Ladybug: A beetle with spots that eats aphids
Honeybee: Makes honey and pollinates flowers
Bumblebee: A big fuzzy bee
Butterfly: Has colorful wings and drinks nectar
Moth: A winged insect that often flies at night
Dragonfly: A fast flyer with two pairs of wings
Grasshopper: Jumps with strong back legs
Cricket: Chirps by rubbing its wings together
Praying mantis: A hunter that holds its front legs like it is praying
Firefly: A beetle that glows to find friends
Ant: Lives in colonies and works as a team
Termite: Chews wood and builds mounds
Mosquito: Female bites to drink blood
Housefly: Tastes with its feet
Beetle: Has hard wing covers; the biggest group of insects
Stag beetle: A beetle with large jaws like antlers
Dung beetle: Rolls balls of dung
Cicada: Spends years underground, then sings loudly
Walking stick: An insect that looks like a twig
Aphid: A tiny insect that sucks plant juices
Flea: A tiny jumper
Earwig: An insect with pincers on its tail
Cockroach: A tough insect that has been around since before dinosaurs
Wasp: A stinging insect that builds paper nests
Hornet: A large kind of wasp
Caterpillar: The larva of a butterfly or moth
Chrysalis: The case a butterfly caterpillar forms to change inside
Cocoon: The silk case many moth caterpillars spin
Metamorphosis: A big body change, like caterpillar to butterfly
Monarch butterfly: Migrates thousands of miles to Mexico
Luna moth: A big pale green moth
Silkworm: A caterpillar whose cocoon gives us silk
Spider: Not an insect: it has eight legs
Black widow: A spider with a red hourglass mark; wild ones are best left alone
Tarantula: A large hairy spider
Orb weaver: A spider that spins round webs
Jumping spider: A tiny spider with good eyes that leaps on prey
Scorpion: A relative of spiders with a stinging tail
Tick: A tiny spider relative that feeds on blood
Centipede: Has one pair of legs per body segment
Millipede: Has two pairs of legs per segment
Pill bug: Also called a roly-poly; it curls into a ball
Snail: Not an insect; it is a mollusk
Earthworm: Not an insect; it helps soil
How many legs does an insect have?: Six
How many body parts does an insect have?: Three: head, thorax and abdomen
How many legs does a spider have?: Eight
Antennae: Feelers used to smell and touch
Exoskeleton: A hard outside skeleton
Pollinator: An animal that moves pollen from flower to flower
Larva: The young, wormlike stage of many insects
Pupa: The resting stage when a larva changes
Nymph: A young insect that looks like a small adult
Compound eye: An eye made of many tiny lenses
Hive: A beehive where honeybees live
Queen bee: The bee that lays all the eggs
Worker bee: A bee that gathers food and cares for the hive
Waggle dance: A honeybee dance that tells where flowers are
Entomologist: A scientist who studies insects
Camouflage: Colors that help an animal hide
Swarm: A large group of flying insects
Locust: A kind of grasshopper that can swarm
Leafcutter ant: Cuts leaves to grow fungus for food
Water strider: An insect that walks on water
Mayfly: An insect that lives only a short time as an adult

Free flashcards from Peabody at peabody.kids/flashcards/fun-insects-and-bugs