CONTENTS Flying Creepy Crawlers Mega Wings Humming and Hovering Life is Sweet Fuzzy and Buzzy Expert Engineers Built for Flight Lightning Fast Swooping Hunters Frail but Deadly Insect Athletes Other Flying Insects Flying Insect Record-Breakers Glossary Index 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 31 32
FLYING CREEPY CRAWLERS Why did the first insects fly You might as well ask why plants began producing flowers about 150 million years ago The answer in both cases is because it helped them survive And in fact plants produce their colorful scented flowers to attract insects and other animals to pollinate them The first winged insects appeared on Earth around 400 million years ago when plants began to grow taller and produce the first forests So having wings enabled early insects to avoid predators and later to feed on pollen and nectar just as modern bees butterflies and other insects do Wings are so important to insects that most of the major groups are named after them using the Greek word pteron for wing For example dragonflies and damselflies which were among the first insects to fly belong to the Palaeoptera old wings group These descriptive names can help us identify insects Beetles Coleoptera or hardened wings keep their hind wings folded away under tough protective forewings Mayflies Ephemeroptera or short-lived winged have a brief adult life often lasting just a few hours
Head Antenna Forewing Thorax Halteres Abdomen Leg Winged insects can be amazingly big beautiful fast or even dangerous and they’re incredibly diverse The best part is there are many many flying creatures out there even in your own neighborhood
