There are more than 1 million recorded species of insects in the world, which makes choosing only one as Nevada's state insect a difficult task. Fourth graders around the state, though, are taking on the challenge in a statewide competition to select an insect that represents Nevada.

"The idea first came up when a member of the School Community Partnership Program asked, 'How do you get a state insect?' during a Kids Voting board meeting," Nevada Sen. Joyce Woodhouse said. "We're one of only eight states that doesn't have a state insect and we decided that it would be a great learning opportunity for students if they were to choose the state insect."

The submissions, which were due today, were composed of a one-page, research-based essay supporting the nomination of an insect found in Nevada and the rationale for why that insect would be a good symbol for the state.

"The purpose of this is to encourage the students to do research, provide them with an opportunity to use critical thinking, help them to work on writing skills and teach them more about the legislative process," Woodhouse said.

The competition was open to fourth graders because information about Nevada is included in the fourth grade curriculum.

"Our class is doing the Jerusalem cricket, or the potato bug," said Roger Corbett Elementary fourth grade teacher Adrienne Conley. "One of the reasons we chose this insect is because it represents Nevada in that it looks like a combination of many different bugs and Nevada is made up of combination of a lot of different people who settled in the West."

The students at Roger Corbett have spent a total of about three weeks researching insects, deciding which one to choose and completing their submission.

"We took a lot of books from the library and students downloaded articles from the Internet," Conley said. "They've done all of the research themselves. They learned the difference between fact and opinion, how to cite information and how to write an essay."

When one of the students asked if the Jerusalem cricket bites, Conley said 20 other students were able to answer.

Some teachers enlisted help from experts at UNR and state agricultural specialists.

"A teacher contacted me about the competition and asked for some of my recommendations," judge and state entomologist Jeff Knight said. "I made some recommendations of insects that are native to Nevada and aren't pests. Whatever's chosen should be an appropriate representation of Nevada."

Among Knight’s recommendations were the ten-lined June beetle, the blue orchard bee, the solitary bee and the tarantula hawk wasp, which preys on tarantulas.

"These are all insects that are beneficial to the state," Knight said.

The winning classroom will have the opportunity to send three of its students and their teacher to Carson City to testify in front of the appropriate legislative committee.

"Sen. Woodhouse will take our recommendation and the choice will be included in the state's revised statutes," Knight said.