Nature is a unique organism. It is hard to imagine a more finely organized system. Despite the infinite variety of forms and species of organisms filling it, interaction and order reign everywhere. For the number of species that fill the flora and fauna, predators are responsible. They can be found in any community, even among the smallest creatures - insects.
Who are they predators?
By the definition of biologists, these are living organisms living by eating other individuals that are smaller and weaker than them. They can completely eat their victim or only part of it. These are active predators or parasites in a larger organism. They all need protein foods at all stages of life. Insect predators are a very diverse group. They are very different from each other and belong to different classes, but you can easily name which insects by type of nutrition are predators.
Predatory Insect Features
There are a number of features for characterization to identify which insects are predators:
• these are organisms that eat several types of creatures;
• both adults and larvae move quickly in search of food and prey;
• may be parasites of larger organisms, but ultimately lead to host death;
• exhibit predator qualities at all stages of maturation.
Do not think that these are terrible, disgusting creatures. Most of these insects are harmless to humans. Many of them cause a feeling of tenderness.
The benefits of predator insects
In this large group of carnivorous creatures, insect predators useful for agriculture stand out. Examples of these organisms are in any gardener's reference book. These include ladybugs, acarophages, anthocoria, spiders, ants. Predatory insects are specially bred on a land plot or in laboratories. They kill pests of healthy cereals, legumes and green crops. Their useful qualities for gardeners are determined by what predatory insects eat.
In the wild, they control the number of herbivorous congeners. By eating primarily sick and weakened individuals, predator insects drive on natural selection. Do not allow diseases within the community to develop to the scale of an epidemic. Significant benefits come from predator insects. The list of these carnivores is very diverse in classes and characteristics.
ladybug
The sweetest creature turns out to be a voracious predator. Picking it up in a meadow, on a tree or path, many do not suspect that a ladybug is eating. Its main diet is aphids. A small bug eats more than a hundred of these pests of agricultural fields and gardens per day. The ladybug larva needs up to two thousand of these insects. Ladybug benefits agrarians and regulates aphids. Overwinter this insect remains in fallen leaves, tree bark, mowed grass. To attract a ladybug to your site, you need to plant barley or alfalfa. You can buy these insects in specialized stores for a quick powerful fight against aphids.
Ground beetle
Very fast predator. A fairly large beetle with a bronze tint. It does not fly, but runs fast.
He loves light non-acidic soils, dry grass and decayed foliage. Ground beetle larva also has a high speed of movement. Great helper for gardeners. Destroys larvae, caterpillars, snails and slugs. It leads mainly a nocturnal lifestyle. Lives in the topsoil under old leaves and fallen grass. Very active in search of food. Over the summer it is able to eat up to four hundred caterpillars, and the beetle larva is even more voracious. Experienced gardeners know the benefits of ladybugs and ground beetles in their area. Thanks to them, the use of chemistry to destroy pests is reduced at times, and this is a huge plus for human health.
Ground beetle
If the garden beetle needs to be supported in every possible way in the garden and fields, then the bread collector must be categorically destroyed. It feeds on cereals that are beneficial to humans. Eats wheat, barley, oats, corn at the time of formation of the ear. The bread ground beetle larva feeds on the roots of the cereal. The plant inevitably dies.
Common lacewing
Belongs to the class of retinal insects. It has large wings with a green tint.
Uses what a ladybug eats. Loves the sweet aphids. The laceworm larva eats the aphid itself in very large quantities. It destroys up to one hundred aphids per day. The common lacewing will greatly benefit the garden. In addition to aphids, it copes with Putin mite, leaflet, carrot, onion and cabbage fly, caterpillars and scale insects. To save the number of lacewings on the site, special houses with bait for these insects are used, they take care of providing a place for wintering and plant early flowering plants for nutrition after hibernation.
Dragonfly
At least once in a lifetime, but each person examined this insect. Particularly attractive are beautiful iridescent wings and a mask on the head. When you see a powerful retractable jaw, the question does not arise: is a dragonfly a predatory insect or not?
It is a fast flying predator. Lives near water bodies. Leads mostly solitary lifestyle. It feeds on mosquitoes, small flies and bugs. Chasing the victim, it can accelerate to eighty kilometers per hour. With tenacious paws, the victim grabs on the fly and deals with it with the help of a powerful jaw. Dragonflies differ in the shape of the wings, the location of the aircraft and the length of the body, but in all the larva leads a long aquatic life. Some species in this stage spend more than five years. Dragonfly larva is a predatory insect in water bodies. Sedentary, but very gluttonous. It feeds on mosquito larvae, bugs and fry. The long-winged beauty herself is attacked by fish, birds and large insects. Therefore, the number of dragonflies is not so great.
Mantis
Insect of a beautiful green, brown or yellow shade with an interesting pose of the forelegs. They are raised up, as in prayer. Hence the name of the insect. Raised up the legs of a mantis mean a threat to everyone who wants to attack him. This gesture shows that it is better not to approach. Also, raised legs mean that the mantis is hunting. On the outside of the limbs are sharp, like blades, spikes to defeat the victim.
Mantis help hunt sharp vision and the ability to turn his head 180 degrees. They always see where what is happening. Eating a prey, the mantis does not relax, so as not to become a dinner itself. His movements are slow and unhurried.
For humans, praying mantises are not dangerous, although they reach 15 cm in length. To immovable objects, he is indifferent. Its diet consists of small rodents, birds, bees, lizards, small snakes, frogs and various insects. Often, praying mantis is eaten by relatives, if there is not enough other food. After mating, the female bites off the male’s head to satisfy her hunger. Mantis are insidious, merciless and voracious predators. The larva is able to eat up to 5-7 aphids per day. The adult mantis is always hungry. Eats 7-8 medium beetles per day.
Grasshopper green
The green grasshopper that lives in our strip is omnivorous. Lives and hunts in the dense grass. His larva is also a predator. Grasshoppers can easily cope with prey. A powerful bite in the back of the head immobilizes the victim much larger than himself. Aphids, clutches of other insects, caterpillars, and locusts are eaten. If there is not enough protein food, go to vegetarianism.
Wasp
These insects have more than 100 thousand species. They are similar in structure, but differ in the way they organize life.
There are loners, public colonies and parasites. They are different from bees. Wasps are large insects with a well-developed jaw apparatus and a reusable sting. Having stung once, the wasp will not die. This is the answer to the question: "Wasp - a predatory insect or not?" The diet of an adult and larva includes small bugs, caterpillars and spiders. The wasp injects poison into the body of the victim, which paralyzes and immobilizes future food. Then he brings her to his house. Wasp parasites use the victim’s paralyzed body to lay eggs so that young animals have something to eat. A paralyzed individual does not die for a long time and retains freshness.
Wasps benefit gardeners. They kill a lot of caterpillars, spiders, ticks, malicious worms.
Neighborhood with wasps is not pleasant for everyone. Among them there are giants - these are hornets. Large, with a booming buzz, living in colonies, they become unpleasant neighbors if they settle under the roof of a house, cornice or attic.
Wasps aren’t attacking a person just like that. If they feel threatened, then the entire colony army is ready to deliver a preemptive strike.
Bug
Not all bugs are predators. Among them there are herbivorous species and individuals with mixed nutrition. The most prominent representatives of carnivorous ticks are Antokoris, Oriius and Reduvida. At all stages of life, they actively feed on aphids, thrips, whiteflies, spider mites and spiders, eggs of butterflies and beetles. Rhodius bugs feed on eggs, larvae and adults of the Colorado potato beetle. Macrolofus destroy the greenhouse pest - whitefly.
They are actively used in agriculture to control pests. But bed bugs need a lot of food. Destroying all pests, they will change their habitat.
Waterbug bug
Active predatory insect in water bodies.
With the help of sensitive receptors on the legs and antennae, it picks up the slightest fluctuations in water and rushes there in search of food. It hunts flies, mosquitoes, horseflies, insects that have fallen in the water. It eats masonry eggs in water and on land, next to a pond. In the middle zone, the bug-water strider is harmless to humans. In a tropical climate, these individuals are much larger and have a toxic gland. The bite is very painful, like a bee sting.
Common earwig
A frightening appearance with two tentacles on the back of the body is very scary for many gardeners. In fact, all the fables about the poisonousness and jumping ability of the earwig are fiction. It has a mixed type of food. It lives in the upper soil layer. Digs many moves in the ground, harming the roots of cultivated plants. Nibbles the roots and stems of plants, leaves and flowers. It hunts spider mites, spiders, caterpillars, and worms. He loves aphids. For humans it is harmless. The benefits for agriculture are twofold. It kills pests, but in the process of life it harms cultivated plants.
Ants
The ant family has vegetarians and carnivores. The omnivorous forest and black garden ants are well-known to all. The diet of predatory species includes eggs, larvae, small insects, worms, amphibians. Ants feed their offspring with animal protein. A striking representative of this is the bulldog ant.
It is larger than a forest ant. May attack bees and wasps. The powerful jaws of the ant give the victim no chance. For the garden, a large number of garden ants is destructive. They breed aphids, feed on their sweet secretions and carefully take care of increasing the numbers of these individuals. Forest ants are real orderlies. Hunting caterpillars, beetles and worms, they pick up dead creatures, decaying animal remains.
Ghost flies
This is a large family of insects. In appearance, they imitate bees, wasps, bumblebees. Having a menacing color, they are absolutely harmless. They feed on plant foods. The larvae of all beetles are predators. Like a ladybug, they massively eat aphids. The larva is very gluttonous. A day can eat up to 30 aphids. If there is a caterpillar or other small insect on the way, the larva of the creeper will eat it. At the initial stage, this insect leads a sedentary lifestyle and does not miss the opportunity to enjoy any protein food.
Spiders
Well-known predators. Some weave a web and lure their victim there. Others shoot sticky secrets into future food and draw it to themselves. The basis of the diet of spiders is insects. Everything that flies, jumps and crawls goes to spiders for lunch. Small spiders prey on butterflies, flies, mosquitoes, beetles and grasshoppers. They weave their net-traps and wait for the victim, luring it by shaking the web. Water spiders feed on floating insects of ponds, fry, and tadpoles. Earthly individuals, injecting poison into the victim’s body, immobilize it and drag it into their hole. They eat worms, bugs and caterpillars. Large spiders living in warm climates are dangerous for birds, snakes, small vertebrates and humans.
Riders
Adults feed on plant foods. The larva needs protein food for development. The female rider injects eggs into the victim's body and injects the virus. It subordinates the host organism to the development of parasite larvae that feed on its internal organs. Caterpillars, bugs, large insects, even wasps serve as a home for future offspring. For humans, riders are not dangerous.
Scolopendra
All individuals of this species are predators. A fast, brisk and gluttonous millipede poses a serious danger to beetles, insects and invertebrates. She feels color shades and the slightest sound vibrations. These qualities help to find a victim. Large individuals living in a tropical and subtropical climate prey on snakes and birds. For a person, a scolopendra bite is not fatal, although it is very painful.
Ktyr fly
Outwardly, it looks like a large mosquito. It flies quickly and swiftly attacks the victim, is able to freeze in the air, and then fall as a stone on future food. May attack wasps, dragonflies and beetles. Injecting strong poison into the victim’s body, it quickly sucks it out, then is ready to hunt again.
A huge variety of insect predators. The list of carnivores can take an entire book. Hunting and eating living creatures, they favorably affect the number of herbivorous organisms, help a person fight pests of agricultural activity, and are a link in the food chain.