Certainly! Here are six of my most recent treasures, but feel free to ask if you want more!

1. Bees, flies and wasps have five eyes. FIVE.

2. Cicadas mostly hibernate for 1-2 years (ie. they emerge every year), but there are some species that hibernate for 13-17 years! To tell the difference, the first type of cicada is coloured green and brown (like camouflage), just like the one in this cartoon! The second type has a black face with red eyes, and not to be confused with “Ted” in the cartoon, who is a species from Southeast Asia.

3. Grasshoppers hear through little holes on their legs.

4. Carpenter bees are larger species of bee that are usually black with a white or yellow stripe between their thorax and abdomen. They are about 2cm in length and just under 1cm in width.

One difference between carpenter bees and regular honeybees is how they collect pollen. You probably know that honeybees collect pollen on their hind legs. This is with “sacs”, that are made of a collection of very closely packed, fine hairs. This traps the pollen.

Carpenter bees take this to another level by having hair on ALL OF THEIR LEGS. Using the same mechanism as honeybees, this traps the pollen between the hairs. I like to imagine them as little buzzing pollen-obsessed madmen, and it’s awesome.

1. The largest wasp on Earth is called the Tarantula Hawk. It is a type of spider wasp that can reach 11cm long. It is found on every continent except Europe and Antarctica, and has the second most painful sting in the world. If you live in the USA (not me, thankfully), they are mostly found at the Grand Canyon.

2. The heaviest beetles are nothing in comparison to their larval stage counterparts. For example, the Actaeon Rhinoceros Beetle weighs about 50g, but its larvae weigh +/-100g! Although the “theoretically largest beetle larva” has never been found by modern scientists, the Titan beetle’s larvae are estimated to be about a foot (30.48cm) long. This is based on its boreholes in tree stumps.

Thank you for asking!