Animals without Backbones

Transcription

1 Animals without Backbones Stage 4 Student Activities What is an insect? An insect is an animal that has 3 body parts (head, thorax & abdomen) 2 antennae and pairs of legs The following animals are like insects but are not. Slater Centipede Spider Explain why these animals are not insects

2 LIVING TOGETHER Go to case 27 Animals and plants depend on each other for survival. Look for insects like the ones below. What are they eating? Match the Insect to its food. Grasshopper Food Praying Mantis Flies Giant water bug Banksia flower nectar Fly Maggot Ant Tree sap Butterfly Larva Leaves Butterfly Other insects Sap sucking bug Rotting flesh Go to cases 28 &29 Defence Look at the ways that insects are adapted to avoid being eaten. What are the 2 ways that moths or butterflies avoid being eaten? What are 2 ways caterpillars avoid being eaten?

3 OTHER INVERTEBRATES There are other types of invertebrates (animals without backbones), besides insects in the gallery. Some of them are shown bellow. Go to each of the cases and find the invertebrates shown List the numbers to show what features they possess. (Case 45) Features: Feature (Case 33) Features: 1. Soft body 2. A skeleton on the outside (Case 36) Features: 3. A shell (Case 43 & 44) Features: 4. A long cylindrical body 5. Tentacles (Case 1) Features: 6. Three pairs of legs 7. Four pairs of legs (Case 10) Features: 8. More limbs and more feelers than insects or spiders (Case 35) Features: 9. Usually more than 10 pairs of legs 10. Grabbing claws (Case 2) Features: 11. Stinging tails 12. Abdominal silk glands You can use some of the features to design a classification key at school.

4 INSECT ADAPTATIONS There are many species of insects. Each type of insect is adapted (suited) to its particular habitat. Find the insects below. What habitat does each one live in? What adaptations help them to live in that habitat? Insect Case Habitat Adaptations Mole Cricket 10 Leaf Insect 11 Sap Sucking Bug 13 Water Strider 13 Flea 19

5 GROWING UP Insects undergo metamorphosis (change in form) during their lifecycle. Go to case 16 Beetles COMPLETE METAMORPHOSIS. How do the larva and the adult differ? What would be an advantage of having such different stages in the lifecycle? Find another insect in the gallery that undergoes complete metamorphosis. What insect is it? Go to case 8 "Cockroaches and Praying Mantids INCOMPLETE METAMORPHOSIS. How do the nymph (young) and adult cockroaches differ? What happens as the cockroach nymphs grow bigger? Find another insect in the gallery that undergoes incomplete metamorphosis. What insect is it?

6 INSECTS AND PEOPLE Go to cases 30 and 31 Insects and People Humans have changed their environment in many ways. Some of these changes have caused (or allowed) some insects to become pests. Suggest some solutions to these problems. Human action Problem caused Your solution Building timber houses Termites in the house Growing single crops over large areas Creating garbage Using insecticides Introducing foreign species of insects Insects that eat the crops have a large food supply and multiply rapidly Cockroaches in the house Resistant strains of insects develop Unrestrained breeding because foreign species have no natural predators Go to case 32 "Rare and Curious" What are two changes that humans have made to the environment which have threatened the survival of some insects?

7 COMMUNICATING Go to case 19 "Stylops, Scorpion-flies, Fleas, Caddis-flies" How does the male scorpion-fly send the message that he has food for the female? How would the female receive the message? Go to case 10 "Grasshoppers, Locusts and Crickets" What are 2 ways grasshoppers make sound? Why do they make these sounds? Go to case 14 "Cicadas". Use the information in the diagram to label the part of the male cicada that makes sound that detects or 'hears' sounds? Why do cicadas sing? Some Images from coloringspot.com