Do you ever wonder why certain bugs and insects even exist? Like, what purpose could they possibly serve except to annoy us?
Well, some bugs truly are beneficial to human beings and our world.
Learn about four bugs we love and what purpose they serve in the ecosystem.
Honey Bees
Did you know that, without honey bees and other pollinating insects, the world would lose about one-third of its food supply?
We’re talking about vegetables, fruits, and foliage (like clover eaten by our livestock).
Studies have shown that one in three bites of food is, directly or indirectly, pollinated by honey bees.
Honey bees pollinate our flowers and other plants. This activity is critical because pollination is the fertilizer plants need to create seeds and reproduce.
If that’s not enough, honey bees are the only producers of honey – a sweet treat we certainly enjoy that offers numerous health benefits.
Honey bees are disappearing due to things like pesticides used in farming, a lack of natural food sources, and other hardships. What a tragedy.
Contact Croach® for bee removal if bees, wasps, yellow jackets, or hornets become a problem for you.
Ladybugs
Ladybugs are harmless to humans. Even if they tried to bite you, you wouldn’t notice. Their mandibles are too small to have any effect on human skin.
Some ladybugs excrete a yellowish toxin to defend themselves. It makes them taste bad to their predators. But this doesn’t affect humans either.
Their biggest benefit to our ecosystem? Ladybugs eat aphids! You know, those tiny sap-sucking bugs that cause extensive damage to gardens and crops.
It isn’t uncommon for farmers and gardeners to purchase ladybugs to protect their plants, flowers, and fields. Ladybugs will eat most agriculture-destroying aphids and mites.
Ladybugs can become a problem for humans and will infest homes, swarming in the thousands. If ladybugs are a concern for you, get a free pest inspection.
Praying Mantises
Praying mantises are also purchased for gardens. They are fierce predators of many destructive bugs.
Baby mantises eat aphids, leafhoppers, mosquitoes, and other soft-bodied insects. But, as babies, mantises are easy prey themselves.
As they grow into adults, they will eat larger insects like beetles, grasshoppers, moths, caterpillars, and sometimes even wasps.
Praying mantises look scary to some people. But they are non-aggressive carnivorous insects and will not attack unless provoked. Even then, if they bite you, you’ll feel only a pinch. They are not the least bit dangerous.
Dragonflies
Dragonflies are about to become one of your favorite insects. Why? Because the main diet of dragonflies is annoying, blood-sucking mosquitoes!
In truth, only the female mosquitoes bite. After feeding, they mate with a male and lay up to 300 eggs at a time.
That’s why you'll often find dragonflies feeding around ponds, lakes, or other water sources where mosquito larvae thrive.
Dragonflies are not aggressive. If you approach, they will usually fly away. Even with a net, these insects are hard to catch. But if one lands on or near you, be kind. They will not hurt you.
Some Bugs are the Bee’s Knees!
You will probably encounter honey bees, ladybugs, praying mantises, or dragonflies at some point in the future. And now you’ll have a new respect for their beneficial purpose in our world.
- Honey bees contribute significantly to our food supply through pollination.
- Ladybugs eat the tiny mites that damage our gardens and crops.
- Praying mantises eat the bigger bugs that destroy our agriculture.
- Dragonflies eat mosquitoes. Enough said!
Some of the ‘bad bugs’ we prefer to avoid are beneficial to humans and our planet too, each in their own ways.
Pest control is not about the total extermination of annoying or even dangerous pests. It’s about management, prevention, and elimination.
Stinging insects, rodents, spiders, clover mites, and other creepy crawlies do need to be managed. We don’t want them to grow in numbers to where they become a big problem for humans and our health, homes, and food supply.
Call us or send us a message online to schedule a free comprehensive pest inspection.
Free Pest Inspection