What do these strange words mean?

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2 Bugs What do I need to start? How to draw them Drawing bugs takes practice, so don t expect to draw a perfect picture the first time. Use a notebook and write the date each time you draw to see how your drawings improve. You can make your pictures more interesting by adding color and including the habitat. and why they matter Pencil Paper Patience How do I use this book? This book shows you how to draw bugs step by step. It also gives you clues where to find these bugs in nature, and teaches you why each bug is important. After you practice drawing the bugs in this book, find other bugs to study and draw. If you go looking for bugs, have an adult go with you and keep a safe distance from bugs that can bite or sting. What do these strange words mean? When you first start reading about bugs you may see words that you do not recognize. To help with this, words in bold are defined in the glossary at the end of the book.

3 What s a bug? When someone says I found a bug! they probably mean that they found an arthropod an animal with an exoskeleton and jointed legs. Insects, crustaceans, arachnids and a few other groups of animals are arthropods. There is also a group of insects known as true bugs that have piercing mouthparts, but for this book we ll count all arthropods as bugs. Insects Crustaceans Arachnids Many have wings 2 antennae No wings 4 antennae No wings No antennae 6 legs Different kinds have different numbers of legs 8 legs Where do I learn more about bugs? Most libraries have many books about insects and other arthropods. There are also insect field guides that can help you identify bugs that you find.

4 Why are bugs important? Bugs do many important jobs that they don t always get credit for. For example, honey bees are famous for making honey, but without bees many important crops wouldn t get pollinated. Other bugs are beneficial in different ways some are predators, others are decomposers, and many are a source of food for wildlife, pets or even people. Unfortunately, not all bugs are beneficial. Some are pests that damage crops or harm animals. Certain bugs, like mosquitoes and ticks, are vectors of diseases that can make people sick. Others, like cucumber beetles, are vectors of diseases that harm plants. Wolf spider predator Cockroach decomposer (sometimes a pest) Squash bug pest Mosquito vector Why draw and observe bugs? Drawing bugs is a relaxing activity that can help you learn to focus on small details. Carefully observing bugs, especially in their natural habitats, is how we learn about them. You might even discover something that no one has noticed before!

5 Cockroach Insect Pronotum Draw outline of pronotum and wings Add head, wings, and outline of body Add legs and antennae Add spines, claws, wing veins, and shade in pronotum Some cockroaches are pests indoors, others are raised as food for pets, and many are helpful decomposers.

6 Look for wild cockroaches outside at night. They are often attracted to lights. Many other interesting insects will often show up at lights at night. Check them out! Adult male dubia roaches have wings, but females and nymphs do not. Dubia roach Blaptica dubia Actual size This kind of cockroach is raised as food for reptiles and amphibians. It is naturally found in Central and South America.

7 Cucumber beetle Insect 1 Draw the head and pronotum 2 Add outline of outer wings (shell) Add 12 spots Add legs and antennae Add claws and shade in legs, head and spots This beetle may look like a ladybug, but it s not! Instead of being a helpful predator, this insect is a vector of plant diseases!

8 Cucumber beetles can be found on many kinds of plants in vegetable gardens during the spring and summer. Western spotted cucumber beetles have 12 spots Unlike ladybugs, cucumber beetles have long antennae Feeding damage Western spotted cucumber beetle Diabrotica undecimpunctata Actual size Adult cucumber beetles feed on leaves, stems, flowers and fruits. Larvae feed on roots and can spread disease to plants.

9 Mosquito larva 1 Saddle Insect Draw head and thorax 2 Add the abdominal segments Add the breathing tube and eyes Add antennae, saddle and tubes inside abdomen Add mouth brushes and hairs Although aquatic mosquito larvae cannot bite, adult female mosquitoes feed on blood and are vectors of many diseases.

10 Check around your home for places mosquitoes might grow! House mosquito Culex pipiens Actual size Mosquito larvae are see-through, so you can see what they ve been eating! Breathing tube Plant dishes Buckets Fountains and bird baths Sensory hairs Tires Wagons and toys Junk and trash Mosquito larvae eat by filtering out tiny bits of food (like algae) from the water. Water dishes Ponds

11 Pill bug Crustacean 1 2 Lightly draw the outline of the shell Start adding segments 3 4 Add the remaining segments Add eyes, antennae and legs Pill bugs are decomposers. They help the soil by breaking down pieces of dead plants into smaller pieces.

12 Pill bugs dry out easily, so when it s warm they hide during the day and come out at night. Pill bugs have 4 antennae, but only 2 of them are easy to see 7 legs on each side Common pill bug (roly poly) Armadillidium vulgare Actual size These curious crustaceans roll into a ball (like a pill) to protect themselves from predators.

13 Squash bug Insect Draw outline of head, thorax and wings Add eyes and outline of body and wings Add legs and antennae Add stripes and details Squash bugs are pests of pumpkin, squash and cucumber plants. Their needle-like mouthparts stab into the plant to feed on sap.

14 In the summer you can find squash bugs on squash or cucumber plants. In the winter they hide under objects in the garden. Adult squash bugs have 4 wings that fold over one another Squash bug Anasa tristis Actual size Squash bugs attach their eggs to the undersides of leaves Squash bugs aren t really dangerous to people, but they can make a stink that you might not like.

15 Tick Scutum 1 2 Arachnid Draw outline of body and scutum Add groove 3 4 Add bases of legs and mouthparts Add 2 more segments to each leg and mouthparts 5 Add 2 more segments to each leg and color in legs, scutum and mouthparts Ticks feed on blood from wild animals and some types of pets. They will also bite people and are vectors of many diseases.

16 Next time you go hiking, look closely at the grass that hangs over the trail. You might see ticks waiting to hitch a ride! Western black-legged tick Ixodes pacificus Actual sizes below Ticks do not have a head their mouthparts are attached directly to their body! Adult male Adult female Nymphs Ticks use their front legs like antennae to sense their surroundings Tiny tick nymphs live in leaf litter and on mossy rocks and logs. Adult ticks often climb up grass along trails.

17 Yellowjacket Insect Draw outline of head, eyes and abdomen Add jaws and legs Add antennae and wing vein 4 Add outlines of thorax, wings, and abdominal segments 5 Finish abdominal segments and outline shapes in thorax 6 Color and add wing veins Yellowjackets are dangerous because they can sting repeatedly. They often make hidden nests and visit outdoor eating areas.

18 During the summer yellowjacket nests are large and workers search for food to bring back to the larvae. Western yellowjacket Vespula pensylvanica Actual size Stay away from yellowjacket traps! Powerful jaws Yellowjackets are attracted to sweet drinks, meat and even trash.

19 Wolf spider 1 Draw outline of body 2 Add mouthparts Arachnid Add femurs (large leg segment) Add segments that connect to femurs Add remaining leg segments, spines and eyes Wolf spiders are important beneficial predators in many habitats.

20 You can use a flashlight to find wolf spiders at night their eyes will reflect the light! Wolf spiders blend in with their surroundings Wolf spiders have 8 eyes and 8 legs! Actual size Wolf spider Schizocosa mccooki

21 Glossary Abdomen Antenna Arachnid Arthropod Beneficial Crustacean Decomposer Exoskeleton Insect the third main segment of the insect body (pl., antennae) a segmented sense organ attached to the head of insects and crustaceans arthropods with 8 legs, no antennae or wings, and 2 main body segments group of animals with a segmented body, exoskeleton, and jointed legs (includes insects, crustaceans, arachnids and others) helpful arthropods with a hard outer shell, 4 antennae, no wings, and a variable number of legs an organism that breaks down dead plant and animal matter hard outer covering that supports and protects arthropods arthopods with 6 legs, 2 antennae, and 3 main body segments

22 Larva Nymph Pest Pollinate Pronotum (pl., larvae) immature stage of insects with a life cycle with 4 stages (egg, larva, pupa and adult) immature stage of insects with a life cycle with 3 stages (egg, nymph and adult); also an immature stage of the tick life cycle a destructive insect or animal that harms crops, food, livestock, etc. to move pollen from one plant to another plant (of the same kind) so that seeds can grow a plate-like structure that covers the thorax of some insects Sap the fluid that circulates in plants Scutum shield-shaped plate Segment part or section Thorax Vector middle segment of the insect body where legs and wings attach an animal that can spread germs or viruses that cause disease

23 A note to parents and educators: We hope that this book can be used to help kids improve their drawing and observation skills, and introduce some of the important ways that arthropods interact with humans and other organisms. Please encourage your children to make their own discoveries about arthropods, and guide them to places (like the library) where they can acquire accurate information about the creatures they observe. If you want to learn more about any of the critters in this book (especially mosquitoes, ticks, and yellowjackets) don t hesitate to erice@msmosquito.com. For more information about our organization, as well as services available to residents of Marin and Sonoma Counties, please visit

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