Insects Quiz: Test What You Know!

Written by Rebecca Bales — Published: May 30, 2023

How to Play:

Pay close attention to the image and captions provided to help you figure out the answer.

Key Points:

Insects make up the largest and most diverse group of animals on Earth, with over a million identified species.
Insects have been around for hundreds of millions of years and have successfully adapted to various ecosystems and habitats, from deserts to rainforests.
Many insects play crucial roles in ecosystems as pollinators, decomposers, and as a vital food source for other animals.

Welcome to the Insects Quiz: Test What You Know!

Are you fascinated by the world of insects and their incredible diversity?

This quiz is designed to challenge your knowledge and uncover just how much you know about these remarkable creatures.

From beetles to butterflies, ants to bees, and everything in between, prepare yourself for a fun and engaging exploration of the insect kingdom.

Get ready to test your insect expertise and discover fascinating facts along the way!

Soldier beetles are beneficial insects as they help pollinate flowers and get rid of insect pests. — Muskoka Stock Photos/Shutterstock.com

What is the largest insect in the world?

Hercules beetle

Giant Wu0113tu0101

Queen Alexandra’s birdwing butterfly

Goliath beetle

What is the smallest insect in the world?

Ant

Fairyfly

Mite

Flea

Bat bugs are oval-shaped insects that grow up to 0.19 inches. — iStock.com/Zdenek Macat

What is the most common insect in the world?

Fly

Butterfly

Beetle

Ant

Interesting Facts About Insects

The incredible diversity in size, shape, color, biology, and life history of insects makes their study truly captivating, and their significance in our lives cannot be overstated. Insects play a vital role in pollinating a wide range of fruits, flowers, and vegetables, without which our world would be fundamentally altered.

Here are some interesting facts about insects:

Bees can fly up to 60 miles in a single day while foraging for food.
Ants have the impressive ability to lift and carry more than fifty times their own weight.
Mexican Jumping Beans, which are occasionally sold commercially, contain a caterpillar of a bean moth inside.
It would take approximately one hundred Monarch Butterflies to weigh one ounce.
The praying mantis is the sole insect with the ability to rotate its head.

Click beetle larvae have elongated, slender, shiny bodies with hard exoskeletons. — Henrik Larsson/Shutterstock.com

What is the lifespan of a worker honeybee?

1-2 weeks

1-2 years

1-2 months

6-8 months

Parasitic flies are known for their unique ability to lay eggs on other insects. — iStock.com/Wirestock

What is the lifespan of a queen honeybee?

1-2 months

1-2 years

1-2 weeks

6-8 months

D. Kucharski K. Kucharska/Shutterstock.com

What is the scientific name for the honeybee?

Apis mellifera

Xylocopa violacea

Bombus terrestris

Megachile rotundata

The Evolution of Insects

It is believed that insects have originated from a lineage of crustaceans. The earliest insects were primarily land-dwelling, but approximately 400 million years ago, during the Devonian period, a particular group of insects developed the ability to fly, marking them as the first known creatures to achieve powered flight.

The earliest well-documented fossil of an insect is that of a wingless creature resembling a silverfish, dating back approximately 385 million years.

However, it was only around 60 million years later, during the Pennsylvanian era, that insect fossils began to appear in abundance, marking a significant period in the Earth’s history.

Here are three evolutionary innovations of insects:

Ametabolous: Referring to a type of insect development where there is no distinct metamorphosis stage, and the young resemble miniature adults.
Hemimetabolous: Describing a form of insect development characterized by incomplete metamorphosis, with three distinct stages: egg, nymph, and adult.
Holometabolous: Pertaining to a mode of insect development that involves complete metamorphosis, with four distinct stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult.

A bee sitting on a beautiful colored flower. The honey bee is the only insect that produces food eaten by man. — iStock.com/Niklas Toelle

What is the scientific name for the monarch butterfly?

Papilio machaon

Vanessa atalanta

Danaus plexippus

Heliconius melpomene

Cockroach nymphs are mistaken for bed bugs because we tend to think the worst when we spot a bug in the bed. — bamgraphy/Shutterstock.com

What is the scientific name for the ladybug?

Coccinella septempunctata

Hippodamia convergens

Harmonia axyridis

Adalia bipunctata

Praying Mantis, Mantis religiosa, eating a grasshopper. — iStock.com/artas

Giant African mantis or bush mantis sitting on a branch. — Karel Bartik/Shutterstock.com

Found worldwide in both temperate and tropical habitats, the praying mantis is known for its large, triangular head, bulbous eyes, and ability to grasp prey with its spiked forelegs. — Ryzhkov Oleksandr/Shutterstock.com

What is the scientific name for the praying mantis?

Hierodula membranacea

Stagmomantis carolina

Mantodea

Tenodera sinensis

grasshopper camouflaged on leaf — iStock.com/Peter Fleming

The hedge grasshopper is endemic to north Australia — Cassandra Madsen/Shutterstock.com

What is the scientific name for the grasshopper?

Chorthippus parallelus

Omocestus viridulus

Caelifera (Suborder)

Schistocerca americana

The Florida Woods cockroach is large, slow and land-based, unable to fly. — Nainong/Shutterstock.com

The Florida Woods cockroach is often called the — Nainong/Shutterstock.com

Smokybrown cockroaches, larvae and adults. — iStock.com/Yusuke Ide

What is the scientific name for the cockroach?

Blattella germanica

Blatta orientalis

Periplaneta americana

Supella longipalpa

Some insects, such as termites, pictured here, burrow underground. — Witsawat.S/Shutterstock.com

Undergoing incomplete metamorphosis, termites have three stages: egg, nymph, and adult. — 7th Son Studio/Shutterstock.com

What is the scientific name for the termite?

Reticulitermes flavipes

Nasutitermes corniger

Coptotermes formosanus

Hodotermes mossambicus

A sight to behold in the spring and summer, fireflies are a welcome and beautiful sight. — Fer Gregory/Shutterstock.com

Not all species of firefly have the ability to produce light. — Fer Gregory/Shutterstock.com

What is the scientific name for the firefly?

Luciola lusitanica

Phausis reticulata

Lampyris noctiluca

Isoptera

Are you ready for mosquitoes this summer?

The most dangerous insect of all, the mosquito causes more deaths than any other animal or insect on the planet. — Achkin/Shutterstock.com

Mosquito sucking blood on human skin. — iStock.com/auimeesri

What is the scientific name for the mosquito?

Culicidae

Culex pipiens

Anopheles gambiae

Mansonia uniformis

Flea tapeworm proglottid of the species Dipylidium caninum. — Vinicius R. Souza/Shutterstock.com

What is the scientific name for the flea?

Siphonaptera

Tunga penetrans

Xenopsylla cheopis

Pulex irritans

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About the Author

Rebecca Bales

Rebecca is an experienced Professional Freelancer with nearly a decade of expertise in writing SEO Content, Digital Illustrations, and Graphic Design. When not engrossed in her creative endeavors, Rebecca dedicates her time to cycling and filming her nature adventures alongside her supportive partner. When not focused on her passion for creating and crafting optimized materials, she harbors a deep fascination and love for cats, jumping spiders, and pet rats.