18 Monday, May 19, 2014

Liz Zelencich
Program Manager
WASPS
Wasps live in nests of around 10,000 workers and one
queen. They eat fruit, nectar from owers and other
insects.
They build paper nests
from chewing wood and other materials. Wasps can sting if they feel threatened.
FLY
A y beats its wings 200
times a second. They can
walk upside down using their
sticky toe pads.
A house y lives for about
21 days. If a house y sees
a group of ies, it will join
them.
DRAGONFLIES
Dragonies have been on
the earth before dinosaurs
were around. Their eyes have
30,000 lenses human eyes
have one. They have two
sets of wings and can y
backwards and in loops.
After they rst hatch, they
live under water for about a
year.
BUTTERFLIES
Butteries taste with
their feet. They don't have
mouths but drink with a long
'tongue'.
Butteries start as eggs,
then caterpillars before
becoming butteries. People
used to call them "utter-
bys".
THE FOOD CHAIN
Minibeasts are a vital part
of the food chain. Some
minibeasts feed on dead
materials, helping to turn it
into useful compost. Some
make passages in soil,
preventing it from getting too
compact. Minibeasts such as
ladybirds eat aphids in the
garden.
How do they a|| ||nk
together?
what happens |f a|| of the
invertebrates were killed?
what effect wou|d th|s have
on the other wildlife?
WOODLICE
Woodlice live in damp, dark
places under rocks and logs.
They have 14 legs and a hard
grey shell.
As they get bigger, their
small shell falls off and they
grow a new one. They are
related to lobsters and crabs.
SNAIL
You will usually see snails
when it's damp or at night.
If the weather's too dry,
they can hide in their shells
for months. They have four
tentacles two are eyes
and two are for feeling. They
lay about 100 eggs in an
underground nest.
HARVESTMEN
Harvestmen have e|ght |ong,
slim legs and are also known
as daddy longlegs.
They are not spiders as
they only have one body part
instead of two. They only
have one pair of eyes, unlike
spiders who have eight.
They eat other minibeasts.
APHIDS
Aphids are tiny insects that
suck juices from plants.
There are hundreds of
different species. Most are
green or black, but some are
pink, red, yellow or purple.
Some species will only stay
on one type of plant.
HONEY BEES
Honey bees can be found a||
over the world.
Bees can sting, but only once.
Honey bees ta|k to each
other by dancing. They make
honey using nectar from
owers.
CENTIPEDE
The word "centipede" means
"a hundred legs", but most
only have 30.
They can live for up to
three years.
They eat other minibeasts
and even other centipedes.
If a centipede loses a leg
it can grow another one to
replace it.
MOTHS
Moths have hairy bodies to
keep them warm. They are
attracted to lights.
They use the moon to help
them navigate. There are over
10,000 different species in
Australia.
WRITE ALL ABOUT IT
What it is like to be a y in the
classroom, or a spider in the corner.
What are they doing, how are they
feeling? What happens when a human
comes and tries to catch them? Now
how do they feel?

Minibeasts are small
animals that do not have an
internal skeleton animals known
as invertebrates. Unlike vertebrates
(animals with a backbone) they dont have
a skeleton inside them. This makes them soft
and bendy, and because of this some of them
have a hard shell to live in. Some, like insects and
spiders, have a thin, strong outside covering called
an exoskeleton. This means they have protection for
their bodies and they have legs, and often wings,
which let them move more quickly and easily
than other minibeasts. They live all around us in
a multitude of habitats, even in our yards and
in our homes. There are more invertebrates
on earth than any other type of animal.
Minibeasts can be found on land and
in water. Another popular name
for invertebrates is
bugs.
GRASSHOPPER
A grasshopper can jump 20
times its own length.
Most grasshoppers have
two pairs of wings.
They have ve eyes.
They make music by
rubbing their wings together
or on their legs.
Minibeasts need air, food and water
to survive. They are small animals
and normally live outside in places
which are warm and moist (wet)
like: between leaves, in soil, inside
rotting logs, on the sides of trees.
BUILD A BUG
Research, design
and build a
model of a giant
insect or spider
using only the
newspaper and
some sticky tape.
Later you could
add some extra
features.
THE MARVEL
OF MINIBEASTS
A
ti
w
s
2
ow
N
th
in
ha
sp
AIN
get
NNN
s
have
n
es s
sts
ans
st
ns
t