Friday, April 16, 2021

Lizard Life Cycle

Introduction:

Lizards are scaly skinned reptiles that fall under the order Squamata and the suborder Sauria. Lizards comprise more than 5,500 species that range in size from 2 cm to 3 meters in length with a slender tail. This species of reptiles has survived for approximately 200 million years. The weight of lizards can sometimes be as low as 0.5 gms to more than 150 kgs in certain species. Snakes, which are also reptiles, arose from lizards and are known to be a group of limbless lizards.

Cockroach Life Cycle

Introduction:

Cockroach falls under the category of menace causing insects, and we all have experienced our fair share of household infestation with cockroaches. Cockroaches or roaches fall under the suborder Blattodea which is under the super order Dictyoptera. Insects under Dictyoptera are cockroaches and mantids; both characterized for having oval shaped flat bodies, leathery wings and long antennae.

Snail Life Cycle

Introduction

Snails are gastropod animals which have an enclosing shell, into which it is able to retract entirely, for protection. Snails are a different category of animals that fall under the phylum Mollusca. In household situations, snails tend to destroy fruits and vegetables. Snails are active during the wet season and inactive during the winter season.

Monday, April 12, 2021

Ant Life Cycle


The ants are found in tropical forests during the summer season with the remaining insect community. Ants are divided into three groups, namely – queens, worker and male. The life cycle of an ant varies from weeks to months, depending upon the environmental conditions.

Reproduction in Ants

Ants are social insects and have a social system where tasks are divided among the queen and worker ants.

Honey Bee Life Cycle

From filling the honeycombs with sweet honey to stinging us if we dare take them, honeybees have always amazed us with their ability to create the best food substance – honey. They belong to the insect order Hymenopterans, which comprises the majority of the insects. Amongst the insect order, bees are considered to be social insects as they live in colonies. Bees are paramount for agriculture as they facilitate pollination, in fact, ⅓ of the world’s food supply pollinated by the bees.

Dragonfly Life Cycle

Introduction to Dragonfly

With the ability to live as an aquatic larva under-water for almost 2 years, the insect dragonfly belongs to the insect order Odonata. Dragonflies from the order Odonata are physically large, robust, and stouter looking members belonging to the suborder called Anisoptera. Dragonflies falling under the sub-order of Anisoptera are also considered as ‘true dragonfly’.

Dog Life Cycle

Introduction:

Dogs are the most popular and omnipresent domestic organisms in the world. These mammals have lived parallely with human beings as hunting buddies for over 12,000 years now. Since dogs have a keen sense of smell and taste, they are great companions for hunting purposes. Overtime, human beings identified these characteristics and created new breeds, based on need and want. Dogs are domestic mammals that fall under the family Canidae and the order Carnivores.

Ladybird Life Cycle

Everyone in their life must have seen a tiny, colourful red with black polka-dots ladybird, mostly stationary on a leaf or walking on soil. It is known to be one of the most fascinating bugs to human beings. A ladybird beetle or a ladybug falls under the family Coccinellidae and the order Coleoptera. Ladybirds are a huge clan and comprise around 5,000 species all across the world.

Pinworm Life Cycle

Introduction:

Pinworms, also known as Enterobius vermicularis are parasitic worms that fall under the family Oxyuridae, the phylum Nematoda and the order Rhabditida. Pinworms are most commonly found in the human intestine, and more prominent in children. These worms are also called seat worms or threadworms and they measure up to 13 mm in length. They appear to be thread-like, white in colour and thin in shape. The male pinworms measure up to 5 mm and the female pinworms measure up to 13 mm length in size.

Jellyfish Life Cycle


Introduction:

Once in a while, we all go to the beach and if we are lucky enough, we spot a jellyfish. As beautiful as they are in their appearance, it is just as painful if a jellyfish stings you. Jellyfish are bell-shaped, jelly-like creatures with long trailing tentacles that are found at shores.

Jellyfishes are marine invertebrates with around 200 species that fall under the class Scyphozoa and the phylum Cnidaria.

Tapeworm Life Cycle


Tapeworms are parasitic flatworms that fall under the class Cestoda and Phylum Platyhelminthes. They comprise approximately 5000 different species of invertebrates that measure from 1mm to 15 m in size. Tapeworms are internal parasites that attack vertebrates like human beings, cats, dogs and fish. The disease caused by tapeworm is known as cestodiasis. Physically the tapeworm has an elongated body segment, head and suckers or hooks for attaching themselves to the host.

Insect Life Cycle


Insects hail from the largest category of phylum Arthropoda and fall under the class Hexapoda or Insecta. In appearance, insects have a segmented body, jointed legs and exoskeleton. Insects have distinctive features that include three major parts namely the head, the segmented thorax and abdomen where the digestive, respiratory, reproductive and excretory organs are found. The head has the eyes, pair of antennae and mouthparts. The segmented thorax consists of three pairs of legs and two pairs of wings.

Fungi Life Cycle


Introduction:

Fungi are organisms belonging to the kingdom Fungi that includes 144,000 species of organisms such as yeasts, rusts, mildews, mushrooms and so on. Fungi are the most widely distributed organism on the globe as it has medicinal properties. Fungi are found free living in the soil or water. Some of these organisms create parasitic or symbiotic relationships with plants and animals.

Tick Life Cycle

Introduction:


Ticks are invertebrates that fall under the suborder Ixodida and the subclass Acari. Ticks are parasites that comprise about 825 species. They are part of a large group of domestic parasites that attack human beings sometimes. The most popular tick is the hard tick called American dog tick, that feeds on the dog for several days.

Lice Life Cycle

Introduction:

Everyone goes through an itchy, blood-sucking and skull scratching episode of lice in their hair. It’s prominent in the human scalp as it gets body heat from that area. Lice fall under the order Phthiraptera that includes chewing louse (Amblycera) and sucking louse (Anoplura). Chewing louse resides on birds and some other mammals like cattle.