Insects That Love the Dark
Are you afraid of the dark? An insect that loves the dark is a mole cricket.
Most people are at least somewhat afraid of the dark, although they may not admit it. Imagine if you loved the dark, like a bat. Some insects need the dark to live, and a mole cricket is one of them. You will rarely see a mole cricket because they love the dark and live in the ground.
Mole crickets use their shovel shaped legs to dig their nests and to find buried food. Mole crickets dig tunnels that are a lot like mazes, only underground.
Family Activity – A Homemade Maze
You could test the maze skills of your favorite bug by making your own homemade maze out of an old heavy cardboard box and glue. You could make it small and easy or bigger and complicated. The sides of the maze could be made from lengths of cardboard cut into strips or even pieces of wood, glued to the base in a maze pattern of your own creation.
Remember to give your maze an in door and an out door plus a few dead ends. Once you’ve constructed your maze and it’s ready, move in your favorite bug for a “test the maze” day! What bug will you chose? I’d pick one that didn’t sting, like a black beetle. No bees, please!
Life Underground
Mole crickets eat earthworms and other insects found underground: it’s a-maz-ing how much life is under our feet! What have you squished today?
Being a good parent even extends to insects. A mother mole cricket is very protective of her children; when she has laid her eggs, she stays with them until they hatch and begin their life as an insect.
Humans go underground as well. Have you ever been in a mine? Another type of a human maze is a mine. Miners exist both in the insect world and in ours. Human miners go underground to search for precious metals and other substances that don’t exist above ground.
leaf miners are insects that burrow inside leafs to look around. This shopping expedition is when they eat or lay eggs. These microscopic creatures become moths and flies, hatching out of eggs their parents laid on the leaves.
So, the next time you are gardening, look closely at a leaf. If you see a snake shaped pattern on it, maybe your plant has been visited by a leaf miner, who has left you a trail as they tunneled around on the leaf’s surface. Many kinds of insects lay their eggs on the leaves of plants and trees.
Who Am I?
I am a worm that turns into a moth. When I am full-grown, my body is thick and I have spotted wings that are about 2 inches across. My family is known as Cossidae, and I come from the Lepidoptera group of insects. If I could, to do my work I’d carry a toolbox. Who Am I?
