Welcome to Bugfacts!


Bug Facts covers useful information about the most commonly found insects in North America, which include butterflies, beetles, ants, wasps, bees, mantids, and many others. Plus a few creatures that are commonly mistaken for insects, but actually non-insects. Topics range from to fun facts for each bug, to general insect development. There is also a checklist for children to use, much like one would find in a Bird Watcher’'s guide. Written for adults and kids alike, we invite you to explore the world of insects.

 
Honey Bee Hover Fly Praying Mantis Cicada
 

Insects belong to a class known as arthropods. What is an
arthropod? The technical definition is:

Any of a phylum (Arthropoda) of invertebrate animals (as insects, arachnids, and crustaceans) that have a segmented body and jointed appendages, a usually chitinous exoskeleton molted at intervals, and a dorsal anterior brain connected to a ventral chain of ganglia.


This website concentrates on insects, though we do sneak in a crustacean - one which might just surprise you. We invite you to study insects, but as with all forms of arthropods, look and please do not touch.

 
 

Attention teachers, parents, students and bug lovers!
There's a pdf link available to you on each insect and non-insect page. Please feel free to use this link to print individual pages for your classroom, homework, field trips or hobby. To those that wish to link to us, please do. If you're an educational institution we'll exchange a return link.


If you live in or are visiting Illinois, we suggest you visit the Entomology exhibits at the Field Museum in Chicago. The museum is superb. One of their Entomologists helped tremendously in putting together this site, and with editing the publication upon which it is based.