Insects, pests, creepy crawlies, whatever you like to call them, are very much a part of our daily life, whether we like it or not. They generally keep to themselves and go unnoticed, until of course, they get in our way or in our food.
We find them in the garden, in our houses, in the fields, under rocks, in our ponds and sometimes on us ! Sometimes we fear them, sometimes we like them and sometimes we kill them. Generally, they are misunderstood.
Insects have been on this earth since the early Devonian period, which was some 400 million years ago, long before dinosaurs and humans existed! Lots of things were happening in this period, fish were emerging and so too, seed-bearing plants.
Some scientists believe the first insects to evolve were from centipede-like creatures which began appearing on earth in the Silurian Period . However it wasn’t really until the Cretaceous Period (145 million years ago) , that things began looking up for the insect. This was the period of the flowering plant and many new insect species began to emerge to take advantage of the forests and the newly established pollen producing vegetation. It didn’t take long for insects to begin adapting to the changing environment. One of the most significant developments for insects at this time, was the ability to fly. This enabled the small creatures, especially bees, to move freely from flower to flower and inevitably spread pollen over greater distances.