Spiders can send a chill down a person's back; oh yes, arachnophobia can be a rotten affliction and there's no need to feel ashamed about being arachnophobic in the true sense of the medical word. But the problem that the Bugman faces is that spiders should be viewed with a great deal of respect and awe, simply because they are amazing creatures and there’s much more to them than we see at first sight of those eight-legged, hairy predators.
Spiders are predators. They catch all sorts of insects and bugs that may be a nuisance to us. For example, the daddy longlegs catch flies, mosquitoes and other critters inside our house. The effect spiders have on the environment is one of balance. They keep other bug populations in check and play the part of control agents.
To make a numerical example of the impact of spiders I need to quote some research carried out in England, some time ago. There it was calculated that all the spiders in England annually capture and eat a quantity of insects equivalent to the total weight of the human population in that country! Imagine it: 70 million people's worth of insect meat, eaten by spiders, each year!
By now you probably realize that the Bugman's "favorite" bug is any small creature that has a brilliant story attached to its life. The funny thing is that even the "real bad" characters have a role to play on this globe of ours.
 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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 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.
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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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