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.
Stinging Rose Caterpillar
A boldly striped slug caterpillar in candy-like tones of yellow, orange, and purple, crowned with tufted spine clusters that can sting on contact.
caterpillar-larva
Mason Bee
A compact, metallic blue-black bee that nests in existing narrow cavities and seals its brood cells with mud, prized as one of the most efficient early-spring pollinators of fruit trees.
bee
Blue Bottle Fly
A robust fly with a glossy, metallic blue-black body and a loud buzzing flight, commonly seen around outdoor waste and occasionally indoors, easily recognized by its shiny coloring and bristly frame.
flySoil Mite
A microscopic, heavily armored mite found by the millions in a single handful of soil, quietly breaking down leaf litter and helping build the fertile ground beneath forests and fields.
arachnid
Giant Swallowtail
The largest butterfly in North America, a dark brown giant marked with a bold diagonal yellow band and yellow spotting that forms an X-like pattern when the wings are spread.
butterflyCluster Fly
A sluggish, dark fly covered in fine golden hairs that gathers by the hundreds on sun-warmed walls in autumn before slipping indoors to spend the winter.
flyCave Spider
A long-legged orb weaver adapted to the twilight zone of caves, spinning large webs across cavern mouths and dangling its egg sacs from silk threads deep within the darkness.
spider
Mud Wasp
A slender, thread-waisted solitary wasp famous for plastering rows of tube-shaped mud cells under eaves and porch ceilings, each one stocked with paralyzed spiders for its larva.
waspTussock Moth Caterpillar
A boldly tufted caterpillar bristling with dense brush-like hair tussocks and long dark pencil plumes that give it an almost punk-rock silhouette.
caterpillar-larva
Mud Dauber
A slender, non-aggressive solitary wasp with a distinctively long, thread-like waist, known for constructing tube- or pot-shaped nests out of mud pellets on walls and eaves.
wasp
Vapourer Moth
A small tussock moth with striking sexual dimorphism: rusty-orange, day-flying males with feathery antennae contrast with flightless, grub-like grey females that never leave their cocoon to lay eggs.
moth
Vaporer Moth
A tussock moth with dramatic sexual differences: the male is a small rusty-brown day-flying moth with a white wing spot, while the female is a flightless, wingless gray sac-like insect that never leaves her cocoon.
mothSoft Tick
A wrinkled, leathery, bean-shaped tick that hides by day in nests and cracks, emerging briefly at night to feed and then vanish again.
arachnid
Minute Pirate Bug
A tiny, black-and-white patterned true bug barely visible without close inspection, the minute pirate bug is a voracious predator of thrips, mites, and insect eggs on flowers and foliage.
true-bugBird Mite
A minute, pale to reddish mite that lives among feathers and nesting material of wild and domestic birds, sometimes dispersing into nearby buildings when nests are abandoned.
arachnid
Rice Weevil
A tiny reddish-brown weevil with a long curved snout and four faint pale spots on its wing covers, commonly found infesting stored rice, wheat, and other grain products.
beetle
Tussock Moth
A moth with a striking split lifestyle: winged, drab gray-brown males fly to seek out flightless, grub-like females, while the ornate caterpillars sport dense tufts of colorful bristly hair.
moth
Rhinoceros Beetle
A massive, heavily armored beetle whose males sport a single large, curved horn projecting forward from the head, used to shove and flip rival males in contests of strength.
beetle
Roseate Skimmer
A vivid pink-violet dragonfly of southern wetlands, the mature male's rose-pruinose body makes it one of the most striking skimmers found around ponds and canals.
dragonflyBirdwing Butterfly
Among the largest butterflies on Earth, birdwings soar through rainforest canopies on angular, bird-like wings. Males dazzle with iridescent greens, golds, and blues, while the larger females wear more subdued browns.
butterflySnakefly
A slender predator named for its habit of rearing up its long, mobile neck like a tiny cobra when hunting or threatened.
other
Clover Mite
A speck-sized reddish mite that streaks a rust-colored stain if crushed and invades homes by the hundreds when lawns dry out or turn cold.
arachnidMaggot
A pale, legless, tapering grub that wriggles through rotting food and organic waste, the larval stage of a fly.
caterpillar-larva
Squash Vine Borer
A day-flying, wasp-mimicking moth whose orange fuzzy hind legs and metallic wings make it easy to mistake for a wasp as it darts around squash vines.
moth