Insects and spiders at the Australian Museum

In the Bugwise¹ program at the Australian Museum find out what insects and spiders you share your school with and why they are vitally important to a healthy planet.

Use the Web2spider² tool kit (.pdf 3.5 MB). Test your knowledge of spiders with this quick quiz³.

Listen and learn from students about how the Web2spider kit worked⁴ at a Sydney school.

Watch a video of various types of spider webs⁵. Try the dichotomous key⁶ in the Web2spider kit to identify a spider from its web.

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Photo Charles Haynes⁷ CC BY-SA 2.0⁸

What is the difference between an insect and a spider?

Look at what are spiders?⁹ and what are insects?¹⁰ and investigate their features. Use this activity to check your understanding of the differences between insects and spiders.

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Photo by Rama¹¹ CC-BY-SA 2.0¹²

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What might be the common name for this fly?

Check with the Bugwise Invertebrate Guide¹³ and use the guide to identify other insects you encounter.

Learn more about invertebrates with an activity in three parts to match a creature¹⁴, create a creature¹⁵ and find a creature a home¹⁶ (NSW DET logon needed).

Pollination

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What do you know about flowers and bees? Plant2pollinator¹⁸ is a practical science resource for understanding pollinator partnerships. Learn more about insect pollination in this P2p presentation¹⁹.

Do you have the skill to identify insects? Try the What is my insect?²⁰ pollinator key (.pdf 236 kB). Use the pollinator preference key²¹ to find out which insects prefer to visit particular flowers, then test yourself with this activity.

Bugs in fresh water

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Investigate freshwater in Macrobiotica²². Try a virtual sampling activity to determine what water bugs are present, and from that understand which of two lakes is polluted.

Insect pests

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Herbivore2Damage²³ is a tool for studying invertebrates that eat plants.

Herbivore2damage field investigation²⁴ is a guide to investigating the diversity of insect life by identifying evidence of activity on plant shoots and leaves.