insects are not naturally attracted to lights. they can't tell the difference between artificial lights and the stars, so they become disoriented and either starve or are eaten by predators before morning.

(the praying mantises, snakes, and toads in our neighborhood hang out under streetlights at night, waiting on free meals.)

over the past 35 years, the number of invertebrates such as beetles and bees has declined by 45% worldwide. birds, amphibians, and other animals that feed on insects declined as a result.

the loss is attributed to global climate change.

worker ants take hundreds of 1 or 2 minute naps per day.

in 2004, farmers in india used coca cola and pepsi cola to kill insects, because they were less expensive than commercial pesticides. they worked just fine.

one particular ant species is only found between 63rd and 76th street in new york city.

butterflies appeared on earth 70 million years before flowers.

between 1989 and 2016, the number of flying insects on earth dropped 76%. the decline continues.

luna moths have no mouths.

for meals, mosquitos prefer children to adults and blondes to brunettes.

grasshoppers have white blood.

a species of fly named philornis downsi lays its eggs in birds' nests. the larvae attack and eat the chicks during the night.

the larvae of the small-headed fly hunt tarantulas. once they find one, they climb inside the spider's body and eat it alive for as long as 10 years before it dies.

a species of fly called lucilia bufonivera lays its eggs in the nostrils of toads. the maggots eat the toad's nose, eyeballs, and brain while it's still alive.

one of the dyes used to color good & plenty candy is made from crushed insects.

beetles represent 1/3 of all of the species currently on earth.

when a honeybee drone mates with a queen, the act of pulling out disembowels him. not much better than being a male [raying mantis and having your head devoured by your mate, really.

male stag beetles have an interesting reproduction strategy. they release female pheromones to seduce alpha males. after the alpha males waste their sperm on them, the second-stringers mate with the females.

male dragonflies have a shovel-shaped penis to scoop rival males' sperm out of the female dragonfly's love canal. (bonus factoid: a large percentage of human sperm are shaped to entangle a rival's sperm cells so that they can't impregnate a female. that's right: humans evolved to be promiscuous.)

since wasps and other insect predators often track prey by following their excrement trails, the skipper caterpillar has evolved to fling its poo 6 to 7 feet away from where it's hiding.

termite mounds are as hard as cement, and made almost entirely out of termite poop and bacteria.