Elenco Insect Exploring Kit User Manual

Page 7

Arachnids

Wood Lice

Don't be afraid to catch a spider and examine it in your
magnifying glass. You'll see it has 8 legs. This is the
reason spiders are not classed as an insect.

Using its web to catch insects is how
the cross survives. It will cocoon a bug
as soon as it gets caught in the net.
The spinnerets located on the rear of
the spider are how they spin their web.
It will then inject a paralysing poison
into the prey with its jaw that is on its
head. It will over time suck the bug out
of this cocoon.

Stitching a New Web
Even though the spider has 8 great big
and tiny eyes, it does not see very well.
The slightest movement on any string
in its web lets it know that there is
prey. It will eat its web at night and
spin a new one in the morning.

Cross

Spider

You know that lobster; crabs, shrimp or
crayfish are water animals. Do you know
there is a form of these crustaceans that also
inhabits you garden or cellar? They can be
found in the compost heap, under stones
and in dark corners of your cellar. These are
the wood lice. They crawl on 10 legs instead
of 14, but are still classed with the
crustaceans, having left the water and
making a preference for land.

Lice

Green lice love to take a seat on a branch next to one another and
insert their sucking tube in the fluid pipe in the stem of the plant.

Using your magnifying glass, you can observe exactly the
way colony of lice attacks this fluid. Different size lice
mean different ages. Older green lice grow but will

scarcely modify their appearance and shape.

Ants
Green lice aren't
particularly popular with
humans. Ants will protect
them, as these lice
will discharge a
sweet sticky
fluid from
their
abdomen that
attracts the
ants. These lice
are like a
milking cow to
the calves.

If your lucky enough to get some ants on the branch you
have in your magnifying glass, you might just see this
milking process happening. By taping the abdomen of

the lice with its antennae, the lice will release a drop of this sugary
fluid for the ant to consume.