Welcome to another Fallout 76 merit badge guide from Agents of Game! While the Entomologist merit badge isn’t particularly difficult, it is more difficult and time consuming than most of the Tadpole badges, so we wouldn’t recommend this as one of your initial three badges to unlock the Possum rank and your backpack. Before we get into tips and suggestions, let’s take a gander at the requirements.
- Pass “Entomologist” knowledge exam at an exam terminal
- Complete the “Path to Enlightenment” event
- Acquire a Mothman Wing
- Take a camera picture of a Bee swarm
- Take a camera picture of a Bloatfly
- Take a camera picture of a Bloodbug
- Take a camera picture of a Cave Cricket
- Take a camera picture of a Firefly
- Take a camera picture of a Honey Beast
- Take a camera picture of a Radant
- Take a camera picture of a Radroach
- Take a camera picture of a Radscorpion
- Take a camera picture of a Stingwing
- Take a camera picture of a Tick
If you’re interested in the exam questions and answers, we’ll have those down in an expandable box you can click down below. While the Path to Enlightenment event didn’t used to be very popular, now that there’s a lobby-wide notification, free fast travel, and a good reason to pick up the XP buff from the event, you’ll probably have a better chance of completing this requirement now than when it initially was introduced. It always helps to bring friends, as you have to collect quite a bit of bio-luminescent fluid to summon the Wise Mothman.
Acquiring a Mothman Wing can also be tricky as many players don’t seem to see an attackable Mothman that often, let alone succeed at downing one to obtain the wing. You can sometimes find these in player vendors, or if you know someone who is a collector, there’s a good chance they might loan you one to complete this challenge. Note on obtaining items: some items can be obtained from other players (including the following suggestions), some must be obtained naturally by the player.1) Receiving the item directly from a friend. 2) Picking up from a container, placed by another player. 3) Purchasing from a vendor, sold by another player. 4) Finding the item naturally in the world. Most reports coming from Reddit suggest that it is not necessary to personally obtain the Momtham Wing.
The rest of the challenges all relate to taking camera pictures (not photomode pictures) of various insects. As with most photo-related challenges, these can be done by taking pictures of the corpses of dead insects, with the exception of a Bee Swarm, so make sure you snap that one while it’s still alive. We’re working on creating a map of common spawn locations for all of the various creatures throughout Appalachia, but given the time it’ll probably take you to complete the Mothman related challenges, if you just take this pictures during your travels (especially if you’re doing the Stings and Things daily), you shouldn’t have any trouble with these pictures.
- Ants live all over the planet. In fact, they live just about everywhere! But there is one place you won’t find any ant colonies. Where?
- d. Antarctica
- Ants may be tiny, but they sure are strong! They can lift well over their weight. How much can they lift?
- b. 100x their weight
- Before reaching adulthood, a house fly enters what stage of its life cycle?
- a. Pupa
- Caterpillars go through some changes in their life as they grow older. Sound familiar, kids? But in the end they turn into a beautiful new creature! What creature?
- b. A butterfly
- Female praying mantises get a bad rap for their aggressive mating habits. But can you really blame them for wanting to do this to their mates from time to time?
- d. Kill and eat them
- Insects are invertebrates, meaning they make due without a certain body part. Which body part do invertebrates go without?
- b. Spine
- Insects’ bodies are made up of three parts. Which of these is NOT one of these three parts?
- a. Pelvis
- Instead of tongues, insects may have long tubes coming from their mouths that they can use to suck up nutrients. What is this tube called?
- a. A proboscis
- Lots of bugs look like insects, but aren’t. Which of the following bugs is NOT an insect?
- c. A spider
- Mary loves to go down to the riverbank at night to catch fireflies. These cute little insects glow in the dark! What process gives fireflies their special glow?
- c. Bioluminescence
- Mayflies live notoriously short lives, the poor things. If you were a mayfly, how long could you expect to live?
- b. One day, exactly
- Mosquitoes are tiny insects that fly around sucking the blood out of bigger creatures. What do they use this blood for?
- a. Making eggs
- Not all bugs are insects! Which of these creepy crawlies is NOT an insect?
- d. Spiders
- Periodical cicadas spend most of their lives underground. Why do they eventually emerge?
- d. To mate and lay eggs
- Roaches can survive almost anything, it seems, even nuclear radiation. In fact, a roach can survive for a while without its head! How long?
- d. Over a week
- Samuel is an athlete who spends lots of time running and jumping everywhere he goes. If he had a super power, he’d want to jump as far as a flea! How far would that be?
- The length of a football field
- Susie is learning to identify insects. She knows that insects have certain special features to look for that other animals don’t. Which of these is a defining feature of insects?
- c. Having six legs
- There are a lot of people in the world, but there are way more insects! In fact, one out of every four creatures on Earth is which kind of insect?
- a. A beetle
- Timmy wants to grow up big and strong like his favorite beetle. What beetle can lift 1000 times its weight
- c. Dung Beetle
- Wendy is volunteering as a beekeeper at summer camp. Beekeepers harvest all kinds of useful things from the bees they keep. Which of the following treats do we NOT harvest from bees?
- c. Flowers
- Which of these insects was especially sacred to the ancient Egyptians?
- c. Scarab beetles
