# 2003 VHS • Superbugs Itty Bitty Bugs 60 FPS

Superbugs: Itty Bitty Bugs is a children's educational documentary about insects and arachnids, structured around macro footage and narrated facts. The program opens with the claim that there are approximately 67,000 million insects per square mile of earth, or about 200 million per human being. The historical segment establishes that dragonflies and damselflies date back 300 million years in the fossil record and that giant dragonflies with 30-inch wingspans once flew through Carboniferous forests. Dragonflies are highlighted for their ability to move each wing independently and fly both forward and backward, their compound eyes with up to 50,000 facets per eye, and their role in mosquito control. The aquatic insect segment explains how dragonfly nymphs breathe through rectal gills, drawing water through the abdomen and expelling it for jet propulsion when threatened. Other aquatic insects covered include backswimmers with snorkel tubes, water striders using surface tension, whirligig beetles, water scorpions, caddisfly larvae that build portable cases, and the giant water bug. A segment on camouflage covers the praying mantis in detail, including its ambush hunting and the fact that female mantises consume the male's head during mating. The spider segment addresses web strength, venom delivery, the historical use of spider webs as wound dressings, and the real identity of Little Miss Muffet: Thomas Muffet, a 16th-century spider expert whose daughter was fed mashed spiders…

- Kind: Film
- Year: 2003
- By: The Vista Group®
- Archive: [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/TheVistaGroup-SuperbugsIttyBittyBugs2003)
- Licence or status: none stated by the archive
- Who can watch: Teens profiles and older (the archive gives no rating; placed by Invisible Network from its collection and subjects)

[Watch now](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/watch/archive/ia/TheVistaGroup-SuperbugsIttyBittyBugs2003?play=1)