by Jenny Drnevich
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Words to know before you read
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- Reproduce- to make more individuals of your species
- Offspring- babies, kids
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- Life Cycle- changing from a baby into an adult
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Every living thing must be able to reproduce and make offspring. Most of us are familiar
with how humans and mammals make babies, but do all creatures reproduce in the same
way? Do insects, like the beetle, give birth to little insects? To answer this question,
we are going to examine the reproductive process of the mealworm beetle. Have you ever
seen this beetle? They are commonly sold as pet food and bait. Still don't recognize it?
That's because the "beetle" isn't what is sold, it's the "mealworm." To explain this, we
need to follow the life of a beetle. Before a beetle is born, its parents
have to mate, then its mother
lays an egg. After a while, the egg hatches and the baby goes through many stages in its
life cycle before it becomes an adult and is capable of
making offspring of its own.
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The yellow mealworm beetle (Tenebrio molitor)
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Quiz yourself on the information you just read in this article!
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Here are some other places to read and learn about insects and reproduction.
On the Web:
There are hundreds of sites on the web, but their web addresses often change.
It is best to look for them using a search engine like
Bing or Google using the key
words life cyle, instects, etimology. |
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