Science Quiz 1 Answers

Here are the answers: 

1. The nick name of Catacanthus Incarnatus is the Elvis Presley bug.
2. According to the Royal Entomological Society, there are 1 million known species of insects. However, they speculate there could be as many as 10 million.
3. 95% of all insects fly (Forbes.com). Of those, most go through a process of complete metamorphosis, progressing from egg, larva, and pupa, to adult. Others, like grasshoppers, mantids, and cockroaches, go through incomplete metamorphosis, hatching as “mini adults.” After several molting stages, they become winged adults. While the process and mechanics of metamorphosis are better understood, the ability of natural selection and mutations to produce such a phenomenon remains a mystery.  The planning and design required is a puzzle for researchers and eludes naturalistic explanations.
4. False. While the vast majority do, Science.com indicates that some species, like certain aphids and tsetse flies, are viviparous or ovoviviparous, giving birth to live young or eggs that hatch internally.
5. 90% of flowering plants rely on insects for pollination. Since 90% of all plants are flowering, the relationship between plants and insects is critical.¹
6. To survive, insects and plants depend on each other. For example, flowers produce nectar that attracts bees. In turn, bees use the nectar to produce life-sustaining honey. While collecting the nectar, pollen sticks to the bees and gets transferred to other flowers completing the plant’s reproduction process.

Because of symbiotic relationships such as these, many ask, “Which came first, nectar or bees?”

If you’re a flower, why produce nectar if there are no bees? Conversely, how could bees survive if there were no flowers? Slow and gradual, undirected modifications along with chance mutations require too much time. As research continues, it’s becoming more apparent that plants and animals have been designed with far more adaptive potential than was previously believed.

For example, Science Daily reported that Hawaiian stick spiders “can diversify into new species of dark, gold, and white spiders” in order to take advantage of specific habitats. This specific self-adjustment is being observed in many animal species. Rove beetles have been observed to look, behave, and smell like 8 different types of army ants in order to ward off attack.² These types of targeted adaptations hint at design and preprogramming – not random chance.

At Alpha Omega Institute, it is our conviction that many symbiotic relationships like flowers and bees were designed by God in the beginning. It is also apparent that His design included far more potential for specialization. We believe that the Bible is trustworthy and that God’s word and His world agree. We invite you to discover creation along with us. Our staff is available to discuss relevant questions and direct you to resources at our office or on the web. (See search bar above for starters.)

¹ScienceDirect.com Volume 29, Issue 15, 5 August 2019 and National Science Review, Volume 10, Issue 10, October 2023, nwad219.

²Maruyama, M. and J. Parker. 2017. Deep-Time Convergence in Rove Beetle Symbionts of Army Ants. Current Biology. 27 (6): 920-926.

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