The hidden tools in an insect's body

Science · Insects & Minibeasts · ages 9-11

Name ______________________ Date ____________

A compound eye is made up of what?
- One large lens
- Thousands of tiny lenses
- A single black dot
What do spiracles help an insect do?
- Breathe
- See in color
- Taste its food
True or false: every insect chews its food with mandibles.
Circle one: True False
A house fly lands on a drop of spilled juice. How does it eat?
- It presses a spongy pad onto the juice and soaks it up
- It chews with mandibles
- It sips through a coiled proboscis
Which mouthpart lets a beetle bite through a tough leaf?
- Proboscis
- Spongy pad
- Mandibles
Which of these is a real example of biomimicry copied from an insect?
- A car shaped like a fish
- A drone camera built from tiny lenses like a compound eye
- A shoe sole copied from a bird's foot
True or false: since a butterfly's proboscis can't chew solid food, it can only drink liquids such as nectar.
Circle one: True False
A scientist finds an insect that can't moult properly and stays trapped inside its old exoskeleton. What happens?
- It grows even bigger than usual
- It grows a shinier exoskeleton
- It can't grow any larger and may die

Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Thousands of tiny lenses · Each tiny lens, called an ommatidium, sees its own narrow view, and together they build a wide picture.
Breathe · Spiracles are small holes that let air into tubes that carry oxygen through the body.
False · Beetles chew with mandibles, but a butterfly sips through a proboscis and a fly soaks up food with a spongy pad.
It presses a spongy pad onto the juice and soaks it up · A fly's mouthpart works like a tiny mop, not a straw or a pair of jaws.
Mandibles · Mandibles are hard and work like a pair of scissors for chewing.
A drone camera built from tiny lenses like a compound eye · Engineers have copied the thousands-of-lenses design of a compound eye to give cameras and drones a wide view in one shot.
True · A proboscis works like a straw. It has no jaws, so it can only draw in liquid.
It can't grow any larger and may die · The old exoskeleton can't stretch, so being stuck inside it stops the insect from growing further.