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.
Spittlebug
A small hopping true bug best known in its nymph stage, which surrounds itself in a frothy mass of white foam on plant stems, commonly called cuckoo spit.
true-bugLeaf Insect
A living illusion, this flattened green insect reproduces the veins, edges, and even blemishes of a real leaf so precisely that it can vanish while resting in plain sight.
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Boxelder Bug (Eastern)
A flat, black true bug boldly trimmed in red-orange lines, famous for massing by the hundreds on sun-warmed walls and tree trunks each autumn.
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Plant Bug (Tarnished Plant Bug)
A small, oval, mottled brownish true bug with a distinctive yellow triangular marking behind the head, the tarnished plant bug is a fast-moving plant feeder common across gardens, fields, and weedy edges.
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Lantern Bug (Peanut-head Bug)
A bizarre rainforest planthopper whose head is drawn out into a huge, hollow, peanut-shaped snout, and whose hindwings flash a pair of large eyespots resembling the face of a small reptile.
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Western Conifer Seed Bug
A large brown true bug with flattened, leaf-shaped hind legs, native to conifer forests of the western United States but now widespread and notorious for gathering on and inside buildings as cooler weather approaches.
true-bugFireflies (Lightning Bug)
A soft-bodied beetle that turns summer evenings magical by flashing rhythmic patterns of cold light from its abdomen to attract mates across meadows and forest edges.
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Meadow Spittlebug
A small, mottled hopping true bug whose immature nymphs are far more often noticed than the adults, hidden inside frothy blobs of white foam known as cuckoo spit on plant stems.
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Water Scorpion
An elongated, twig-like aquatic true bug with grasping raptorial forelegs and a long, thin breathing tube at the tail end, resembling a slender scorpion as it lies in ambush among submerged plants.
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Marsh Treader
An extremely slender, thread-like true bug that walks slowly and deliberately across the water's surface on stilt-like legs, resembling a tiny floating twig as it hunts among marsh vegetation.
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Water Boatman
A small, streamlined aquatic true bug with oar-like hind legs used for swimming, commonly seen gliding just beneath the surface of ponds and calm freshwater.
aquatic-insectTreehopper
A small, oddly shaped sap-feeding bug best known for an enlarged, often bizarre pronotum extending backward over its body, sometimes shaped like a thorn, leaf, or spike.
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Water Cricket
Despite its name, the water cricket is not a cricket at all but a compact, velvety true bug that skates over the swirling surfaces of streams and riffles in search of trapped prey.
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Rose Chafer
A slender, tan, long-legged scarab beetle that gathers in swarms on rose blossoms and other flowers in late spring, chewing petals and foliage into a lacy, skeletonized pattern.
beetleJune Beetle
A stout, reddish-brown scarab beetle that emerges in late spring and early summer, famous for clumsily bumping into porch lights and window screens at night.
beetlePlanthopper
A varied group of sap-feeding true bugs known for their sideways-held wings, jumping ability, and, in some tropical species, exaggerated head projections used for display.
true-bugRed Velvet Mite
A plump, brilliant red mite covered in a dense coat of short velvety hairs, often seen emerging onto the soil surface in numbers right after a heavy rain. Its vivid color and unusual size for a mite make it one of the more eye-catching arachnids most people will ever encounter.
arachnidFirefly
A soft-bodied, dusk-flying beetle famous for the bioluminescent flashes it produces from its abdomen to attract mates on warm summer evenings.
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Pond Skater
Skimming effortlessly across the surface of still water on long, spindly legs, the pond skater uses ripples to detect struggling insects, which it seizes and pierces with needle-like mouthparts.
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Monarch's Milkweed
A boldly orange-and-black true bug that shares milkweed plants with Monarch butterfly caterpillars, often clustering in large groups on seed pods and stems.
true-bugWhite Grub
A pale, C-shaped larva with a brown head capsule and six stubby legs, spending its entire early life hidden underground feeding on roots before emerging as a stout May or June beetle.
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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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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.
other
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.
other