Explore every episode of the podcast Bug Bytes

Pill bugs. Sow bugs. Doodle bugs. Roly-polies. From around the world, there are at least another dozen nicknames for these small animals that are more scientifically referred to as terrestrial isopods, or woodlice.

If you suffer from arachnophobia (the fear of spiders), then hold onto your seat. While the thought of one spider might be terrifying, what about spiders that hunt in packs of hundreds?

The roaches are messy eaters, leaving bits of foo on their heads. The mites are like a tiny cleaning crew that eats any scraps of food left on the roach’s face.

Most Hairstreak Butterflies have hair-like tails looking like a pair of antennae and the colored marks looking like eyes. It appears that the butterfly has two heads!

Ouch, that really hurts! But in comparison to the sting of other insects, how much does it really hurt?

These six-legged architects regulate the mound’s internal temperature by opening and closing heating and cooling vents they constructed throughout their home, enabling them to adjust air currents to keep their insect skyscraper at the ideal temperature.

Instead of slipping on a cloak, two species of moths rely on the unique shape of the scales that cover their wings to go undetected by bats.

Male cicadas use their blaring sounds to communicate with other cicadas. Their songs are used as alarm calls, territorial calls, or ballads to woo the ladies.

Introducing, the Harvester Butterfly …the only species of butterfly in North America where the caterpillars eat meat. More specifically, Woolly aphids are on their limited menu.

While other beetles are known to make various squeaks and hisses, Bess Beetle adults and larvae can make 14 distinctly different sounds to convey danger to the rest of the family, attract a mate, and enable family communications.

Lemon Ants prefer to build their homes in the stems of the tree species that survive in Devil’s Gardens. As it turns out, this is not a coincidence. In the eyes of a Lemon Ant, other trees not suitable for housing their kin just get in the way and take up valuable real estate. To make their surroundings more suitable for the continued existence and growth of their colony, it’s the Lemon Ants that rub out any rival vegetation.

When choosing a mate, the females within a rather unique family of flies make their decision depending on whether the eyes have it or not.

Here in Montana, we generally see our first Orchard Mason Bees of the season by mid-April. Resembling a large fly, the males of these bluish-green native bees emerge first, waiting patiently for the females to emerge in a week or so to mate.

If you haven’t heard of the Asian Giant Hornet before, you might be more familiar with their other, more sinister, name …the Murder Hornet. As the world’s largest species of hornet, Asian Giant Hornets are fierce predators with a preference for honeybees.

With a body length of about 3 inches, these sizeable dragonflies can travel up to 900 miles. One migrating species that flies below most people’s radar is the Common Green Darner.

While some silk slingers make large, elaborate webs, there’s one species that might at first appear a bit lazy in the web-building department. But what it seemingly lacks in motivation is more than made up for with style.

No, bioscatter is not a gathering of confused biologists. And no, it’s not what happens when you turn on the lights in a cockroach infested apartment. It’s a phenomenon that’s been documented for well over a century, but is becoming more important with our changing climate.

The aphids survive winter in the egg stage and emerge with the return of warmer weather. Surprisingly, all of the hatching eggs produce females. So, with no males in the population, the ladies employ a different reproductive strategy.

To an arachnophobe, nothing is more terrifying than the thought of a spider. Despite efforts to convince them how amazing spiders are, more than a few times our conversation ended with something like, “Well, thank goodness they can’t fly.” I’m sorry to say, that’s not exactly true.

Lacking the ability of their larger counterparts to loudly profess their desire to mate, small tree crickets were observed chewing holes in the center of a leaf and sticking their head and forelegs through the opening. With their noisemaking wings now positioned at the center of this do-it-yourself megaphone, the diminutive tree crickets were able to double or triple the volume of their calls.