Take a closer look at nature's amazing insect architect-the hornet! Each year, a young female hornet queen selects just the right spot and designs a nest of six-sided cells. Every cell is made from a paper-like material she creates by mixing wood with her own saliva. Once she has a small structure, she lays an egg in each cell and raises her young. Soon the queen has a whole family of workers, which continue to build more cells and increase the size...

Watch one of nature's hardest-working insect families in action-termites! Hundreds of thousands of termites can live together in one nest. The termite queen spends her life laying eggs. The eggs hatch into workers that clean the queen, watch over the eggs, search for food, tend the nest's gardens, and guard the nest and each other. But a termite family's most amazing feat is building the huge mound that protects the nest. Thousands of tiny termites...

Look out for these public enemy's-mosquitoes-as they are after blood! Mosquito females need a meal of blood before they can lay their eggs. They target humans and animals and zoom in for a feast. But these insects may do more harm than causing itchy welts. Mosquitoes can also pass along a number of serious and deadly diseases to those they bite. Humans have developed a number of ways to get rid of mosquitoes, from spreading chemicals to putting mosquito...

Avoid these tiny, disease-carrying hitchhikers-they are ticks! In this book, you will learn how ticks are similar to and different from other arachnids. Close-up photographs and diagrams reveal extraordinary details about the tick's body both inside and out. And a hands-on activity will show you how a tick's bite can spread disease-causing organisms through your body-or your pet's body. Learn more about this fascinating member of nature's Arachnid...

Watch out for these masters of defense-stick insects! Their secret weapon is being able to hide in plain sight. To protect themselves from predators, they have developed long, narrow bodies. They blend right in to the branches they live on. Some stick insects even have extra growths that look like leaves for more camouflage. Stick insects also protect themselves by being most active at night when it is even harder to see them. They escape from predators...

Even the cleanest house is a habitat for micromonsters! But don't worry-most are harmless. This revealing volume takes readers on a meet-and-greet tour of the tiniest organisms that live in people's homes. Full-page photographs of alien-like creatures in high-magnification will amaze, while "Monstrous Data" tables and "Gross or What?" boxes both astound and educate. Future biologists will come to appreciate that life is all around, no matter how many...

Meet some of the creepiest―and tiniest―critters in the world. Learn where they live, how they survive, and what damage they can do if you ever run into them.

Cruel beetle fashionista Lucretia Cutter is still at large with her yellow ladybird spies. And now that she's brainwashed Darkus's father to stay by her side -he, Virginia, and Bertolt are determined to stop her... once and for all. The final installment in the Beetle trilogy flies readers to Lucretia's secret Biome hidden in the Amazon rain forest. If they can't stop Lucretia, she will release her hoard of giant Frankenstein beetles, and the planet...

All hornets are scary, but Japanese giant hornets are downright deadly. These massive flying insects are much bigger than the hornets in your backyard and can turn an ordinary day outside into a fight for survival. Readers will marvel at these horrible hornets, how they live, and how other animals try to fight them off. Full-color photographs show these terrifying creatures up close and personal, displaying just how large they are and what makes them...

Follow the stealthy creatures with long, spindly legs-they are harvestmen! In this book, you will learn how harvestmen are similar to and different from other arachnids. Close-up photographs and diagrams reveal extraordinary details about the harvestmen's bodies, both inside and out. And a hands-on activity reveals how harvestmen walk on long legs using only their sense of touch to get around. Learn more about this fascinating member of nature's Arachnid...