Los Angeles County West Vector & Vector-Borne Disease Control District

Word Search Glossary

Abdomen - of the three major body sections of an insect, the abdomen is the end part
                 furthest from the head.

Antenna - found on the head in pairs, can be used to detect scent, or as feelers, etc.
                Different insects use them in different ways.

Aquatic - living or developing in water.

Beekeeper - someone who maintains bee hives.

Bite - many insects can bite.  Mosquitoes have mouthparts to pierce skin and suck blood.
          Honey bees don't bite, they use the stinger in their abdomen to defend themselves.

Blood - female mosquitoes feed on blood from animals because they need it to produce
            their eggs.

Cell - these are the six sided individual sections of the comb in a bee hive.  They are
         made of wax and used to store honey, pollen, and to raise the young bees.

Colony - a colony is a large group of bees which lives in its own hive

Comb - comb is the structure of a bee hive made up of thousands of individual cells.

Disease - mosquitoes can transmit many different diseases around the world.
               Diseases can make you sick.

Egg - the egg is the first stage of development in the insect life cycle.

Emergence - this is the time when an adult mosquito comes out of its pupal stage and
                    no longer lives in the water.

Hive - the hive is the home of the honey bee including all the comb and cells.

Honey - the sweet substance that honey bees make from the nectar of flowers.

Insect - insects are animals that have six legs, three major body sections
            and an exoskeleton.

Instar - a stage of insect development between molts. A mosquito larva goes
            through four instars or size changes, before molting into a pupa.

Larva - the second stage in the insect life cycle.

Mosquito - a small flying insect that can spread disease as it feeds on blood.

Nectar - a sweet liquid from flowers that bees use to make honey.

Pollen - a food source for bees that they collect from flowers.

Pond - small, natural or man-made, bodies of water where mosquitoes can develop.

Proboscis - the long tube like mouthparts of a mosquito used to pierce the skin
                  and suck blood.

Propolis - this is sap from plants, collected by bees which is used to seal
                cracks in the hive.

Pupa - the third stage in the insect life cycle.

Sting - honey bees can sting if they are disturbed. The stinger is hidden in
            their abdomen.  The stinger has a barbed end that sticks into your skin
            and releases venom.  The venom usually only causes pain and swelling.

Swarm - a swarm is a colony of bees looking for a new home.  When a new
            queen is born in a hive the old queen and about half the workers
            swarm off to start a new hive

Thorax  - of the three major body sections of an insect, the thorax is the middle part
                 between the head and the abdomen. This is where the legs and the wings
                are attached.

Vector - a vector is an animal that can transmit disease or cause harm.

Venom - this is what is released from a honey bee's stinger.

Wax - bees produce wax from the wax glands in their abdomen.  They use it to
         build their comb.

Wings - These are what some insects use to fly.  Bees have four wings while
            mosquitoes have two.