Insects :: Incredible and Inspirational

Articles

The Dragonfly's Demise
(about danger and death)

By Karl C. Priest December 2, 2007 (revised 10-15-2020)

During a hot summer day I was doing some yard work at the edge of a wood line on the hill behind my house. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a rapid movement and heard a fluttering sound. Quickly turning, I saw a dragonfly tumble toward the ground. I assumed the dragonfly had nabbed a mid-day meal that proved too heavy to eat-on-the-fly. Getting down on my hands and knees for a closer observation I was surprised to see that a robber-fly was the predator and the dragonfly was the prey. The robber fly was attached securely to the dragonfly’s back with its head above what most people would call the dragonfly’s neck.

Over the next few hours I returned to observe and photograph* the series of events.

The robber fly devoured all it wanted of the dragonfly. Then ants swarmed in for their share. Finally, I saw a wasp sitting on the remains. The next time I visited the site there was no trace of the dragonfly; all of this in a matter of about five hours. (See the photos below.)

This experience motivated me to think about the savagery that exists throughout creation.

Much has been written about the killing and cruelty in the human and animal worlds. Some of the best Christian thinkers have mused about this issue. Perhaps the major argument atheists use to reject God is the blood-letting throughout all living creatures.

I will approach this subject through the realm of insects.

Be forewarned, no one can provide a definitive answer to this mystery because our sovereign God has chosen not to reveal all of His thoughts to us.

WHAT INSECTS ARE (BIBLICALLY)

Arguably the major line of separation between creation and evolutionism, both theologically and scientifically, is the so-called age of the earth. Basically, the issue is how long has life (pretty much as we know it) existed. Without millions of years evolution does not have time to work its magic. Scientifically (mathematically) it does not matter how many years evolution supposedly had. (See the “Lesson Plan”.) Theologically, believing in millions of years means there was death before sin which causes serious problems with a straight forward reading of Genesis. Scientifically, insects (via fossil evidence) are a major road-block to the just-so story of evolutionism because fossil insects are mostly identical to those living today. Theologically, there are some interesting questions to consider.

Just what are insects from a Biblical perspective? How do they fit into the Fall* of man into sin and the resulting Curse*?

Insects are part of the creeping things that were created on Day 6 (Gen. 1:25) and God called them good. I have no problem with accepting that all originally created insects had a completely beneficial purpose in the pristine creation. Some have argued that good does not necessarily mean perfect in the sense that insects may have been somewhat bothersome, but not deadly. Another idea is that the Garden of Eden was the only place where there was perfection. In the latter instance, the challenge is to explain how the environment outside the Garden could be balanced since insects reproduce in such large numbers. Also, the question arises of how it could be possible not to have death, in the insect world, since large grazing animals would have accidentally devoured lots of insects. Creationists have proposed solutions to both issues.

To solve the problem arising from reproductive proclivity, it is possible that, before the Fall (likely a very short period of time) the environment was balanced (feeding, digesting, growing, reproducing, and excreting in a controlled rotation). Regarding the death of insects, it could have been that insects do not qualify as living creatures due to their level of consciousness, method of breathing, type of blood, or that they are not normally considered as animals. Obviously, like the heroes of the book of Daniel, insects could have been protected by God supernaturally. Genesis 7:22 suggests animals that do not breathe through nostrils are a special class (not alive). Another approach is from Leviticus 17:11 which states that life is in the blood. But, what qualifies as blood since insects have a type of blood? Also, in Leviticus 11 insects are part of the clean and unclean beasts so one could argue that insects had to be alive to make that list. Scripture leaves room for debate on all of these possibilities.

HOW INSECTS ARE "EVIL”

Gen. 1:30 tells us that the original insects were vegetarian; therefore they would have an impact on the Garden in some way.

In Genesis 2:15 Adam was told to “dress” (Hebrew=work; Dictionary= prepare for use) and “keep” (Hebrew=protect, attend; Dictionary=protect, care) the Garden. This could mean that Adam only had to prune, reap, and maybe modify, arrange and control grazers. Tending the Garden would involve the management of insects.

Many insects scavenge and hunt to get enough nutrients. Right after the Creation event, insects would have been able to obtain plenty of nourishment through vegetation. Granted, some insects seem designed for death--to hunt, trap, attack, and devour. For example, some wasps lay eggs in caterpillars or paralyzed spiders in amazingly complicated ways (See Addendum #14). Keep in mind that the species we see now are what remain after the Curse. By accepting that a lot changed for the worse, and that God knew animals would need to defend themselves, after mankind sinned there are four reasonable possibilities to explain how insects obtained attack and defense structures such as stingers.

1. The structures were designed for something else. Now these are mutated through devolution.

2. The information was there but latent and God, directly or through the environment, switched it on.

3. New information was added supernaturally.

4. Any combination of the first three.

Let’s look at what is the most notorious result of the Fall in the insect world—stingers.

Although there are stingless bees, and male bees and wasps do not sting, some insects (like queens) can sting and lay eggs with the same organ. Evolutionists claim that the stinger evolved from the ovipositor. It takes a lot of creativity for evolutionists to explain how ovipositors evolved to stingers and how the insect survived while the changes were made. Instead of accepting the evolutionist scenario let’s think outside the box. Would it not be easier to evolve from stinger to ovipositor? Or, is it possible the change was really an example of devolution?

Venom is a complicated mixture of enzymes and proteins and its composition is not completely understood. In the beginning venom could have been used to prepare a place (such as a tree limb) to deposit an egg. Also, venom could have been originally used for pre-digestion such as breaking down seed surfaces. Close to the creation event, venom may not have been so irritating to humans. Even today humans can become somewhat resistant to venom. It is interesting to note that bee venom can be used as a treatment for joint pain. The quantity of a chemical is the problem. Some substances are necessary for life, but in excessive amounts they are lethal. For example, too much water can be toxic.

Remember an automobile was designed for good yet, through pollution, accidents, and illegal activities motor vehicles have wrecked havoc upon mankind.

Now, let’s consider the deadliest animal ever to roam the earth—the mosquito. They deliver deadly organisms to millions of people. Female mosquitoes are after iron and protein (to produce eggs) which could have been obtained from plants prior to the Flood. On one hand, if it were not for the itch, a few mosquito “bites” would not be a problem and mosquitoes could once have injected beneficial substances. On the other hand, mosquitoes get infected by biting an infected host, such as a human, so they are not the source of the disease organisms. Medical science is interested in mosquitoes because the insects inject an enzyme to keep blood flowing. Currently, a scientific study of this substance could lead to treating blood clots and preventing strokes. See “Thank God for Insects”.

Related to this subject is the fact that only about 100 of about 2500 mosquito species are a problem. All male mosquitoes (and females for a large part of their lives) are pollinators and get nourishment from plants. From the perspective of creation science it is important to note that the mosquito genes that detect odors (which attract the mosquito to a blood source) are very similar to those in fruit flies. One of the genes that direct a female mosquito to go after blood by reacting to the smell of human sweat is turned off after a blood meal.

Scientists believe they can genetically alter mosquitoes so they are unable to spread disease. Some mosquito species already can block the disease parasite from moving from the intestine to the salivary gland. Before the Fall there could have been a gene to control the parasite. The female has two genes that code for digesting blood. These switch off, and another gene for digesting sugar switches on, when the mosquito is ready to hibernate.

Some mosquito species have both biting and non-biting females. Scientists are studying the genes that are specific to those types. It makes sense that certain genes were reset or released after the Fall. There is much about mosquitoes that support the Genesis account of Creation and the Fall.

God created insects for a purpose and, superficially, that purpose may look like insects are made to inflict pain. But, insects are not out to devour us and when we are stung or bitten it is because the insect feels threatened or needs nourishment. Beetle horns appear to be menacing features, but are used for winning a mate and the battles are not fatal. Maggots are used for micro-surgery to care for wounds that the best medical instruments cannot treat. Ant venom has possibilities for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Flies are vital for human health by removing animal wastes, putrid carcasses, and rotting vegetable matter. The correct amount of black flies would just enhance the food chain rather than ruining camping trips.

Of course insects cause many problems with man’s attempts to grow food and flowers, but without insects most plants would not survive and mankind would starve. Many insects widely considered pests have beneficial species. For example, some stink bugs are important as biological control over other insects for a variety of crops. Some of the worst plant pests were transported by men out of their natural habitat. Again, let’s think outside the box regarding insect pests. Usually, plants can compensate for insect damage. Some bark beetles use sophisticated chain receptors to determine if a tree is healthy. Diamond-back moth caterpillars prefer cabbages that are doing poorly. Aphids are plant lice. Perhaps the original purpose of lice was decomposition. Flea larvae eat debris rather than blood. Cotton flea hoppers are harmful to cotton for about one month, but at the peak bloom they are beneficial. We cannot make a blanket statement that insects are “evil”.

The fact is that creation is cursed and man has done things to make things worse. Most insect problems are caused by humans through good intentions, negligence, or evil acts. A volume could be written about the importance of insects including a couple of chapters about the potential benefits of what we often call the “evil things” about insects.

WHY INSECTS MATTER

Atheists claim God is sadistic by creating such tormenting insects like biting bugs and flies. A world renowned skeptic, the late Stephen Jay Gould (See Addendum #13.), felt the ichneumon wasp was the “paramount challenge to God’s benevolence”. The ichneumon wasp bothered Charles Darwin too. Speaking of the ichneumon’s use of a living caterpillar to nourish its developing larva Darwin said, “I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae…” (https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/DCP-LETT-2814.xml) The argument about why a good God would design attack and defense capabilities is philosophical not scientific.

Even philosophically the matter of insects “bugging” mankind is not a simple matter. Stingers may have been used to provide a harmless reminder to “watch out”. For example, the bombardier beetle spray used to prevent being eaten by accident by a vegetarian. Or it could have been used to attract a mate. Wasps eliminate pain in their prey. If cells are destroyed and the pain is blocked, is their suffering? The question of suffering and pain can lead down some long scientific and philosophical roads.

A tiny percentage of all living creatures experience suffering. There is a survival mechanism in all animals, but a capacity for consciousness must be present for feelings to occur. At the insect level the matter of consciousness may be closer to that of a machine. What humans would call pain may just be a sensation in insects that sends a signal to go to the brain which causes a response. An avoidance response does not equal agony. A highly developed nervous system is needed to experience pain.

There are more insect species that eat animals that are already dead than there are that kill. Without death, animals would use up resources needed for life. Death returns them to the ecosystem. Only a tiny fraction of roach species are considered pests. Roaches are vital recyclers in a healthy ecosystem. Should an individual roach live forever?

The only ones who insist on knowing exactly why and how God did things are atheists. Atheists live in a Fairy Tale Land where they insist on knowing God’s mind. They make themselves gods by claiming God did not do things right. Actually they mean God did not do things the way atheists would have. Amazingly, they claim God does not exist, but if He did exist He would be immoral because He offends the atheist sense of fairness.

Sometimes things are not as they seem. For example, evolutionists claim that butterfly eyespots evolved to help prevent being eaten, but research shows they also are used to attract mates. A 2003 study of rain forest ants (long considered omnivorous) found they mostly live on plant material such as pollen. Our knowledge is extremely limited and, in this life, always will be. “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” (I Cor. 13:12 KVB)

No one knows what God would have done if the Fall had not occurred. To prevent overcrowding He may have terminated reproduction or He may have allowed us to spread to other parts of the universe. We can have opinions, but these cannot override Scripture.

We cannot attribute human emotions and values to insects. Like the dragonfly’s death that I observed, everything is perfectly designed to function the way the Creator intends. Insects constantly remind us that we live in a sin-cursed world, but the Bible makes it clear that God’s plan for the future will not include stings and bites.

Maybe God will explain to you why He chose to have some insects become “bad bugs”. If not, here is where we stand:

For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? I Cor. 2:16a
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Ro. 11:34a
Canst thou by searching find out God? Job 11:7a

God is in control of all of His creation.

*
The FALL: What did God do at the Fall? The answer may surprise you.
The CURSE: The source of this condition (“the whole creation groaneth and travaileth”) is known as the curse.

Addendum

1. The photos represent the sequence of the dragonfly's demise observed behind my house. I “framed” the remains with sticks in the last image. (Click on the picture for a larger image.)

2. Great minds have written about the subject of pain and suffering. If you wish to go deeper, start with the works of Henry Morris, Joseph Mastropaolo, Duane Gish, Gary Parker, and Ken Ham.

3. A particularly scholarly (but slightly disorganized) study is by Glenn M. Miller at http://www.christian-thinktank.com/predator.html.

5. One author (Brian Thomas of the Institute for Creation Research http://www.icr.org/article/4778/) believes that science supports the possibility that aggression “is not a reflection of God’s originally perfect creation, but instead results from the sin-caused curse under which the whole creation presently suffers.” Support for that explanation is based upon a scientific study (http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-06/bc-b-060909.php) of fruit flies that revealed gene mutations cause aggressive behavior.

6. Perhaps, an example of the harmless symbiotic relationship in the original creation is that of a type of wasp and ladybugs.

“These wasps lay their eggs on the ladybug's body, a common practice in the insect world, yet they don't kill their host.”

"What is fascinating is that the ladybug is partially paralyzed by the parasite, yet it's eventually released unscathed...Once liberated, the ladybug can continue to eat and reproduce as if nothing happened."

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-11/uom-lth111709.php

7. There are forms of ants that are not carnivorous. This points to a reasonable conclusion that the original created ant kind was herbivorous.

http://www.physorg.com/news178893395.html

8. We don’t know what we don’t know.

Although the following two examples do not fit perfectly into my premise about the reasons for bad things related to insects, they do reveal that the situation is much more complicated than we may ever be able to figure out without an explanation from the Almighty Creator. Besides the proposition in the article about lice, there is a possibility that exposure to lice can be beneficial to our immune system (BMC Biology 2009 Apr 22; 7:16). Insects are widely used to control invasive plants such as kudzu. A type of flea that causes disease has been used in Australia to help control wild European rabbits.

9. What do evolutionists believe about why some insects seek blood meals?

Evolutionists make preposterous statements of unscientific pontification such as, “Insects first evolved piercing mouth parts so that they could feed on sap and other plant juices. This also made it possible for some species to feed on animals by piercing their skin.” (http://www.jrank.org/health/pages/33215/insects.html) In 2008, evolutionists were buzzing about their claim to have found a fruit-eating moth evolving into a blood feeder. A particular species of moth was captured and (probably after being dprived of needed nutrients) drilled into human skin to suck blood. The evolutionist conducting the experiment hypothesized that insect blood-feeding evolved from feeding on tears, manure, and puss. "We see a progression from nectar feeding and licking or lapping at fruit juices to different kinds of piercing behaviors of fruits and then finally culminating in this skin piercing and blood-feeding,. (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/10/081027-vampire-moth-evolution-halloween-missions.html) What they “see” is similar to what is “seen” during psychotic hallucinations.

10. Bee venom has been used for thousands of years to treat rheumatism, arthritis, and other diseases.

http://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/world/bee-sting-therapy-all-the-buzz/story-e6frea8l-1225844127200

11. QUESTION: “Birds such as woodpeckers, seem very well designed to eat grubs and insects, so what would they have eaten in the Edenic world?” This enquirer also shared they were confused after reading a reference to insects on another creation group’s website, which stated invertebrates were not really “living creatures” in the Biblical sense, and therefore could have been eaten in the same way plants could.

ANSWER: Invertebrates are animals that don’t have backbones and include worms, insects, crabs, spiders, centipedes, millipedes, slaters, snails and slugs. A good catch-all description of these creatures would be “creepy-crawlies” – quite close to Bible’s description of one group of “living creature” included in the creation of the land dwelling animals. (Genesis 1: 24)

The term “living creature” is derived from a Hebrew word nephesh meaning breath. Genesis 1:24-25 tells us that God created livestock, beasts of the earth and creeping things. Invertebrates are among the creeping things, or, as in some translations, creatures that crawl on the ground.

After God created the first man and woman he told them what they and the animals could eat. The animals are again listed in these same three categories (livestock, beasts of the earth and creeping things), and along with the flying creatures, they are further described as being creatures with the breath of life, i.e. nephesh, in them. (Genesis 1:30) The animals and birds are told to eat plants. Plants are never described as having nephesh or breath of life.

The animals that came to Noah to be kept alive on the ark are also described in these three categories, and as having the breath of life in them. (Genesis 6:17-20, 7:14-15) After Noah’s Flood, God gave mankind permission to eat all the “moving things that live”, i.e. birds and animals. However, there is one strict proviso for being allowed to eat meat – man must not eat meat with its lifeblood in it, because the life, i.e. nephesh, is in the blood. (Genesis 9:2-4) God’s instructions indicate that all the “moving things that live,” including the creeping things, contain lifeblood, and are different from the plants that God had previously given man to eat. To affirm this was His meaning, God further qualified His statement by contrasting the things that move with the green plants that don’t (Genesis 9:3).

By putting together God’s instructions about living creatures we can summarise that they are creatures with breath and blood. Invertebrates breathe and have blood, i.e. fluid carrying dissolved gases, nutrients and waste products, body defence cells (white blood cells) and proteins that are actively pumped around the body. They are therefore “living creatures” or creatures with nephesh. This means that in the original very good world man, animals or birds did not eat invertebrates or kill them. Plant sap pales in complexity compared to blood.

Some people have suggested that it would have been impossible for Adam to have avoided squashing a few bugs as he walked on the ground or worked in the garden. But think about what a “very good” world would be like. This was a world of lush vegetation and deep rich soils. Bugs could quickly move to a tree. We know from the fossil record that some insects and other invertebrates were quite large, so people would have no trouble seeing them and avoiding them. Along with this is the fascinating fossil data that the fossil record reveals that some insects such as slaters, ants, dragon flies mosquitoes etc were so large, Adam would have had to step up to even stand on them. Therefore people would have no trouble seeing them and avoiding them.

All plants and animals lived in perfectly sustainable proportions. Insects and other bugs would not have existed in the nuisance numbers they are now, and would not have attacked or annoyed people or ravaged the vegetation, so there was no temptation to swat them or kill them. Therefore, like all living creatures, invertebrates would not have died before the Fall of Man, when death came into the world, and no other animals or birds would have eaten them.

CONCLUSION: The Bible does make a distinction between the life of plants and animals, but there is no basis for classifying invertebrates with plants rather than animals, and therefore, not having the same life as animals. The Bible also treats plants as foundation machinery for all other creatures to eat and the concept of death does not apply to them. It’s one reason nobody feels sorry for the apple they just ate, and why some people are so life-sensitive they are not only vegetarian, they won’t even squash a bug or a butterfly.

September 2010 Evidence News Creation Research (http://www.creationresearch.net/)

12. Regarding a fossil dinosaur egg with evidence of wasp cocoons: “A complex community of invertebrates would have developed around rotten dinosaur eggs." It's believed that many dinosaurs revisited the same nest sites year after year, so the gorging scavengers kept everything clean, readying nests for the next clutch of eggs.

http://news.discovery.com/animals/wasps-populated-rotting-dinosaur-eggs.html

13. Evolutionist propagandist Stephen Jay Gould used parasitic wasps to address the question that atheists always raise: “If God is benevolent and the creation displays his ‘power, wisdom and goodness,’ then why are we surrounded with pain, suffering, and apparently senseless cruelty in the animal world?” Gould called it “The greatest challenge to their concept of a benevolent deity was not simple predation — but slow death by parasitic ingestion.”

Some species of wasps lay their eggs in prey such as caterpillars. The eggs hatch and the larvae “eat fat bodies and digestive organs first, keeping the caterpillar alive by preserving intact the essential heart and central nervous system” before killing the host. Gould used creationist entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre to provide a gruesome description of another species that uses another method. He also describes others.

Interestingly, evolutionist icon Charles Lyell wrote that “caterpillars posed such a threat to vegetation that any natural checks upon them could only reflect well upon a creating deity, for caterpillars would destroy human agriculture "did not Providence put causes in operation to keep them in due bounds.”

Creationist entomologist William Kirby “Britain's foremost entomologist, chose to ignore the plight of caterpillars and focused instead upon the virtue of mother love displayed by wasps in provisioning their young with such care.”

Darwin critic and devout Catholic George Mivart wrote, "Physical suffering and moral evil are simply incommensurable."

Darwin was bugged by this matter too. “I own that I cannot see as plainly as others do, and as I should wish to do, evidence of design and beneficence on all sides of us. There seems to me too much misery in the world. I cannot persuade myself that a beneficent and omnipotent God would have designedly created the Ichneumonidae (wasp) with the express intention of their feeding within the living bodies of Caterpillars…”

Gould believed “that natural selection has programmed into their behavioral repertoire. Caterpillars are not suffering to teach us something; they have simply been outmaneuvered, for now, in the evolutionary game.”

Darwin concluded, “I feel most deeply that the whole subject is too profound for the human intellect. A dog might as well speculate on the mind of Newton. Let each man hope and believe what he can.”

http://www.stephenjaygould.org/library/gould_nonmoral.html

Dr. Carl Zimmer, Debate Dodger #145 ( http://www.insectman.us/evolution-is-a-lie/debate-dodger-list.htm), admits that he has an “obsession” with parasitic wasps (http://www.browndailyherald.com/2012/04/06/zimmer-shares-science-writing-experiences/). In a propaganda piece about a phenomenal parasitic wasp Zimmer exhibits why this wonderful insect entices evolutionists into ethereal hilarious hallucinations about how this endowment evolved. See examples in the article and its embedded links at http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/07/if-youre-going-to-live-inside-a-zombie-keep-it-clean/.

14. Out of the millions of species of insects, only about a hundred suck human blood.
http://news.sciencemag.org/biology/2014/11/gene-turns-mosquito-vampire

15. (T)he curse on creation in Genesis 3 did not necessarily have to involve complete overhauls of plants and animals, but at least in some cases, slight changes to existing structures and functions. Mosquito mouthparts are very complex. It is hard not to imagine them as designed. What we see here is that they could have been designed to work in the ecology in a beneficial way, perhaps with non-human targets that would not be harmed. As diseases began to develop, they could be carried by these miniature flying robots. When a mutation altered existing structures and functions to aim at odorants humans produce in abundance, another aspect of the curse came on with a vengeance. http://crev.info/2014/12/mosquito-taste-human-blood-recently/ As bad as they are think what it would be like to live in A World Without Mosquitoes??!!

16. Corrie Ten Boom thanked God for fleas.

17. The idea that God could have designed genes to change (or even altered them) is not unscientific. Scientists believe that the god “evolution.” A study "suggests Darwinian evolution has changed the function of these genes.” Researchers at the University of Arizona have taken a peek behind the curtain of evolution to find out what happens when an insect species dramatically changes its way of life. The processes they discovered involve never-seen-before remodeling of genes, behaviors and diet. Some flies changed from a non-plant diet to herbivory… Which “required remodeling of the genetic and neurological processes underlying those behaviors."... "This suggests Darwinian evolution has changed the function of these genes.”
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/01/150129170402.htm

18. “Researchers have overturned a century old assumption that "kissing bugs’ only feed on blood…Biologists have for the first time discovered that the insect also feeds on plants.”
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/03/160315090245.htm

19. Secular science admits that a fossil insect that has mouth parts that resemble the blood-sucking mouth parts of living insects may “have fed on nectar”. Horse flies are nourished by nectar. Also, horse flies are good pollinators. It is the female horse fly that needs blood for reproductive purposes (probably a result of the Curse of Genesis 3. Karl)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horse-fly

20. According to reports in ScienceDaily 1 May 2018 and Scientific Reports 1 May 2018, doi:10.1038/s41598-018-24893-z. Scientists at University of Cincinatti were studying the effect of dry conditions on mosquitoes when some of the mosquitoes escaped from a laboratory container. They noticed the dehydrated mosquitoes were very aggressive and tried to bite. The laboratory normally breeds mosquitoes in a controlled environment, described by one student working the lab as the Ritz-Carlton for mosquitoes - a pleasantly warm 82 oF (27.8 oC) with water and nectar to feed from, and places to lay their eggs. Females need extra iron and protein to lay their eggs, so they are supplied with chicken blood in tiny containers covered with a membrane. The researchers were surprised to find how few females sought blood meals when they were living in conditions with plenty of water and nectar. According to Joshua Benoit, one of the researchers, "Normally only 5 or 10 percent of female mosquitoes will feed at any time, depending on the species. Dehydration has a big impact on whether they feed normally or not". However, up to 30 percent of thirsty mosquitoes sought blood. The results of these experiments fit with records of disease outbreaks. Yanyu Xiao, another of the researchers explained: "In my literature review, I found that typical disease infection wasn't over the summertime but in transitory times when water levels shrink and the flowers dry up".
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/05/180501161827.htm

ED. COM. We are often asked why God made mosquitoes, when they seem to do nothing but cause irritation and spread diseases by biting people. Yet it’s a recorded fact that no diseases are recorded till well after Noah’s Flood after summer and winter have hit full swing. This study is a good reminder that biting people and spreading disease is the result of post-flood environmental degeneration, not because mosquitoes were created that way. Genesis tells us God created a very good world and gave all the animals plants to eat. As the mosquito breeding lab described above reminds us, mosquitoes normally live on water and nectar, and do not try to bite people if they have enough of these. In the original very good world, dehydration was not a problem for any animals. The ground was watered each day by rising mist, and there were no extreme seasons and extreme environments, such as deserts. Therefore, there would be water and flowering plants with nectar available all the time. After Noah’s flood the environment degenerated rapidly, and as God warned Noah, there are now summer and winter seasons and times of cold and heat (Genesis 8:22). This means there are now places without water and flowers for long periods. Therefore, insects seek other sources of fluids and food. Animal and human blood is a good source of both. It is true that female mosquitos don’t get enough iron and protein for egg laying from water and nectar alone in present day conditions, but that is because the plants have also degenerated, and mossies need to seek an alternative solution, literally your blood. Even insects with such microscopic brains know what nutrients they need to survive, and they will seek them out wherever they can. If the good source that God originally provided is no longer available they will try something else.
Evidence News 05/18 – 30th May 2018
http://www.creationresearch.net/enews/enews0518-180530.pdf

21. Despite their reputation as blood-suckers, mosquitoes actually spent most of their time drinking nectar from flowers. Scientists have identified the chemical cues in flowers that stimulate mosquitoes' sense of smell and draw them in. Their findings show how cues from flowers can stimulate the mosquito brain as much as a warm-blooded host. (1-22-20)
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/01/200122080547.htm

22. Dr. Ciara Duffy says honeybee venom destroys multiple types of breast cancer, even the hard to treat triple-negative variety. Her study in the journal npj Precision Oncology finds the venom not only eradicates these cancers, it also breaks up a cancerous cell’s ability to reproduce. It also contains a compound called melittin which researchers say helps this natural remedy stop the disease with remarkable speed.

https://www.studyfinds.org/honeybee-venom-breast-cancer/?utm_source=wnd&utm_medium=wnd&utm_campaign=syndicated

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Also see:

INSECT STINGS: Did insects such as bees and wasps have stingers before Adam sinned?

The Genesis of Malaria

Evolution and Malaria

Malaria Free Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes and the Fall

In Bedbugs, Scientists Don’t See a Model of Evolution

Does God Think Insects are Good?

Thank God for Insects (search for termites, fleas, or whatever)

Why Are Wasps So Evil?

A True Believer in Evoluionism Tells a Tale