Bug Encyclopedia
Search and identify bugs & insects — beetles, butterflies, moths, ants, bees, spiders and more — with size, habitat, danger, behavior, and how to tell them apart.
American Cockroach
The largest common house-infesting cockroach, a reddish-brown, glossy insect with long antennae and a pale yellowish band edging the shield behind its head, capable of both fast running and short bursts of flight.
otherThrips
A minuscule, slender insect with fringed, feather-like wings, often noticed only as a fast-moving dark speck darting across a flower petal or windowsill.
otherSpringtail
A minuscule, wingless hexapod best known for its spring-loaded tail-like structure that flicks it into sudden, erratic hops when disturbed, often found in huge numbers in damp soil and leaf litter.
otherSlug
A soft-bodied, shell-less land mollusk that glides on a muscular foot, leaving a silvery mucus trail as it forages across damp ground and vegetation.
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Sowbug
A slate-gray, oval, armor-plated crustacean that shuffles through damp leaf litter on seven pairs of legs, recognizable by its overlapping segmented shell and pair of trailing tail-like appendages.
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Water Springtail
Barely visible to the naked eye, the water springtail skates across the surface film of still water in dense dark clusters, flicking itself into the air with a spring-loaded tail whenever danger approaches.
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American Rubyspot
A brilliant ruby-red patch at the base of each wing gives this sun-loving damselfly its name, flashing like a spark of color as it perches along fast-flowing rivers.
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Water Flea
Despite the name, the water flea is not an insect at all but a tiny, jerky-swimming crustacean whose transparent body and single dark eye make it one of the most recognizable members of freshwater plankton.
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Pill Bug
A gray, segmented, armor-plated crustacean that curls into a tight ball when disturbed, commonly found under rocks, logs, and damp garden debris.
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Termite
A pale, soft-bodied social insect that lives in hidden colonies and feeds on cellulose in wood and plant debris, often mistaken for an ant despite belonging to an entirely different insect order.
otherTermite Swarmer
A dense, short-lived cloud of dark, equal-winged insects pouring from a crack in soil or wood, each one a would-be founder of a brand-new termite colony.
otherOwlfly
An acrobatic, dragonfly-mimicking predator instantly given away by its long, clubbed antennae, a feature no true dragonfly ever has.
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Silverfish
A wingless, silvery-gray insect with a tapered, fish-like body and three long tail bristles, known for its quick, darting movements and preference for dark, humid hiding spots.
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Scorpionfly
A harmless scavenger whose alarming name comes from the male's swollen, upturned abdominal tip, which curls like a scorpion's tail but carries no sting.
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Snail
A shelled land mollusk that carries a coiled, calcium-carbonate shell on its back and glides slowly across damp gardens and vegetation on a slime-lubricated foot.
otherSnakefly
A slender predator named for its habit of rearing up its long, mobile neck like a tiny cobra when hunting or threatened.
otherSilverfish Firebrat
Two closely related, wingless, silvery or mottled insects with fish-like darting movements and three long tail bristles, one favoring damp basements and the other thriving near warm ovens and furnaces.
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Oriental Cockroach
A dark, matte blackish-brown cockroach with short wings that do not cover the abdomen, especially in females, and a preference for cooler, damper hiding spots than most other common cockroaches.
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Pillbug
A gray, armor-plated land crustacean that curls into a tight ball at the slightest touch, earning it the playful nickname "roly-poly."
otherMantidfly
A master of mimicry that pairs a praying mantis's raptorial front legs with the delicate, lacy wings of a true net-winged insect.
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Firebrat
A fast, wingless, mottled gray-brown insect with long antennae and tail bristles that thrives in the warm, humid corners near ovens, boilers, and pipes.
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German Cockroach
A small, fast-moving light brown to tan roach marked with two dark parallel stripes running down its pronotum, most often seen scurrying for cover in warm, moist indoor areas.
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Formosan Subterranean Termite
A pale, aggressive subterranean termite native to East Asia that builds enormous colonies and can construct large above-ground carton nests in trees, walls, and structures.
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Familiar Bluet
One of the most widespread and abundant damselflies in North America, the Familiar Bluet's slender sky-blue and black body is a near-constant sight over ponds and lakes in warm months.
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Lacewing
A delicate, pale green insect with large, transparent, intricately veined wings and shining golden or copper-colored eyes, valued as a natural predator of aphids in its larval form.
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Earthworm
A long, smooth, segmented soil-dweller with no legs, eyes, or shell, best recognized by its ringed body and the pale saddle-like band (clitellum) found on mature individuals.
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Eastern Forktail
One of the smallest and most adaptable damselflies in eastern North America, the Eastern Forktail thrives in everything from wild marshes to roadside ditches, with bright green-and-black males and color-changing females.
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Flea
A tiny, wingless, laterally flattened insect built for moving swiftly through fur, famous for its powerful hind legs that allow it to leap many times its own body length.
otherCockroach Egg Case
A small, purse-shaped, ridged capsule that houses dozens of developing cockroach eggs, its size, color, and shape offering telltale clues to which species produced it.
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Common Earwig
A flattened, reddish-brown insect instantly recognizable by the pair of pincer-like forceps at the tip of its abdomen, which it uses for defense and to help fold its wings.
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Ebony Jewelwing
With entirely jet-black wings and a metallic emerald-green body, the Ebony Jewelwing flutters through streamside shade like a living jewel, its wings flashing in filtered sunlight.
otherDampwood Termite
A relatively large termite that nests directly inside heavily moistened, decaying wood such as rotting logs and stumps, needing no soil contact but requiring consistently damp timber.
otherGreen Lacewing
With delicate pale green wings and glittering golden eyes, the Green Lacewing is a familiar garden insect whose larvae are voracious predators of aphids and other soft-bodied pests.
otherDrywood Termite
A termite that lives entirely within the dry wood it feeds on, needing no soil contact at all, and revealing itself mainly through small piles of pellet-like frass pushed from tiny exit holes.
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Eastern Subterranean Termite
A pale, soft-bodied social insect that lives in vast underground colonies and builds mud tubes to reach and feed on wood cellulose, including structural timber.
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Blue-fronted Dancer
A bright blue head and thorax paired with a dark, blue-tipped abdomen give the Blue-fronted Dancer its name, as it hops and flutters along sunny riverbanks in loose groups.
otherAntlion
An insect best known for its larval stage, the doodlebug, which digs a small conical pit trap in loose sand to ambush unwary ants, while the winged adult resembles a slender, delicate damselfly.
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Earwig
A slender, reddish-brown insect easily identified by the pair of curved, forceps-like pincers at the tip of its abdomen, often found hiding under mulch, bark, or garden debris by day.
otherBrown Lacewing
Smaller and less conspicuous than its green relatives, the Brown Lacewing is a subtle but effective predator of aphids and other tiny insects in gardens, forests, and orchards.
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Brown-banded Cockroach
A small, glossy tan-brown cockroach marked with two light bands across its wings, often found tucked into furniture and warm upper rooms rather than kitchens and bathrooms.
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Bark Louse
A small, soft-bodied insect often seen in dense, moving herds on tree trunks, the bark louse grazes on algae, lichen, and fungal residue coating bark surfaces.
otherBooklice (Psocid)
A tiny, soft-bodied, pale insect barely visible to the naked eye that grazes on mold and mildew in damp books, wallpaper, and stored goods.
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