Pollinators are just as much part of my "favorite" list of invertebrates. After all, they are the ones that tirelessly visit flowers, one after the other, with the idea of extracting nectar and pollen from these showy plant genitalia.
Pollinators come in many different forms: Geckoes and arboreal lizards often lick nectar from flowers at night, and certain birds, like hummingbirds, are attracted to flowers, too. But the largest force in pollination comes from the world of bugs: bees, wasps, bumblebees, ants and even simple flies and blowflies have been observed visiting and pollinating flowers.
As most people know, the whole process of pollination allows pollen to be spread from flower to flower, causing genetic material to become distributed and fruits or seeds to set on the plant. It literally is the way plants reproduce; therefore, pollinators need to be kept "happy" by the plant, for without those pollinators the plant species will not reproduce, have offspring, and, hence, be doomed.
Without these vital pollinators, we would have no fruit, nuts, wine or cider, as well as many species of flowering plants and timber trees — hard to imagine!
 Bugs are and will continue to play a big role in the development of future human technology:
Looking for a great new air-conditioning system that doesn't require power to run? Some African termite species build huge mounds of clay and dirt especially for that purpose. Their invention is millions of years old and has stood the test of time.
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 Ants are often thought of as a real nuisance. These creatures gather their food in your garden or even your house — it all depends on what type of food they feed on and what you provide them with. Some species feed on protein debris, thereby cleaning the earth of miscellaneous dead insects and other animals, so these bodies don't lay around for years and years.
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 Maggots have been put on this planet to recycle waste material. These babies of houseflies tunnel through organic waste and slimy rubbish 24/7 and break it down to much smaller bits that are perfect fodder for smaller bugs and bacteria.
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 Predators and parasites are those bugs that eat other bugs. Why are they important? It has to do with the way we grow our food crops and timber species in the most sustainable way. You see, all creatures on our planet belong to a web of life, or ecological system. We are all familiar with the following simple relationship: antelopes eat grass and lions eat the antelopes. In other words, there'...
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 Family Lamponidae There are many species of white-tailed spiders and they are found throughout Australia. Some species are common in urban areas and are often seen in houses. White-tailed spiders usually wander at night, hunting and eating other spiders. The two common species, the Southern and Eastern White-tailed Spiders, Lampona cylindrata and L. murina, are similar in appearance and have overlapping distributio...
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 Funnel-web spiders, the most notorious members of our spider fauna, are found only in eastern Australia. There are at least 40 species currently placed in two genera: Hadronyche and Atrax. They are medium to large spiders, varying from 1-5 cm body length. Males are more lightly built than females. Body colour can vary from black to brown but the hard carapace covering the front part of the body is...
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