 Look what we have uncovered. This is an earthworm. There are approximately 2700 different kinds of earthworms across the world. Earthworms are cold-blooded animals. They have no arms, legs, or eyes, but they can sense light. Earthworms live where there is food, moisture, oxygen, and a favorable temperature. If they don't have these things, they go elsewhere. Believe it or not, in one acre of land there could be more than one million earthworms. Earthworms are great for the soil because they tunnel deeply in the soil and bring the subsoil closer to the surface, mixing it then with the topsoil. One neat thing about earthworms is they have the ability to replace or replicate lost parts of their body. This means if their tail happens to break or get cut off, it can easily be replaced and grow back. No, this is not a giant mosquito. This is actually a crane fly. These insects are one of the first signs that warm weather in spring is nearing. Adult crane flies are attracted to lights at night and can be a real nuisance when they end up indoors, flying around awkwardly and weakly and bumping into things. Many times they wind up slipping inside the house. But do not panic. They do not bite or sting. They're basically harmless. You can easily handle them, pick them up, and put them back outside. Crane flies are not predators, and they definitely don't eat mosquitoes. In fact, many adult crane flies eat very little if at all. Some might eat a little nectar from plants, but that's basically it. It's harmless. This unusual insect is a camel cricket. They're called camel crickets because of their shape of their body. Their heads are bent sort of down between their legs, and their body is sort of curved in the back to give them a humpback or camel-like appearance. This type of cricket lives in caves as well as damp, cool areas underneath leaves, stones, and rotting logs. It's commonly found in cellars and basements. Camel crickets are nocturnal or active at night, and they hide during the day. On many occasions, they're found congregating together in large groups in a damp, moist area. Unlike the field cricket, camel crickets do not possess the ability to make sound or chirps. They also do not have wings like other cricket species. However, they do have large, powerful back legs that give them the ability to leap away when scared or away from predators. You will notice that camel crickets have super long antennae. These long antennae help the cricket move around in the dark as well as sense food and avoid predators. Camel crickets have been known to eat almost anything, including fungi, roots, fruits, any decay in plant matter, even old clothes. These small craters that you sometimes see in soil, especially around buildings, is the home of the ant lion. Matter of fact, it's the larva of the ant lion. The larva of the ant lion lives in the hole and will catch an ant when it falls into the hole. The movement of the ant triggers the ant lion to come to the surface and grab the ant, which it uses as food. He's hidden in the ground. So what does he look like? Well, let's find out. What you do, take a stick and go round and around and around and you should bring him to the surface. Many folks say doodlebug, doodlebug, doodlebug when they do this because ant lines are also called doodlebugs. The larva of the ant line looks like this. He's a small guy, but he has big, long pairs of mandibles that he uses to catch his prey in the hole. When he grows up, he'll look like this winged insect as an adult. Wow. Our last bug is this guy crawling across the ground. This is a millipede. Millipedes are sometimes referred to as thousand legs. This body segment has two pairs of very short legs, not really a thousand. People often confuse millipedes and centipedes. Millipedes tend to have more of a rounded body and move slowly. Centipedes have flatter bodies, move a lot faster and have only one pair of legs per body segment. This millipede is about two inches long. They do not sting nor do they bite, so they're basically harmless. However, if disturbed, they will tend to coal up like a watchspring if threatened. In nature, millipedes are scavengers and feed mainly on decaying organic matter. They tend to live in areas with high moisture, but will remain hidden under objects during the day, but you'll occasionally find them crawling around. We hope you enjoyed those bugs today and learned some things. For more information on other 4-H youth events and activities, visit our website at www.acis.edu.