A BLIZZARD OF BUGS--

I left my outside lights on one recent evening and came home to the usual summertime blizzard of bugs swirling on my front patio.

It was one of those close-your-eyes, hold-your-breath challenges to get in the door without being accompanied by a zillion flying and biting creatures.

Then, I began to ponder—the amazing world of insects!

Did you know there are over a million described species of these rascals; more than all other animal groups combined. In that statistic I was aghast to learn there are more than 120,000 species of flies alone.

Many insects are considered pests by humans. Those commonly regarded as pests include ones that are parasitic, (mosquitoes, lice, bedbugs) transmit diseases, (mosquitoes, flies) damage structures, (termites) or destroy agricultural goods (locusts, and weevils).

Although pest insects attract the most attention, many insects are beneficial. Some (wasps, bees, butterflies and ants) pollinate flowering plants, a task crucial to the growth of many fruits and vegetables.

Insects also produce useful substances such as honey, wax, lacquer and silk.

Many insects, especially beetles, are scavengers feeding on dead animals and fallen trees thus recycling the biological materials into forms found useful by other organisms, and, insects are responsible for much of the process by which topsoil is created.

Finally, the most useful of all insects are insectivores; those that feed on other insects. Most folks cheer at the very thought of that process.

Egad; all of this just because I was bugged by a bunch of bugs.

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The photo shows a squadron of bugs around my front light during an exposure of about 30 seconds.