Life with insects

They say that as you get older you often feel imaginary things crawling on your skin, but it's just

some sort of nerve damage.  I feel something crawling on me every day.  I brush it away, as you do and find there actually is some tiny little beetle or flying thing on the back of my neck or climbing up my legs or arms. I suppose that is normal for the sub-tropics.

The really amazing thing is - they are all so different.  Just while writing this I've flicked off a flying ant and a tiny spider and squashed a long narrow climbing thingy. They all share my living room.

So, how many different types of insects are there?

Just in Australia, the number of insect species is estimated at 300,000.  And, scientists tell us that there are more insects yet to be discovered than we already know about.  In fact, there could be as many as 200,000 insects on the planet PER person.

Lots of creatures eat insects, so they are handy to have.  Entomophagy is the eating of insects by people.  Three thousand ethnic groups around the world include insects in their diet, including cicadas, ants, grubs and worms.  Crunchy!

I like looking at the pretty ones.