325 Miraculous Insects

“Miraculous Insects”

When it came to a science project for summer vacation
For a Showa-era schoolchild in Japan, insect collecting was the classic
The Japanese rhinoceros and stag beetles were particularly special

950 thousand kinds of insects, so beloved by children,
Have been discovered and identified
Accounting for three quarters of all animal species
And every year, their ranks grow by three thousand more

There is a mysterious story of the insects:
The oldest fossil comes from 370 million years ago
A collembola (springtail) that appeared in the Devonian period
For the next 70 million years, no fossils of other insects were discovered
Can you believe that?

Then, 300 million years ago, in the Carboniferous period,
The insect population experienced a sudden surge

An intriguing theory was born
Could their origin be extraterrestrial?!
The peculiar life and habits of insects, metamorphosis and mimicry
Seem like miraculous magic

Vanished for 70 million years,
Insects are beings that rouse our imaginations