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.
Small Milkweed Bug
A red-and-black seed bug with a distinctive X-shaped pattern on its back, commonly found feeding on milkweed seeds and sap alongside monarch caterpillars.
true-bug
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.
other
Silver-spotted Skipper
A large, chunky brown skipper instantly identified by the bold, translucent silvery-white patch splashed across the underside of each hindwing.
butterfly
Little Wood-Satyr
A small, weak-flying brown butterfly with two prominent yellow-ringed eyespots on each wing, common along shaded woodland edges in late spring.
butterfly
Tube Web Spider
A sleek, cylindrical spider that lives inside a silk-lined tube and dashes out to seize insects that stumble across its radiating trip-lines.
spider
Mesh Web Weaver
A tiny, easily overlooked spider that spins a loose, bluish tangle of fuzzy silk over twig tips and seed heads to snare small insects.
spider
Money Spider
A tiny sheet-weaving spider, often seen drifting through the air on silk threads, traditionally said to bring good luck when it lands on you.
spider
Green Lynx Spider
A slender, bright green spider armed with long spiny legs that ambushes insects from flowers and shrubs without spinning a capture web.
spider
Gypsy Moth Caterpillar (Spongy Moth)
A bristly, blue-and-red-spotted caterpillar that can strip entire hardwood forests bare during major outbreak years.
caterpillar-larva
Giant Leopard Moth Caterpillar
A jet-black, bristly caterpillar that curls into a tight ball to reveal bright red-orange bands between its segments when disturbed.
caterpillar-larva
Cigarette Beetle
A tiny, reddish-brown, humpbacked beetle that rides along in stored dried herbs, spices, and tobacco wherever it hitches a ride.
beetle
Water Boatman Bug
A boat-shaped little swimmer that rows through pond water with oar-like hind legs, grazing on algae rather than hunting other animals.
true-bug
Predaceous Diving Beetle
A sleek, streamlined beetle built for underwater hunting, carrying its own air supply as it patrols ponds in search of prey.
aquatic-insect
Great Silver Water Beetle
One of the largest beetles in Europe, the great silver water beetle is a glossy jet-black giant that rows through weedy ponds carrying a silvery film of air trapped beneath its body.
beetle
Eastern Pondhawk
A bold, ground-perching dragonfly whose bright green females and powdery blue males look almost like different species, and which readily preys on other dragonflies.
dragonfly
Sun Spider
A fast-running, fiercely built desert arachnid with oversized jaws, often mistaken for a giant spider despite belonging to an entirely different arachnid order.
arachnid
Bush Cricket
Known by its long, thread-like antennae and evening chorus of chirps, this leaf-colored insect spends its life hidden among grass and foliage, often heard far more often than seen.
grasshopper-cricket
Spiny Flower Mantis
A small, boldly patterned mantis whose wing markings resemble a pair of eyespots, flashed open in a startling display whenever a predator ventures too close.
mantis-stick
Stable Fly
A gray fly that looks almost identical to the common house fly, but carries a rigid, forward-pointing proboscis built for piercing skin rather than sponging up liquids.
fly
Phorid Fly
A tiny, hump-backed fly best known for scuttling erratically across countertops and floors rather than taking flight, drawn to anything rotting or moist.
fly
Horn Fly
A tiny, dark fly that clusters in dense patches on the backs and shoulders of grazing cattle, using piercing mouthparts to take frequent small blood meals.
fly
Yellow Dung Fly
A golden, densely furred fly whose bright males cluster on fresh cow pats in pastures, competing for mates while ambushing smaller insects drawn to the same spot.
fly
Lime Hawk-Moth
A stout, angular-winged hawk-moth in muted greens, browns, or pinks with deeply scalloped wing margins, closely tied to lime (linden) trees for its larval development.
moth
Underwing Moth
A master of camouflage whose bark-patterned forewings hide brightly colored, banded hindwings that flash into view only when the moth is disturbed in flight.
moth