Content ID:
Field:


  • About Smithsonian
  • Email Updates
  • Member Services
  • Shop
  • Archive
Smithsonian.com
  • Smithsonian Institution
  • Smithsonian Channel
  • goSmithsonian
  • Air & Space magazine
  • Home
  • History & Archaeology
  • People & Places
  • Science & Nature
  • Arts & Culture
  • Travel
  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Games & Puzzles
  • Subscribe
  • Science & Nature

Insect Trivia

Test your insect knowledge by answering these trivia questions

  • By Abigail Tucker / University of Maryland Linnaean Games Team
  • Smithsonian.com, November 17, 2008

Article Tools

  • Font
  • Share/Save/Bookmark Share
  • Email
  • Print
  • Digg Digg
  • Comments
  • StumbleUpon StumbleUpon
  • RSS
  • Reddit Reddit

    Related Topics

    Insects and Spiders

    Games and Competition

    More from Smithsonian.com
    • Bugs, Brains and Trivia

    Take a swat at these insect trivia questions, courtesy of the University of Maryland Linnaean Games team. Lucky for us, the team is taking it easy on us. In an actual competition, the questions would be approximately ten million times harder.

    1. What common bathroom item can be used in a killing jar to collect bugs?

    2. What must a female mosquito do before laying eggs?

    3. Centipedes have 1 pair of legs per body segment. How many pairs of legs do millipedes have per body segment?

    4. Describe the marking on the abdomen of a black widow.

    5. During peak production, how many eggs can a queen bee lay per day?

    6. What insect was responsible for transmitting the Bubonic or Black Plaque?

    7. How did the Hessian fly get to America?

    8. Who brought the European honey bee to the US?

    9. How many plagues mentioned in the book of Exodus in the Bible were cause by insects?

    10. What is the name of the greatest current threat to honeybees in the US?

    11. What is the food of honeybee queens?

    12. What's a "king" honeybee called?

    13. Who is generally considered the founder of entomology?

    14. Who is the founder of entomology in the US?

    15. Which beetle is featured prominently in many blues, country, folk and rock songs, including songs by Bob Dylan, the Violent Femmes, and The Presidents of the United States of America?

    16. In what family of aquatic insect does the male of some species carry eggs on its back?

    17. Who won a Nobel price for study of insect behavior?

    18. How did the spongillaflies get their name?

    19. What is pseudocopulation?

    Take a swat at these insect trivia questions, courtesy of the University of Maryland Linnaean Games team. Lucky for us, the team is taking it easy on us. In an actual competition, the questions would be approximately ten million times harder.

    1. What common bathroom item can be used in a killing jar to collect bugs?

    2. What must a female mosquito do before laying eggs?

    3. Centipedes have 1 pair of legs per body segment. How many pairs of legs do millipedes have per body segment?

    4. Describe the marking on the abdomen of a black widow.

    5. During peak production, how many eggs can a queen bee lay per day?

    6. What insect was responsible for transmitting the Bubonic or Black Plaque?

    7. How did the Hessian fly get to America?

    8. Who brought the European honey bee to the US?

    9. How many plagues mentioned in the book of Exodus in the Bible were cause by insects?

    10. What is the name of the greatest current threat to honeybees in the US?

    11. What is the food of honeybee queens?

    12. What's a "king" honeybee called?

    13. Who is generally considered the founder of entomology?

    14. Who is the founder of entomology in the US?

    15. Which beetle is featured prominently in many blues, country, folk and rock songs, including songs by Bob Dylan, the Violent Femmes, and The Presidents of the United States of America?

    16. In what family of aquatic insect does the male of some species carry eggs on its back?

    17. Who won a Nobel price for study of insect behavior?

    18. How did the spongillaflies get their name?

    19. What is pseudocopulation?

    Answers:

    1. What common bathroom item can be used in a killing jar to collect bugs?
    Nail polish. It contains ethyl acetate and can be used on a moistened tissue in a jar to kill bugs for collections.

    2. What must a female mosquito do before laying eggs?
    Eat a blood meal.

    3. Centipedes have 1 pair of legs per body segment. How many pairs of legs do millipedes have per body segment?
    Two pairs.

    4. Describe the marking on the abdomen of a black widow.
    A red hourglass.

    5. During peak production, how many eggs can a queen bee lay per day?
    1,500 eggs.

    6. What insect was responsible for transmitting the Bubonic or Black Plaque?
    The rat flea.

    7. How did the Hessian fly get to America?
    On wheat straw brought by Hessian soldiers in the British army during the French-Indian War.

    8. Who brought the European honey bee to the US?
    The pilgrims.

    9. How many plagues mentioned in the book of Exodus in the Bible were cause by insects?
    Three: lice, flies, and locusts.

    10. What is the name of the greatest current threat to honeybees in the US?
    Colony Collapse Disorder.

    11. What is the food of honeybee queens?
    Royal Jelly.

    12. What's a "king" honeybee called?
    A drone.

    13. Who is generally considered the founder of entomology?
    Aristole.

    14. Who is the founder of entomology in the US?
    Thomas Say.

    15. Which beetle is featured prominently in many blues, country, folk and rock songs, including songs by Bob Dylan, the Violent Femmes, and The Presidents of the United States of America?
    The Boll weevil.

    16. In what family of aquatic insect does the male of some species carry eggs on its back?
    Belostamatidae, or the giant water bug.

    17. Who won a Nobel price for study of insect behavior?
    Karl von Frisch for his work on communication between bees (i.e. the bee dance)

    18. How did the spongillaflies get their name?
    The larvae feed on freshwater sponges.

    19. What is pseudocopulation?
    Pollination that occurs when insects try to mate with flower parts resembling other insects.


    1 2


    Related topics: Insects and Spiders Games and Competition

     
    Comments

    Enjoyed the information! Did know some! I would like to know the entomology of the common moth, just how such a small and fragile bug can do so much damage to house hold items. Thanks much, Jeanie

    Posted by Jeanie Quirk on November 19,2008 | 01:23 AM

    Post a Comment


    Name: (required)

    Email: (required)

    Comment:

    Comments are moderated, and will not appear until Smithsonian.com has approved them. Smithsonian reserves the right not to post any comments that are unlawful, threatening, offensive, defamatory, invasive of a person's privacy, inappropriate, confidential or proprietary, political messages, product endorsements, or other content that might otherwise violate any laws or policies.



    Advertisement


    Most Popular Video

    • Newest
    • Most Viewed

    Mammoth vs. Mastodon

    The Photography of Timothy H. O’Sullivan

    The Cowboys of R.A. Brown Ranch

    (4:11)

    Silky Sifakas: The Angels of the Forest

    (3:26)

    View All Newest Videos »

    Mustangs: Spirits of the Wild West

    (04:18)

    The Sights and Tastes of Hanoi

    (02:21)

    Unearthing Our Roots

    The Art of Gaman: Crafts from the Japanese Internment Camps

    (4:59)

    View All Most Popular Videos »

    Most Popular

    • Viewed
    • Emailed
    • Commented
    1. The Search for the Guggenheim Treasure
    2. A Closer Look at Evolutionary Faces
    3. Top Ten Reasons to Beware the Ides of March
    4. Beavers: The Engineers of the Forest
    5. Who's Fueling Whom?
    6. The Political History of Cap and Trade
    7. Photo Contest Finalist - Yang Mai Yong Mountain Under Moonlight
    8. Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Cells
    9. The World After Oil
    10. Abandoned Ship: the Mary Celeste
    1. The Search for the Guggenheim Treasure
    2. The Political History of Cap and Trade
    3. Henrietta Lacks’ ‘Immortal’ Cells
    4. Top Ten Reasons to Beware the Ides of March
    5. Beavers: The Engineers of the Forest
    6. Searching for Hanoi's Ultimate Pho
    7. Hypatia, Ancient Alexandria’s Great Female Scholar
    8. A Closer Look at Evolutionary Faces
    9. Ireland's Forgotten Sons Recovered Two Centuries Later
    10. Gobekli Tepe: The World’s First Temple?
    1. The Search for the Guggenheim Treasure
    2. Top Ten Reasons to Beware the Ides of March
    3. A Closer Look at Evolutionary Faces
    4. Who's Fueling Whom?
    5. Gobekli Tepe: The World’s First Temple?
    6. The Political History of Cap and Trade
    7. Barrow, Alaska: Ground Zero for Climate Change
    8. Photo Contest Finalist - Yang Mai Yong Mountain Under Moonlight
    9. Decade by Decade
    10. An Ancestry of African-Native Americans

    - - - Advertisements - - -


    Heritage Month

    Women's History Month

    Explore how powerful women have shaped American history, from our first ladies to our Navy cadets to acclaimed artists and writers.

    Join Us

    Facebook

    Facebook

    Become a fan of Smithsonian magazine's official Facebook page!

    Twitter

    Follow Smithsonian magazine on Twitter

    In The Magazine

    March 2010

    • Wrecking History
    • Our Earliest Ancestors
    • Ultimate Pho
    • Ultimate Pho
    • Witness to History

    View Table of Contents »

    Smithsonian magazine presents

    Vote for the 7th Contest People's Choice Award

    Check out the 50 shots our editors named finalists and help pick a winner

    • Smithsonian Store
    • Smithsonian Journeys

    Triple-Strand Bracelet

    Item No. 48258

    Opera Lover's Italy

    Opera and Cuisine in Puglia, Basilicata, Campania and Rome (July 15-24, 2010)



    View full archiveRecent Issues


    • Mar 2010

    • February 2010 Issue Cover
      Feb 2010

    • January 2010 Issue Cover
      Jan 2010

    Newsletter

    Sign up for regular email updates from Smithsonian magazine, including free newsletters, special offers and current news updates.

    Subscribe Now

    About Us

    Smithsonian.com expands on Smithsonian magazine's in-depth coverage of history, science, nature, the arts, travel, world culture and technology. Join us regularly as we take a dynamic and interactive approach to exploring modern and historic perspectives on the arts, sciences, nature, world culture and travel, including videos, blogs and a reader forum.

    Explore our Brands

    • goSmithsonian.com
    • Smithsonian Air & Space Museum
    • Smithsonian Institution
    • Smithsonian Catalogue
    • Smithsonian Journeys
    • Smithsonian Channel
    • Site Map
    • Privacy Policy
    • Copyright
    • About Smithsonian
    • Contact Us
    • Advertising
    • Reader Panel
    • Subscribe
    • RSS
    • Topics

    Smithsonian Institution

    Produced by Clickability