Just bee yourself – a quick quiz

#1. Spitfires or sawfly larvae don’t actually spit fire to fend off hungry birds and other predators, but what do they actually do?

Scream

Dribble

Curl up into a ball

Fart

Spitfires regurgitate eucalyptus goop to fend off predators.

#2. The fastest insect is Australia’s tiger beetle Cicindela hudsoni who can run 2.5 metres per second (9 km/h). What happens to them when they run fast?

Their feet swell and they become lame

Their brain can’t keep up and they go temporarily blind

They fall asleep before they can eat their prey

The tiger beetle runs so fast that their brain can’t keep up and they go temporarily blind.

#3. Which part of an insect’s body do their legs attach to?

6 legs attach to the head

6 legs attach to the thorax (middle section)

6 legs attach to the abdomen (rear section)

2 legs attach to each section

All 6 legs attach to the insect’s thorax.

#4. In 2017 NASA sent fruit flies into space to the International Space Station (ISS). After returning to Earth several weeks later, the hearts of the fruit flies had anatomically changed.

True

False

True. The hearts from space fruit flies were smaller, and the muscle fibres grew in the wrong direction making it weaker as well.

#5. Scientists often have fun naming their discoveries after famous people. Which celebrities have an insect named after them and why?

Donald Trump for his flyaway hair

Kate Winslet for her character in Titanic going down with the ship

Beyoncé for her famous bottom

All of the above

All of these celebrities have insects named after them. Donald Trump has a moth (Neopalpa donaldtrumpi), Kate Winslet has a beetle (Agra katewinsletae), Beyoncé has a fly (Scaptia beyonceae)

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