Which insect species are beneficial to the Earth?
In our lives, many insects are very beneficial to the Earth and to humans. Without them, the ecological balance of the natural world would be disrupted, which would seriously affect our lives. So we must protect these beneficial insects and live in peace with them. Below, the editor introduces several kinds of insects that are beneficial to the Earth, and let us take a look together.
1. Dragonfly
The dragonfly is a carnivorous insect that specifically feeds on mosquitoes, flies and other small insects. A large green dragonfly commonly known as the "green-headed dart" can casually eat around two thousand small flying insects such as aphids in a day. It is of great help to human life, not only benefiting human health, but also playing a major role in the abundant harvest of farmland crops.
2. Bee
Bees are the most industrious insects. They collect nectar and pollinate, pollinating crops, fruit trees, vegetables, pasture grass, oil-tea crops and medicinal plants, and yields can increase several times up to 20 times. And honey is a commonly used tonic for people, enjoying the reputation of "milk for the elderly"; bee pollen is hailed by people as a "miniature nutrition bank"; and royal jelly is an even more premium nutritional product, able not only to strengthen the constitution and prolong life, but also to treat chronic diseases such as neurasthenia, anemia and gastric ulcers. Beeswax and propolis are both raw materials for light industry.
3. Earthworm
Earthworms live in the soil, burrowing back and forth through it and loosening the soil, which helps air and water seep into the soil and benefits the growth of plants and crops. Earthworms can also improve soil fertility: the decaying organic matter and large amount of soil particles that earthworms swallow are digested and excreted as droppings, which are rich in nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.
4. Mantis
The mantis is an important natural enemy of agricultural pests. In ancient Greece, people regarded the mantis as a prophet, because the way its forelimbs are raised looks like a young girl praying, and so the mantis is also called the praying insect. The mantis is the little overlord of the insect kingdom: it has a slender body and an elegant appearance, but its temperament is very fierce. In particular, its pair of "broadsword"-like forelegs make other insects shrink back.
5. Seven-spot ladybird
The seven-spot ladybird is a well-known beneficial insect. The adults can prey on pests such as wheat aphids, cotton aphids, peach aphids and mites, greatly reducing the pest damage suffered by many melons and fruits, crops and trees.
6. Silkworm
The silkworm is one of the insects that has contributed to humans for the longest time and to the greatest extent, and it is also the main source of raw material for silk, occupying an important position in human economic life and cultural history. The silkworm is also the source of the traditional Chinese medicine "stiff silkworm".
7. Green lacewing
Green lacewings belong to the family Chrysopidae in the order Neuroptera. Some organisms in the family Chrysopidae eat only about 150 aphids in their entire lives, while others can eat 100 aphids in a week. Therefore, in some countries, millions of such insects are raised for biological pest control in agriculture and horticulture.
8. Lac insect
The lac insect is a world-famous resource insect. The secretions of the female lac insect are an important source of the industrial raw material shellac. The largest shellac-producing region in our country is within Yunnan Province. Our country produces hundreds of thousands of kilograms of shellac annually, which, besides meeting the needs of the domestic market, can also be partly exported.
The above is an introduction to the species of insects beneficial to the Earth. In fact, besides the above species, there are many more beneficial insects in life, such as predatory mites, hoverflies, robber flies, predatory stink bugs, predatory thrips, predatory ground beetles, predatory spiders, slugs, blister beetles, trichogramma wasps and so on. All living things in nature have a reason to exist; beneficial insects are not necessarily entirely beneficial, and pests sometimes also play a big role for humans.
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