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Insects and flies
Name: Carol L Giles
Age: N/A
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
What would the world be like without insects?
How long can a fly hibernate being that its life span is very short?
Name the insect that has the longest life span.
Replies:
If all insects were to suddenly die, then the insect-eating small
animals (e.g. chickens, bats, birds, frogs) would die, as would most
flowering plants (apple trees, corn, potatoes), from a lack of insects to
carry the pollen from male to female plant. Higher animals that ate the
flowering plants or insect-eating animals would then die. Given these
facts, and starting from the fact that insects themselves constitute the
majority of the life on the planet, it's a safe bet that the sudden death
of all insects would mean the death of most or perhaps nearly all the life
on Earth. If on the other hand the insects died off slowly, or had never
been, probably some other small life form of very similar habits would
evolve to fill the niche.
I don't believe houseflies can hibernate at all. All the houseflies
you see each summer are descended from the miniscule number that survive
the winter in sheltered warm spots, a tribute to the fantastic breeding
ability of flies.
I have no idea what the longest-lived insect is, but I'd nominate the
17-year locust.
Christopher Grayce
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Update: June 2012
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