Cicada Killer Wasps

As it says, the left cicada killer is the male, and the right is a female. The female has a bigger abdomen than the male.

Cicada killer wasps are an average length of two inches.

They obviously kill and eat cicadas and drag them down into their burrows. The wasps will kill their prey, cicadas, and store them in one of their many chambers (as many as 10-20). The wasp (female) will put one cicada in each chamber where male eggs are laid, and two where the female eggs are laid.

The eggs hatch and spin cocoons and stay inside all winter. They will hatch from the cocoons in the spring and eat the cicadas that their mother left for them.

• Order: Hymenoptera
• Lifespan: 15-30 days
• There name clearly states that they kill cicadas and that they're wasps.

The Scorpion

(Top) male scorpion (below) female scorpion with young.


Scorpions are an average of 3.9 to 9.8.


Scorpions will eat any insect and small animals such as mice, frogs, and arachnids (spiders and other scorpions). They will sting if threatened or cornered (and to kill their prey). Certain types of scorpions have very powerful claws and rather crush their prey instead of stinging it. The emperor scorpion has claws that can crush with the same force as tweezers. The deathstalker scorpion has a sting powerful enough to kill a man.

• Order: Scorpiones
• Lifespan: From 2 years to an amazing 25 years
• The word scorpion comes from a Greek word, skorpios
  

The Cricket

(Top) male field cricket (below) female field cricket

Most crickets are 1/4" to 1" in length.

Female crickets have three things sticking out of her abdomen. The male only has two. If you look closely on katydids, they will have this too just two of them are smaller (and yellow).

Unlike katydids and grasshoppers, crickets are omnivores. They will eat grass or crops, and also beetles. If you are keeping a cricket as a pet, you will also need to give them some water. Put some water in a little container lid that the cricket can drink out of, but not without having to climb into it (basically the point was to keep the water away from the food, and also do not let them drown). If you can, catch some small beetles for it.

Order: Orthoptera There are lots of species of crickets: mole crickets, camel crickets, house crickets, and field crickets (and many more).

Lifespan: Some crickets, such as the mole cricket, can live for a year whereas house crickets live for a 2-3 months.

The Monarch Butterfly

(Top) male monarch butterfly (below) female monarch butterfly


The monarch butterfly's wingspan is 3-4 inches.


The gender of a monarch is pretty easy to determine. The male's black veins on his wing are thin and on his hind wings he has two black spots. The female's veins are thick and do not have spots.


Since its a butterfly, of course the monarch sips nectar from flowers. But the monarch caterpillar (monarch larva) eats milkweed or plants in the milkweed family only. The milkweed contains a substance that is poisonous to invertebrates. Unfortunatly this substance is not poisonous to insects such as wasps and spiders.

• Order: Lepidoptera
• Scientific name: Danaus Plexippus
• Lifespan: Up to one year

The Katydid

(Top) male common meadow katydid (below) female common meadow katydid.

Normal katydids such as the greater angle-winged katydid or common meadow katydid (above) are 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches long. But tropical katydids can grow up to 6 inches long!

I think katydids are one of the most easy insects to tell the gender of. The female will have a horn which is actually called an ovipositor. This can be green or brown short or long curved or straight. It is actually used for depositing eggs not for defense. The male lacks this.

Katydids, just like grasshoppers and crickets, are herbivores and will also usually just eat grass.

Katydids and grasshoppers (probably crickets too) will deposit their eggs in soil.

• Order: Orthoptera
• Lifespan: about one year
• They get their name because: whenever they "sing", you can hear, "ka-ty-did ka-ty-didn't"
  
  

The Grasshopper

(Top) male Northern Grasshopper (Below) female High Plains Grasshopper.

Grasshoppers can be from about 1 inch to 4 or 5 inches.

The male will have a curve in the end of his abdomen and the female does not. If you saw a male grasshopper it would be easier than it seems.

Grasshoppers are herbivores, and are not very picky about what they eat. They will usually eat grass, but are also considered pests to farmers because they will destroy crops.

• Order: Orthoptera
• Lifespan: 3-5 months
• They get their names because: they hop on grass.

The Praying Mantis

(Top) male praying mantis (below) female praying mantis. Some other species of mantids, like the flower mantid look different then the praying mantis.

Adult praying mantises are usually a minimum of 3 1/2 inches long. If you want to tell male from female, the female has six segments of her abdomen, and the male has eight (you may only be able to see seven).

Praying mantises are solitary creatures and are strictly carnivores, so they will eat each other. They will also eat tree frogs, moths, grasshoppers, crickets, and beetles (and many more insects), and spiders. Although, the young's first meal is usually another newborn praying mantis. Even if they can attack these things, birds and bats will eat them. They will slowly creep up on the prey, then, at the very right moment, snatch it.

The female will often bite the head off the male while mating (which will not kill him) and sometimes even kill him. The female lays an egg case (or egg sac) in late summer or early fall and the young will hatch in late winter or early spring. She will often not eat 1-3 days before she lays her egg sac.

• Order: Mantodea (the scientific name depends on what species of praying mantis)
• Lifespan: Up to twelve months (one year)
• Their name means: "prophet" or "fortune teller" in Greek
• They get their name because: of their habit of "praying"