Insects belong to arthropod group and are the most diverse group of animals on the earth with more than million species. They are found in any kind of environment. There are approximately 5000 species of Dragonfly, 2000 species of praying mantis, 20,000 species of grasshopper, 170,000 species of butterfly and moths, 120,000 species of flies, 82000 species of true bugs, 360,000 species of beetle, 110,000 species of bees, wasp and ants. They possess segmented bodies supported by an exoskeleton, a hard outer covering made mostly of chitin. The body is divided into a head, a thorax, and an abdomen. The head supports a pair of sensory antennae, a pair of compound eyes, and mouth parts. The thorax has six legs (one pair per segment) and wings. The abdomen (made up of eleven segments some of which may be reduced or fused) has respiratory, excretory and reproductive structures. Most insects have two pairs of wings located on the second and third thoracic segments. Insects are the only invertebrates to have developed flight. Most insects hatch from eggs, but others are ovoviviparous or viviparous, and all undergo a series of moults as they develop and grow in size.

Facts about Insects

1. Pea crabs (the size of a pea) are the smallest crabs in the world.
2. The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head 360 degrees.
3. Earthworms have five pairs of hearts, close to the front of their bodies.
4. The praying mantis is the only insect that can turn its head 360 degrees.
5. Slugs have 4 noses.
6. The redback spider is one of few animals which display sexual cannibalism while mating.
7. The North American harvester ants can give people a nasty sting. They live in deserts, where they build volcano-shaped nests in the sand. the ants feed on grass seeds.
8. Coconuts are plentiful on the pacific islands where the giant robber crabs live. The crabs feed on dead animals, but they also like eating coconut up a plam tree and then drop it to crack it open. They scoop out the flesh with a claw.
9. A spider's web is not its home but a food trap. Orb webs, like this one, have sticky threads that trap the spider's insect prey. Some spider in tropical forests build huge orb webs nearly 6 metres across.
10. Locusts fly in huge swarms to find food. They may travel 5,000 kilometres, eating thousands of tonnes of green plants on the way. Desert locusts in Africa destroys vast areas of crops every year.
11. The most poisonous spider of all is probably the American black widow. The female is more dangerous than the male. Its bite is extremely painful and sometimes causes death. 
12. Scorpions use their poison for attack and defence. Some kinds of scorpion have a sting that is so powerful it can kill people.
13. Some monarch butterflies fly from Canada to Mexico, where they mass together on trees to hibernate for the winter.
14. In Australia, termites build towers 6 metres high and 30 metres wide. Ten tonnes of mud are collected bit by bit by millions of insects. Soilder termite guard the mud castle, where the queen lays her eggs and is fed by worker termites.
15. Ants carry the caterpillars of the large blue butterfly into their nest. There, the ants feed on the sweet honeydew produced by the caterpillars, which in return feed on the tiny ant larvae.
16. Bumble bees live high up in the mountains in Europe, where they feed on the pollen and nectar of the flowers that grow there. Some insects even fly over the snowy peaks of the Himalayas as they migrate.
17. Dragonflies are also fast-flying insects, especially the darter dragonflies which are named after the way they dart about.
18. A column of army ants may consist of 150,000 insects and take several hours to march past one spot. They prey on almost any animal that cannot escape from them.
19. When the puss moth caterpillar is distrubed, it lifts up its red face, and two long red 'whips' flick out of its tail. It also produces a smelly fluid, which it ca