The recent craze for reality TV shows such as "Survivor" and "I'm almost a celebrity please, please get me on telly" is being blamed for a sharp increase in reported cases of insect abuse.

A pregnant aphid has been found drowned in a quarry near Canterbury with a heavy weight attached to her neck.

Beetles in remote parts of Africa are suffering from such severe food shortages that they can survive only by eating other creatures excrement, claims a report into appalling levels of beetle hardship on the continent.

Seven stick-insects, five spiders, an Asian bumble-bee, an American black cockroach, eight flies, and three dung beetles are among insects that are still kept in three UK flea circuses. Many of these insects are regularly made to perform tricks and manoeuvres unrepresentative of natural behaviour. One flea circus has recently advertised for even more wild insect acts - including scorpions, fly and butterfly larvae, ants and ladybirds - for its 2006 tour.

Hundreds of lice are being rescued from children across America, it emerged today, thanks to revolutionary new lice-saving technology developed by the National Pediculosis Association.