specific poses and begin to generate sound signals by rubbing their elytra against the lateral edges of termites. The strong wasp, when other insects appear on the nesting site it occupies, takes a threatening pose: it raises its abdomen up, spreads its wings to the sides and vibrates them.
Choosing a place for a home and its design. Insects in typical living conditions have adapted to find and occupy places that are most conducive to the development of their offspring and the lifestyle of adults. This expresses the biological expediency of the adaptation of insects to their habitat. It is realized in a complex of morphophysiological adaptations and a chain of behavioral acts, which reach the highest complexity in socially living species.
Termites. Socially living insects actively regulate the temperature in homes, and some types of gases in the air. The reliability of microclimate regulation depends largely on the level of social organization and the number of working individuals in the family.
When insects settle in a limited area, one or different types A variety of relationships can be established between them. They compete when certain vital resources are limited, such as food or suitable places for nesting, they strive to displace a competitor, occupy his site or nest.
The following insects live in the NPR (Norilsk industrial region): ants, cabbage butterfly, bumblebees, mosquitoes, midges, brown grasshoppers, dung flies, wasps, midges, dragonflies, gadflies, and bees.
Due to gas emissions, the number of plants, animals and insects has decreased!
Features of the habitat of butterflies.
Most monarch butterflies found in the eastern United States migrate to the coniferous forests of the mountains of Mexico for the winter.
Nest designs.
Unprotected egg laying
Most often, females attach eggs to the surface of a substrate suitable for feeding individuals that have completed embryonic development.
Oviposition shelters.
Many types of insects, in accordance with their lifestyle, hide their eggs in various natural shelters.
Shelters for developing and adult individuals.
Nests built by insects are in most cases intended for developing offspring, which, having reached the stage, could leave their shelters. They are used in adulthood for protection from enemies and unfavorable physical environmental factors; representatives of only a relatively small number of species of solitary insects can spend less time in the nest. The life of adult individuals in their own buildings is typical for social insects.
Structures of solitary insects.
Some species of solitary insects that build shelters for themselves and their offspring live in the soil. This is associated not only with the development of certain building instincts, but also with the appearance of specific morphophysiological structures.
Ground buildings.
They are attached to various objects. As a building material for the construction of above-ground nests, many species of insects use clay or various types of soils, which acquire plasticity when wetted and retain their shape when subsequently dried.
Homes of social insects.
In all species, nesting structures provide increased resistance in the fight against biological and physical environmental factors.
Bumblebee nests.
The nest of a one-year-old bumblebee colony is laid in the spring or early summer by an overwintered female. To build a nest, she usually chooses places protected from the sun, wind and rain. Bumblebees often settle in abandoned bird nests, etc.
About the relocation of wasps.
Under unfavorable conditions, all adult family members can leave the nest. Having left the old nest, they settle in a new place.
Location of ant dwellings (anthills).
Among social insects, ants have a large range, extending from the tropics to the tundra. This, along with species specificity, gave rise to the diversity of their nesting structures. They differ significantly in location (in the ground, on the ground, above the ground), shape and building material used. The construction of various earthen structures is the most common type of nesting. Among them, the most primitive are those in which all living quarters are underground. An anthill of this type is usually a network of underground passages and chambers communicating with the external environment through one or more entrance tunnels. The entrance to the tunnel is usually bordered by an earthen rampart. It is formed and increases in the process of building and expanding a nest from soil, brought to the surface of the earth when digging underground passages and chambers.
Termite dwellings (termite mounds).
Only a few representatives of this order have adapted to life in the temperate zone. Only seven species found suitable conditions on the territory of the USSR, of which four species live in Central Asia. On the European part of the USSR. The border of termite distribution runs through the southern regions of Ukraine.
Protection from enemies.
One form of protection from enemies is to settle in various natural shelters, for example in the ground or inside plants. Many insects settle in hard-to-reach places, using geographical barriers and vegetation.
Active protection.
An insect, having chosen a place to build a nest, usually protects it. Defensive behavior is a complex of reactions, usually in a certain sequence, in accordance with changes in the biological situation. The initial phases of defensive behavior are most often expressed in the generation of acoustic signals and the demonstration of threatening poses.
Protection from the adverse effects of physical environmental factors.
Insects in typical living conditions have adapted to find and occupy places that are most conducive to the development of their offspring and the lifestyle of adults. This expresses the biological expediency of the adaptation of insects to their habitat.
Regulation of the microclimate in the home.
Termites. Socially living insects actively regulate the temperature in homes, and some types of gases in the air.
From nesting structure to symbiosis.
When insects of the same or different species settle in a limited area, very different relationships can be established between them. They compete when certain vital resources are limited.
PRACTICAL WORK
I watched the anthill.
Location Form of activity
Near the trees, a very small hill or underground structure. The anthill is always in full swing with life. Working ants walk in a chain, carrying: food, material for building an anthill. There is always a queen there and ants look after her, and the ants that guard the anthill have powerful claws, and they also keep order and protect the queen and larvae.
Conclusion: I came to the conclusion that nests built by insects, in most cases, are intended for developing offspring, which, having reached the stage, could leave their shelters. And they are used in adulthood for protection from enemies and adverse physical environmental factors.
There are also public, or social, insects in nature that live in communities, that is, families. These include termites, ants, some wasps and bees. Families consist of individuals of various ages performing different functions. All members of society depend on each other and are unable to live outside the family.
Benefits of group living
Families of social insects usually build large dwellings, the creation of which is beyond the power of single species. The presence of a home increases the security not only of the insects themselves and their offspring, but also of food supplies. An important advantage of these insects is the possibility of joint action: together they defend themselves from enemies and capture larger prey that is inaccessible to a single insect.
Termites
Life cycle of termites. 1 - eggs. 2 - larva. 3 - additional sexual individuals. 4 - working termite. 5 - soldier. 6 - reproductive larva. 7 - winged sexual individuals. 8 - wingless sexual individuals. 9 - male. 10 - female.
Termites are an order of herbivorous insects. At first glance they resemble ants, but they are not even related. Termites are relatives of cockroaches and belong to insects with incomplete metamorphosis.
Termite home
Termite mound in national park Cockatoo (Australia)
Termite nests are extremely diverse in their appearance, size and materials from which they are constructed. The size of the nests sometimes reaches several meters. Inside the termite mound there are numerous and varied rooms, halls, and empty galleries. There are warehouses with supplies, children's rooms, rooms for workers, etc.
Bees
A bee family can number from 50 to 100 thousand individuals. Most of these worker bees are sterile females whose modified ovipositor serves as a stinger. They build honeycombs, clean the hive, collect nectar, care for the queen and larvae, and protect the hive from enemies. Worker bees live for one warm season.
How does the life of a bee colony work?
In a bee family, the main bee is the queen bee, who lays up to 2000 eggs per day. The queen bee is larger than worker bees and lives for about 5 years. By the beginning of summer, young animals appear in the hive, and the family prepares for division. Excitement and bustle begin among the bees: a new queen is about to emerge from the pupa. Before this happens, the old queen, along with some of the worker bees, leaves the hive: the bees swarm. For some time, the swarm of bees that has flown out swirls in the air and then hangs in a huge ball somewhere on a tree.
How a bee produces honey
Honey is a valuable product used as remedy for many diseases
Bees have a difficult stomach. Associated with it is the honey comb, where honey is formed from nectar collected on flowers. The bee regurgitates part of the nectar or honey from the crop into the cells of the honeycomb or transfers it to other bees. And the rest of the nectar enters the true stomach through a special valve - the gastric mouth. This is how the bee feeds and builds honeycombs, which it seals with wax - it also produces it itself.
Meaning of the Honey Bee
Special frames with wax plates are inserted into the hives, in which the bees build their honeycombs and deposit honey.
Many centuries ago, people learned to keep honey bees and use useful bee products - honey and other components - to make medicines. Lately everything higher value bees become the main pollinators of agricultural plants. The benefits they bring from this many times exceed all other income from beekeeping.
The honeycomb cells are regular hexagons. The bottom of the cell is made up of three rhombuses, forming a prism. Each diamond simultaneously serves as a part of the neighboring honeycomb. The cells intended for breeding differ in shape from those in which honey is stored.
Ants
Ants are the closest relatives of wasps and bees. Anthill, speckled complex system moves, is a miracle of insect construction technology. Up to 1.5 million ants can live in such a dwelling. They maintain a constant temperature and humidity there, for which they raise needles and twigs up.
Everyone has their own role
In an anthill there is a strict hierarchy and distribution of roles. It is controlled by the queen, a female who lays eggs. Worker ants are also females, but they do not produce offspring as long as the queen is alive. Its lifespan is 15-20 years, that of a worker ant is up to 7 years, and that of males is only one season. Moreover, males do not participate in the life of the anthill and die immediately after mating. In close proximity to the queen there is a retinue consisting of 10-12 worker ants who take care of her: lick and feed her.
Ant farm
Ants graze aphids on plants growing nearby and protect them. On demand, the aphid secretes excess nectar. To “milk” the aphid, the ant tickles its abdomen with its antennae.
According to rough estimates, there are 1 billion billion (1 quintillion) ants in the world, belonging to 12 thousand species. Their total biomass is approximately equal to the biomass of humanity.
Do you know all your neighbors? Sure? Some of them are so small that you simply can’t see them. Insects live in almost every home. This is a fact: even if you don’t see them, this almost always means that the “roommates” are simply hiding very successfully. In some cases, insects in an apartment are absolutely harmless, but some of their species pose a serious danger not only to products and things, but also to the person himself. In general, get acquainted!
For thousands of years, people have sought shelter, starting with the first cave, then building shelters from tree branches and leaves, and making tents from animal skins. Time passed and developed additional tools, humanity began to build houses from strong wood and stone, houses appeared. And always, from the very first home, various insects lived next to a person. Today we see in them uninvited guests, and we prefer to live without them. But if you think about it, they were before us, and they will be after us. For your consideration, here is a list of 15 small creatures with whom you may share your home. They are also called synanthropes (non-domesticated plants and microorganisms whose lifestyle is associated with humans and their homes, for example, cockroaches, house flies, house mice, bed bugs).
15. Spiders
Spiders are probably one of the most common creatures with which we share our homes, and some of these arachnids will appear on this list more than once. There is a great variety of spiders in nature, more than 45,000 various types. Overall, modern spiders have spread throughout the world over the past 200 million years, which is largely responsible for their wide distribution and diversity. The spider does not do anything bad in the house, sometimes it even does good - it catches flies. Our ancestors had a huge number of signs associated with spiders, mostly positive. They say spiders are harbingers of good things to come. But, probably, if you trust signs too much, you will be completely covered in cobwebs.
14. Ground beetles
Just like spiders, beetles are very ancient and well-adapted creatures for survival. There are more than 40,000 species of ground beetles alone in the world, and these insects come to our homes uninvited. The most common is the bread ground beetle. They usually cause damage to crops in fields, but are increasingly found in ordinary apartments. The bread ground beetle crawls into the apartment only if it likes the living conditions. As soon as the insect enters the house, when darkness falls, it goes to look for food (crumbs, food left on the table, cereals). Ground beetles interfere with sleep, rustle, fall from the ceiling onto the bed or directly onto you. And if they have found food, then the next step will be their reproduction. So, if a ground beetle appears in the house, you need to take immediate action.
13. Crickets
The wise cricket who gave advice to Pinocchio probably looked something different. And ordinary crickets are creepy insects, sometimes of enormous size. A folk sign says that if there is a cricket in the house, then this is a sign of happiness and prosperity. But the people whom this “happiness” visited large quantities, do not share this point of view and are looking for ways to get rid of them. About 2.3 thousand species of these insects are known in the world, of which only about 50 are found in Russia. Most of them live in subtropical and tropical countries. Our most famous species are the field cricket and the house cricket. The house cricket in the southern part of the country lives both in apartments and in nature. In central and northern regions he lives only in houses near people, and gives preference to old, warm rooms with high humidity. These insects live and breed well in warm basements flooded with water. Sometimes crickets can spoil food and even things in the apartment, just like moths. Therefore, although popular wisdom advises against offending them, it is better to remove the crickets. Unless, of course, you like the “night concerts” that crickets usually organize.
12. Book louse
11. Carpet mite
Scientists have found more than 1,000 different species of house ticks, and all of them cause great harm to humans, and all year round. Any carpet or carpet perfectly collects dust, it accumulates in its fibers and even daily cleaning will not give a positive result - dust and mites will still remain there. Ticks, unlike most insects on this list, are very harmful to humans. The ticks themselves are capable of leaving behind their waste products in the form of feces, which contain digestive enzymes that destroy cells human body and can cause severe allergies and asthma. The damage caused by carpet mites is not limited to allergies: conjunctivitis, allergic rhinitis, atypical dermatitis and others can develop. It's easy to deal with them - throw out all the carpets and upholstered furniture, Once and for all!
10. Dark-winged mosquito
The main harm is that they squeak and interfere with sleep! Thank God, humanity has invented many ways to get rid of mosquitoes. Mosquito nets, repellents and fumigators are a whole industry. Place fresh branches of elderberry, bird cherry, Caucasian chamomile or basil in the rooms, and place a container with tomato seedlings or geranium in a pot under the windows and on the balcony. Mosquitoes do not like the smell of these plants, so they will want to leave your home as soon as possible. According to folk superstitions, these small, disgustingly buzzing bloodsuckers - mosquitoes - are capable of bringing not only absolute harm, but also benefit, predicting the weather and future events. Clouds of mosquitoes mean good weather tomorrow. Painful mosquito bites and a particularly active buzzing of bloodsuckers - foretells imminent bad weather and night rain.
9. Spitting spider
As mentioned earlier, this list will feature more than one species of spider. Spiders of this species catch prey by spraying a liquid onto it, which neutralizes it by solidifying into a toxic and sticky mass upon contact. You can observe the habit of spiders swaying from side to side. They do this to wrap up their prey. Most spiders are only capable of producing silk, but Scytodes spitting spiders are an exception. Together with the silk, they release poison from their mouths, and silk strands soaked in the toxin, falling on the spider’s victim, bind it. These spiders are not dangerous to humans, do not weave large trap webs, and are unremarkable in appearance. But they still have one peculiarity - during the hunt they “spit” their prey. This may sound a little harsh, but it's accurate. This is why they got their name “spits”. Spitting spiders live in both warm tropical and temperate regions, including Russia - in human homes, where it is warm.
8. Clothes moth
Moths inhabit houses and are a household pest, whose caterpillars spoil fabrics by eating them and gnaw the silk upholstery of furniture. Only caterpillars cause damage to products, because adults lack gnawing type mouthparts. In the dark at night, adult moths fly towards an artificial light source. According to some data, house moth caterpillars also feed on substances plant origin, namely grains of wheat, barley, oats, corn, flour and dry bread. House moths are widespread worldwide, this type Lepidoptera is a serious pest in human homes. They feed on clothing, carpets, blankets and upholstery, as well as fur, wool, feathers and miscellaneous items such as animal bristles used to make toothbrushes and piano fibers.
7. Woodlice
Generally speaking, woodlice are not insects (they are crustaceans), but they lead approximately the same lifestyle as cockroaches. When threatened, they curl up, simulating death.
In most cases, wood lice appear only in those apartments where it is constantly damp, for example, water leaks from pipes. These insects are excellent indicators of various plumbing breakdowns and depressurization of flanges. The appearance of woodlice in an apartment, first of all, should worry lovers of indoor flowers, because if measures are not taken in time and they are not removed, the plants will soon die. First of all, these insects harm moisture-loving tropical plants which have a thin and delicate root system(orchid, fern, cactus), hitting it specifically, so if you have just such plants, then you should fight more actively.
5. Ants
IN different time year and in different regions of the country in an apartment, and even more so in a private house, you can often find representatives of various species of ants. Very often, ants in an apartment are random guests, carried on clothes or with things. Among them there are insects of different sizes and colors. However, the only real pest in the apartment is the so-called pharaoh ant - independent species thermophilic small ants, which in our latitudes cannot live anywhere other than residential heated premises. These red ants in the apartment are a real problem: they are numerous, they spoil food, they can carry pathogens of various diseases, and besides, they are very difficult to remove.
One colony of house ants can contain several dozen queens and up to 350 thousand workers. The reasons why red ants appear in an apartment, although not numerous, can be found in almost any home. That is why small red ants are successfully conquering more and more areas and are likely to appear in any apartment, even the cleanest one.
4. Serebryanka (common silverfish)
You may have once seen them in the bathroom or toilet if you went there in the middle of the night (they quickly run away when the light is turned on). Those thin, silvery, small things on the floor? Do you remember? They are called silverfish. Like most of the other creatures on this list, silverfish don't represent any real harm for us, they don't bite. No cases of contact were identified negative influence on human health. They feed on products of plant origin containing starch or polysaccharides; but they may not eat anything for months. Their diet may include sugar, flour, glue, book binding, paper, photographs, starchy fabrics. From storage facilities can be brought into the house through purchase toilet paper or cardboard boxes with paper napkins. They are harmless to humans and pets and are not carriers of diseases, but can damage damp paper.
Their scientific name"common silverfish" (lat. Lepisma saccharina). It is believed that the silverfish is one of the oldest living insects - its ancestors lived on Earth more than 300 million years ago, back in the Paleozoic era. Silverfish prefer damp and dark places; if the house is dry and light, then there will be no silverfish there.
3. Cockroaches
The remains of cockroaches are, along with the remains of cockroach crickets, the most numerous traces of insects in Paleozoic deposits. Additionally, cockroaches are the earliest known Polyneoptera, possibly descending from the ancestor of the entire subcohort. They have always been and will be on Earth. There are more than 4,600 known species of cockroaches; are especially numerous in the tropics and subtropics. In the territory former USSR- 55 types. IN last years Popular reports of population decline individual species cockroaches in the CIS (they say they completely left apartments in St. Petersburg and some other cities - no one was upset, but the reasons are interesting).
A number of cockroaches live in human dwellings, being synanthropes, for example, the red cockroach (Prusak), or the black cockroach. Others are brought with tropical products to temperate countries and sometimes take root in heated rooms (American cockroach). Cockroaches can damage food, leather goods, book bindings, indoor and greenhouse plants. Some cockroaches, feeding on various waste, including feces, are carriers infectious diseases(for example, dysentery) and worm eggs.
2. Harvesting spider
Hay-making spiders that build trapping webs are ubiquitous. Hanging upside down on their jumbled, tangled, uneven web. Webs are built in dark, damp niches of caves, trees and under stones, in lairs abandoned by mammals, for example, in cellars and various buildings. In human homes they love dry and warm places near the windows. How dangerous are harvest spiders to humans? Suffice it to say that the poison they have, they spend exclusively on their victims, inflicting a paralyzing bite on them. He is not enough for anything more. The main reason for declaring war on arachnids is arachnophobia. Some people cannot even stand them visually; for others, a creature that gets on their body causes panic. The problem is so serious that psychologists are working on it.
1. Flycatcher
The common flycatcher, also known as the house centipede, is often found in private houses and cottages, and is also found in apartments. Due to its significant size, repulsive appearance and high speed The movements of this insect, which suddenly appeared in the house, often inspire terror in the residents. But the house centipede is a peaceful and completely harmless insect. They usually appear in search of food from the street or from a neighboring apartment. If centipedes can find it in the house permanent source food, then there is a high probability of their appearance in this room. Centipedes are especially often found in private homes, settling in basements, ground floors and subfloors, from where they go out to hunt, moving around all rooms.
- Insects have a home, why do such little ones need it? After all, you can hide from bad weather, from enemies, take a break and sleep in a crack in the ground, under the bark, in a flower, under a leaf, in the grass.
- Many midges, bugs and cockroaches live like this, but insects still have a home, and it is built not so much for themselves as for their tender and defenseless offspring.
bumblebee nest
bumblebee nest- WE BUILD IT OURSELVES.
- Near the river, under an overhanging stone, where the rain does not penetrate and the wind does not penetrate, a wasp flies with a lump of clay. It turns out she has a house here that is not completed.
- Several clay capsules are stuck to each other like a honeycomb, but the problem is - one without a wall. The wasp attaches a lump of clay to its edge and, vibrating its wings, starts a thin, sonorous song. The vibration is transmitted from the wings to the head, jaws and the lump is tightly glued. Then she will bring food there, lay an egg, close the house with a clay lid and everything is ready.
- The Eumene wasp builds single houses in the shape of a jug with a narrow neck. She pushes food through it to her baby, and when the time comes to pupate, the mother will cover the door with clay.
Jug House
Jug House- The leafcutter bee skillfully cuts out oval pieces from leaves, glues them into cigar-shaped shapes and stores food supplies for the larvae.
- Each larva is in a separate room, fenced off with round pieces cut from leaves and well fitted to the walls.
- So, the insects’ house is not simple, but multi-roomed.
- The fur bee surrounds the baby's cell with a dense layer of fluff pulled from plants. You can spend the winter in such an apartment, where there are no drafts or temperature changes, which insects are afraid of.
- The silt bee makes cells from chewed silt.
- When it dries, you won't find a stronger material. Osmia bees glue chambers from pebbles.
Vespiary
Vespiary - Social bees and wasps have invented their own method of construction - honeycombs made of hexagonal cells. And these cells seem to have been made according to special calculations - they are so precise and identical in size, and the bottom corresponds to the most accurate calculations of physics and mathematics. This is the home of insects.
- Insect larvae are not born with bast themselves - they know how to take care of themselves. Great masters are caddisfly larvae, which build small houses from grains of sand, pebbles and sticks in which they travel underwater. If the house is heavy, the larva adds a light particle; if, on the contrary, it adds a heavy particle, as long as the house stays in the water and can be carried with it.
Honeycomb
Honeycomb - They also make covers from sticks, straws and other debris. Such a house is difficult to notice on the ground, which is why they move slowly and hidden. Why rush, because the house is with you and under protection.
- PLANT - HOUSE BUILDER.
- There is also such a thing in the natural world when insects have a home on a plant called a gall-former (from the word “gall” - a painful growth).
- The larva, which lives in the plant tissue, can secrete a special substance and causes the tissue to grow. Don’t think haphazardly, but always according to the exact and same plan.
House-gull
House-gull- There are so many houses - Gauls! Many of them are covered with fluff, which protects the Gaul resident from sudden changes in temperature, or are strewn with sharp and strong thorns for safety, so that no one can penetrate there.
- The inner walls are smooth (so that the larva does not get hurt) and tasty - they secrete droplets of sweet liquid, which the insect feeds on.
Probably only insects and even birds build the most unique and exotic shelters. Moreover, the most different materials. But it is difficult to say which of the six-legged builders has the most original nest, since many insects demonstrate amazing talents.
Take, for example, wasps. Many species of these Hymenoptera are quite skilled craftsmen. At the same time, the diversity of their homes sometimes amazes the imagination. And wasps also use a variety of materials to build their architectural masterpieces: leaves, sand, wood, clay and even paper, which they also produce themselves. These wasps are called paper wasps.
On wooden fences sometimes you can notice many light vertical stripes 2 millimeters wide and about 2 centimeters long. These are traces of the work of the Vespa wasp: it is she who scrapes off wood fibers while working with her jaws. And to make the task easier, she releases a little saliva onto the treated area, which makes the wood slightly darken and soften.
When the wasp collects a ball of fiber the size of a poppy seed, it flies with it to the construction site. Here she once again carefully chews the extracted material, and then impregnates it with a special secretion of saliva, which glues the softened wood fibers together.
But before starting to build a home, in the spring the female chooses a stable base in a place protected from drafts and makes a stalk, to the end of which two small cells are attached. At the same time, at the base of the stem, the wasp glues a flat plate, which over time turns into a wide bowl, and then into a spherical formation the size of an apricot fruit. The small hole at the bottom of this structure is the entrance.
Soon, a second, but slightly larger, shell is erected around the first spherical shell. So the nest gradually increases in volume, reaching the size soccer ball. Its internal structure does not remain unchanged: others are attached to the first two cells, forming a honeycomb. As its size increases, the free space in the inner sphere of the nest also increases. And as soon as there is enough free space, the wasp begins to build a second honeycomb. Then she builds a third cell, a fourth. Sometimes by autumn the number of floors reaches ten or more.
While building a nest, the wasp constantly decides what exactly needs to be made from the brought raw materials - a cell, a shell wall, a stalk or another element. And each of these designs requires a special format of parts. And to get it, the wasp sometimes has to perform from 10 to 30 different operations.
Of course, the female could never build a large nest alone. She is helped in this by young wasps that emerged from eggs laid in honeycombs three weeks ago. They expand the nest, take care of the protection and nutrition of the offspring, that is, they do all the work necessary for the nest.
The ammophila wasp, already familiar to us, is also a wonderful builder. And it’s easy to notice: she has an oblong black and red abdomen. You can meet a wasp on a sunny summer day on well-lit paths or in other dry places. Here the ammophila works hard with the help of powerful jaws and front legs; it digs a vertical hole-well in the sandy soil, widening at the end.
In order not to give away the location of the burrow, the wasp carries away excess soil away from the nest in a special basket formed by the hairs of the front legs and head. Then the wasp carefully seals the entrance so that it is not discovered by predators, of which there are many around, eager for easy prey.
Another solitary wasp, the wall anthophora, is also a remarkable builder and architect. Starting work, she gnaws out several branching passages in a clay wall or clay cliff, in which she constructs three or four cells, separated from one another by clay partitions. Then it lays an egg in each, and also leaves a certain amount of nectar with pollen. After this, she also lays out a “hallway” in the form of a tube around the entrance.
Pill wasps have achieved the highest construction and at the same time “artistic” mastery: they build nests that in appearance resemble miniature pitchers. These wasps make “pills” from softened clay, and then carry them in their paws to the “construction site”, where they create their unique creations.
When the nest is built, the wasp drags paralyzed butterfly caterpillars there, hangs an egg on a thin silky thread and seals the entrance to the “jug” with a clay stopper.
Ants and termites have proven themselves to be excellent builders. Their nests - anthills and termite mounds - are truly masterpieces of the skill of six-legged architects. Of course, it is almost impossible to talk about all the buildings of these insects in a short essay, so we will focus on the most amazing and original structures.
Let us turn, for example, to the largest ants of our fauna - carpenter ants of the genus Camponotus, reaching a length of 13 millimeters. They usually settle in stumps, rotten tree trunks, as well as in hollow trunks and living trees, in which they build tunnels to a height of up to 10 meters. At the same time, the ants, saving strength and energy, gnaw out the softer layers of annual rings formed during rapid spring growth, practically leaving the compacted summer annual rings untouched.
But ants of the genus Colobopsis from the same carpenter borers do not just gnaw out corridors in the tree, but use cardboard for economic purposes, which they themselves produce. True, in very small quantities: they adjust the diameter of the holes connecting the nest with the outside world to the size of the heads of the gatekeeper ants, which plug these holes with their pyramidal heads. The thickened head, flattened in front and colored to match the color of the bark, fits precisely into the hole and closes it, like a cork.
The European odorous woodborer Lasius fuliginosus went even further in using cardboard. Instead of gnawing labyrinths of passages in wood, like previous species, it uses a ready-made hollow in which it builds a cardboard nest.
Moreover, the ant uses advanced organizational principles - division of labor. So, one group of insects constantly brings small particles of wood, another is busy delivering a cementing substance, and the third, essentially a construction team, prepares a cardboard-like mass from this mixture, from which they build a multi-chamber structure that continues underground.
Tropical ants also build cardboard nests, which, in order to protect themselves from frequent tropical floods, are placed in the crown of trees. The most amazing dwellings, without a doubt, are built by African and South Asian tailor ants of the genus Oecophylla.
They build their round, bird-like nests from the foliage of the same trees in which they settle. The edges of the leaves are “sewn together” by ants with a dense silky web, which their larvae secrete.
When the worker ants find a place suitable for building a nest, they grab an adjacent leaf with their jaws and begin to pull it towards the leaf on which they are standing. The leaf is pulled up at several points simultaneously, so that several ants are busy with this work at once. If the gap between the leaves being used is too wide and one ant is not able to reach the edge leaf blade, several workers, joining each other in a chain, form a living bridge and thus jointly cope with a difficult task.
Meanwhile, ants with whitish larvae in their jaws appear on the site. Once at a construction site, porters begin to tickle the front end of their load. And when the larva, succumbing to “persuasion,” releases a thin thread, the ants press the oral end of the living shuttle to the edges of one or the other of the leaves being connected, gluing a silk thread to them. In this way, a strong fabric is created that reliably holds the walls of the nest together.
Only third instar larvae, whose enlarged salivary glands secrete arachnoid secretions, are suitable for stitching leaves.
Truly exotic nests are made by some species of stray ants. It turns out that they use their own bodies as building blocks.
When stopping around the larvae, pupae and “queen,” the ants form a thick shell of their own bodies interlocking with each other. Moreover, in such a ball there are always holes that allow the owners of the nest to penetrate into the interior.
How do ants determine which family members should surround the corridors of a new building with their bodies? - scientists don’t know yet. But one thing is certain: such a house is suitable for protection both from enemies and from bad weather. It is always warm inside this unique structure, so the larvae have an excellent appetite, eat a lot and grow quickly, and the pupae complete their development in a short time.
Dedicated to termites great amount research. And this is due to many curious features of these whitish, blind insects. For example, termites can eat an entire wooden house, but at the same time eat in such a way that bearing structures will remain intact. This means that these “blind rats” are somehow incredibly capable of imagining a house as a single structure and finding the most vulnerable places in it that cannot be touched. And, in accordance with this scheme, termites not only do not damage dangerous places, but also, on the contrary, strengthen them by using durable material homemade- sawdust and excrement moistened with saliva.
In addition to this mystery, termites are even more surprising with their ability to build their gigantic structures with numerous labyrinths, arches, chambers, which are not scattered randomly, but follow a strict pattern. Moreover, sometimes they build truly gigantic structures: for example, the largest termite mound discovered in the Congo was 12.8 meters high.
But how to explain the ability of insects to accurately join the ends of an arch, moreover, erected by them in complete darkness? One can, for example, assume that those termites located at opposite ends of the arch somehow exchange information, thanks to which they coordinate their actions.
During the experiments, it was also found that termites sense the Earth's magnetic field and electrostatic field. This ability is expressed in the fact that underground corridors and entrances to the nest are located in accordance with the direction of the magnetic meridian. In addition, termites also place the breeding female in her apartment along the magnetic meridian.
Moreover, they determine the presence of a living organism at a distance in a still unknown way. For example, no matter how quietly a person or animal creeps up to a termite mound, the sentries will still raise the alarm.
In addition to unique building abilities, termites also demonstrate considerable ability to create comfortable conditions life in their underground castles: for example, in maintaining constant temperature and humidity.
The Swiss scientist M. Luchard established that the optimal humidity in a termite mound (9899%) is created thanks to water-carrying termites, which deliver water to the termite mound almost forty meters deep around the clock, thereby maintaining the appropriate humidity in it.
There must also be an optimal level of oxygen in the termite mound. And termites also solved this problem by building a complex ventilation system from chambers, air channels, etc. etc., which is serviced by special termite “plumbers”. They constantly, depending on the weather, time of year and even time of day, expand or narrow the galleries of the termite mound, creating optimal conditions environment.
But the small black beetle, the birch trumpeter, builds dense cases of birch leaves to protect its offspring from various kinds of adversity. Moreover, he rolls them into tubes in accordance with the laws of higher mathematics.
First, the female, stepping back a little from the petiole, makes cuts on the right and left halves of the leaf, from its base to the midrib. After this, she first rolls the right half of the leaf blade into a tube, and then the left half, only she turns it in reverse side, around an already twisted cone.
Having completed this operation, the female climbs inside the tube and, having made three to five cuts in the leaf skin, lays one egg in each. Then she gets out and wraps the base of the cone in a small roll, thereby reliably protecting her offspring from numerous enemies.
When scientists examined the curves along which the beetles make their cuts, it turned out that at this time they were constructing an evolute according to a given involute, that is, solving a problem from higher mathematics. Moreover, the sheet will not unfold only if the beetle “solves” this problem correctly.
Inhabitants of various types of reservoirs - both slow-flowing and fast-flowing - also build various structures: mainly fishing nets and “houses”. Their designs are very diverse. But, probably, the most original housing is found in the larva of the South American caddisfly from the hydropsychidae family, which lives in the Amazon basin.
At the bottom of these reservoirs they build U-shaped houses, the lower part of which is lined with a mesh with a mesh size of approximately 3 x 20 microns (1 micron = 0.0000001 meters). This means that a mesh with a diameter of 1.5 centimeters contains about two million of these cells! This is, in fact, a record for the thinness of weaving. Scientists have not yet figured out how two-centimeter larvae with relatively thick and rough claws manage to intertwine threads at such microscopic intervals.
The larva itself is located in a vertical living tube and feeds on organic particles retained by the network.
And snail caddisflies living in North America build spirally convoluted cases that are so similar to snail shells that even zoologists must take a closer look before confidently saying whether they have encountered a shell or a caddisfly house.
From the book “100 Great Animal Records”, author Anatoly Bernatsky