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Invertebrates
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SummerReads: Moths - Caterpillars
237 words
SummerReads: Moths - Silkworms
242 words
SummerReads: Moths - Is it a Moth or a Butterfly?
231 words
A Little about Ants
324 words
Honey to the Bee
516 words
Page 1 of 7
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SummerReads: Moths - Caterpillars
SummerReads: Moths - Caterpillars
By Alice Lee Fo lkins
T his text is pro vided co urtesy o f Elfrieda H. Hiebert and T extPro ject.
Caterpillars
© 2007 by Possum at en.wikipedia.
Caterpillar of the Poplar hawk-moth
(Laothoe populi).
Adult moths and butte rflie s lay many tiny e g g s. The e g g s are usually place d on the bottoms of
le ave s. Whe n an e g g hatche s, out come s a cate rpillar. Some cate rpillars are long and thin like
worms. Othe r cate rpillars are short and fat like slug s. But not all cate rpillars look like worms or
slug s. One kind of cate rpillar looks like a big spide r. Whate ve r the ir shape or size ,
moth cate rpillars g row up to be moths and butte rfly cate rpillars turn into butte rflie s.
Cate rpillars can be a tasty tre at for birds and othe r animals. But cate rpillars have ways to he lp
the m stay alive . Many cate rpillars are the same color as the plants the y e at. That make s it hard
for othe r animals to se e the m. Cate rpillars can also hide unde r le ave s. Some cate rpillars stay
safe by looking like thing s, such as big spide rs, that othe r animals do not like to e at. That’ s the
re ason why one kind of cate rpillar looks like a big spide r. Othe r cate rpillars have small hairs
with ve ry sharp tips. The se hairs contain a kind of poison. Once an animal has g otte n sick from
this poison, it le ave s hairy cate rpillars alone .
The cate rpillars that stay alive make a spe cial sac calle d a cocoon. The cocoon comple te ly cove rs
the cate rpillar for se ve ral days or we e ks. Whe n the cocoon ope ns, an adult moth or butte rfly
come s out.
Page 2 of 7
© 2016 ReadWorks®, Inc.
© 2010 Elfrieda H. Hiebert. Some rights reserved. Used by Permission
SummerReads: Moths - Silkworms
SummerReads: Moths - Silkworms
By Alice Lee Fo lkins
T his text is pro vided co urtesy o f Elfrieda H. Hiebert and T extPro ject.
Silkworms
© 2009 by Tom or Jerry at
en.wikipedia.
A silkworm (Bombyx mori) spinning a
thread.
Silkworms are the cate rpillars of the silk moth. The e g g s of the silk moth are tiny and the
cate rpillars that come out whe n the e g g s hatch are tiny. But the se silkworms do not stay tiny for
ve ry long . The y e at and g row until the cate rpillar is about the le ng th of your long e st fing e r. At
this point, the cate rpillars build cocoons.
Ove r two to thre e days, the cate rpillar spins about one mile of thre ad until it is comple te ly
cove re d in its cocoon. This
cocoon is spe cial since it is made from a sing le long thre ad that is ve ry strong .
The thre ad of the cocoon is use d to make silk for thing s like clothe s and rug s. Othe r moth
cate rpillars also make silk thre ads. But the silkworm make s the long e st and be st silk thre ad.
Eve n so, it take s a lot of silk thre ad to make some thing pe ople can use or we ar. For e xample , it
take s about 150 cocoons to make just one silk tie that a man mig ht we ar.
Silkworms we re once found in the wild of Asia. But for thousands of ye ars, silkworms have be e n
ke pt in farms that are mostly in Asia. At the se farms, silkworms are ke pt on trays cove re d with
spe cial pape r.
You won’ t se e any silkworms outside this summe r. But you will probably se e anothe r kind of
animal that also make s silky thre ads—spide rs!
Page 3 of 7
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© 2010 Elfrieda H. Hiebert. Some rights reserved. Used by Permission
SummerReads: Moths - Is it a Moth or a Butterfly?
SummerReads: Moths - Is it a Moth or a
Butterfly?
By Alice Lee Fo lkins
T his text is pro vided co urtesy o f Elfrieda H. Hiebert and T extPro ject.
Is it a Moth or a Butterfly?
© 2007 by Kenneth Dwain Harrelson.
Monarch butterfly (Danaus
plexippus).
Some time s pe ople have a hard time te lling moths and butte rflie s apart. The y both have four
wing s, a body, and two fe e le rs on the ir he ads. The y both start out as e g g s from which the y hatch
as cate rpillars. Cate rpillars of both type s build cocoons from which the y le ave as adults. But
butte rflie s and moths are diffe re nt from e ach othe r in important ways.
Butte rflie s are usually out during the day. The ir brig ht colors like ye llow and re d he lp the m ble nd
in with flowe rs in the sunshine . Moths are usually out at nig ht or at dusk and dawn. Colors like
g ray and brown make it possible for moths to fly about in dim lig ht without be ing notice d.
Moths and butte rflie s also have diffe re nt body shape s. Butte rflie s usually have smooth thin
bodie s. The bodie s of most moths are fatte r and cove re d with hair. Whe n butte rflie s re st, the y
usually hold the ir wing s straig ht up ove r the ir backs. Most moths re st with the ir wing s spre ad out
to the ir side s.
Pe rhaps the be st way to te ll the two kinds of inse cts apart is to look close ly at the ir fe e le rs. Most
butte rflie s have thin fe e le rs, e ach of which has a knob at the e nd. The fe e le rs of most moths are
more like a comb and do not have a knob at the e nd.
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© 2010 Elfrieda H. Hiebert. Some rights reserved. Used by Permission
A Little about Ants
A Little about Ants
By Mimi Jo rling
The re are lots of diffe re nt kinds of ants: carpe nte r ants, le af-cutte r ants, swe e t ants, fire ants,
and many more . The y are diffe re nt colors, too. The y can be re d, or brown, or black. Some are
ve ry, ve ry small, and some are rathe r big . Whate ve r the ir diffe re nce s, thoug h, all ants are social
cre ature s. The y live in larg e g roups calle d colonie s. Some ant colonie s are big and have millions
of ants. The re are diffe re nt type s of ants in the colony, and the y e ach have diffe re nt jobs. The
que e n lays e g g s. Soldie r ants prote ct the que e n and the colony. The y also g athe r food and attack
othe r colonie s if the y ne e d ne w ne sting space . Worke r ants take care of babie s, look for food,
and build ant home s (anthills or mounds). Soldie r and worke r ants are fe male . Male ants’ only
job is to mate with the que e n in orde r to produce e g g s, which hatch into baby ants.
Ants are busy little inse cts. It’ s e asy to se e the m moving quickly he re and the re . Some time s you
can se e the m carrying a small pie ce of some thing , or drag g ing part of a le af some whe re .
Some time s you e ve n se e two ants he lping e ach othe r carry the same crumb. But whe re are the y
g oing and what are the y doing ? Ants may se e m to be just running around, but the y are actually
important parts of the ir e cosyste m, the ir world unde r our fe e t.
One thing ants do to he lp the ir e cosyste m is to ke e p soil he althy. By constantly dig g ing throug h
the soil, the y cre ate space s in it. Soil ne e ds space inside it for air and wate r. Without air and wate r
in soil, the tiny cre ature s that live in soil would not survive .
Ants also he lp bring nutrie nts to soil. Whe n the y bring food particle s to the ir ne sts, the y add
nutrie nts to soil be cause the y don’ t e at e ve rything the y bring . The ir le ftove rs stay in the soil and
bre ak down into nutrie nts for othe r cre ature s living in the soil.
Page 5 of 7
© 2016 ReadWorks®, Inc.
© 2016 ReadWorks®, Inc. All rights reserved.
Honey to the Bee
Honey to the Bee
By ReadWo rks
Be e s are flying inse cts that fe e d on ne ctar and polle n. The y are usually ye llow and black and
cove re d in fuzzy hair that make s colle cting polle n e asie r. A be e ’ s body is similar to that of othe r
inse cts—for instance , an ant—with thre e major se ctions: the he ad, the middle se ction calle d the
thorax, and the last se ction calle d the abdome n. The he ad of a be e has five e ye s for se e ing and
two ante nnae for touching and sme lling . Two se ts of wing s and thre e se ts of le g s can be found
on a be e ’ s thorax. De pe nding on the type of be e , the last se t of le g s mig ht have little sacs that
store the polle n that the be e has colle cte d from flowe rs. Many type s of be e s have sting e rs. The
be e sting e r is the most fe are d part of a be e , and for g ood re ason. Fille d with poison, the sting e r
is a be e ’ s prote ction from dang e r. The sting e rs are around 12 millime te rs long . The re are ove r
20,000 known be e spe cie s in the world. The be st known is probably the hone ybe e .
Hone ybe e s live in be e hive s, which have a distinct orde r that he lps thing s run smoothly. At the
bottom of the tote m pole are the worke rs. Worke rs are young fe male be e s. Some of the ir main
dutie s include g oing out to find food (ne ctar and polle n), building the hive , and ke e ping it cle an.
Hone ybe e s will trave l up to e ig ht mile s if ne ce ssary to find ne ctar and polle n to bring back to the
hive . Worke r be e s are actually the only be e s that e ve r do any sting ing . Whe n this doe s happe n, it
is usually be cause the y are trying to prote ct the ir hive from harm. A be e rare ly sting s whe n it is
away from the hive , but it mig ht sting if it se nse s dang e r. The life span of a worke r be e is
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© 2013 ReadWorks®, Inc. All rights reserved.
Honey to the Bee
anywhe re from 4 to 9 months.
The que e n hone ybe e is the big g e st be e in the hive . The re is usually only one pe r hive , and he r job
is to g row the family by laying e g g s that will be come the ne xt g e ne ration of hone ybe e s. She lays
ove r a thousand e g g s pe r day and can live anywhe re from 3 to 5 ye ars. Whe n the time come s for a
ne w que e n to take ove r, some larvae are place d in spe cial chambe rs to g row que e n be e s. The se
larvae are fatte ne d up with royal je lly, a nutritious substance that worke r be e s se cre te . It usually
take s about two we e ks for a fe male larva to g row into a que e n be e . The first fe male be e to
be come a que e n be e kills the othe r pote ntial que e n be e s.
Male hone ybe e s are calle d drone s. The y don’ t have sting e rs, and the y don’ t colle ct ne ctar or
polle n. The ir only purpose is to mate with the que e n. Se ve ral hundre d drone s can live in a hive at
one time . As the winte r months approach, the male s are kicke d out of the hive in orde r to make it
e asie r for the que e n and he r worke rs to survive . Food ne e ds to be save d as the re are fe we r
flowe rs to colle ct polle n and ne ctar from. Le ss food me ans the drone s are the first one s to g o!
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© 2013 ReadWorks®, Inc. All rights reserved.