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.
Pillbug
A gray, armor-plated land crustacean that curls into a tight ball at the slightest touch, earning it the playful nickname "roly-poly."
other
Non-Biting Midge
A mosquito look-alike that gathers by the thousands in swirling mating swarms near lakes and ponds, despite lacking any ability to bite.
flyBooklice (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.
other
Walking Stick Insect
A master of disguise that has evolved to look almost exactly like a twig, bark or leaf, remaining motionless for hours to avoid the notice of hungry birds and lizards.
mantis-stick
Inchworm
A slender, twig-mimicking caterpillar that travels by looping its body into an arch and releasing a strand of silk to drop and dangle at the slightest disturbance.
caterpillar-larva
Eyed Hawk-Moth
A pinkish-brown hawk-moth that reveals a pair of large, blue-and-black eyespots on its hindwings when threatened, using the sudden flash of "eyes" to startle would-be predators.
moth
Diving Bell Spider
The world's only truly aquatic spider, famous for spinning an underwater silk bell that it fills with air, allowing it to live, hunt, and breed almost entirely submerged.
spider
Death Watch Beetle
A mottled brown wood-boring beetle famous for the faint ticking sound it taps out inside old timbers, once thought by superstitious listeners to be an omen of death.
beetle
Ruby Meadowhawk
A small, brilliant-red dragonfly of late summer meadows, so intensely colored that mature males seem to glow when perched low in the grass.
dragonflyPolyphemus Moth Caterpillar
A plump, apple-green giant silk moth larva with rows of silvery spots that swells to the size of a large finger before spinning a papery brown cocoon.
caterpillar-larva
Mealworm Beetle
A shiny, oval, dark reddish-brown to nearly black beetle whose larva, the familiar 'mealworm,' is a common sight in stored grain products.
beetle
Face Fly
A house fly look-alike that clusters persistently around the eyes, muzzle, and face of grazing livestock to feed on moisture and secretions.
flyCobweb Spider
A common household spider that spins a messy, three-dimensional tangle of silk in dark corners and drags entangled insects up into the maze to feed.
spiderTent Caterpillar
A social, blue-striped caterpillar that builds a conspicuous silken tent in the fork of a tree branch, sheltering large colonies of siblings that emerge together to feed on leaves.
caterpillar-larva
Polyphemus Moth
A large tan-to-golden-brown silkmoth named for the mythological one-eyed giant, thanks to the single large, transparent eyespot on each hindwing that flashes into view when the moth is startled.
moth
Little Yellow
A tiny, pale lemon-yellow butterfly with a thin, crisp black wing border, fluttering close to the ground in fields and roadsides across the southern and eastern United States.
butterflyHuntsman Spider
With legs splayed crab-like to either side of a flattened body, the huntsman spider is built for speed, capable of scuttling sideways across walls and tree trunks in pursuit of prey.
spider
Garden Tiger Moth
A boldly patterned tiger moth with chocolate-brown, cream-marbled forewings that flash to reveal vivid orange hindwings dotted with blue-black spots when the moth is disturbed.
mothGiant Centipede
A long, fast-moving, many-legged predator with a hardened segmented body and a pair of venom-injecting claws behind the head that it uses to overpower prey far larger than itself.
myriapod
Ghost Ant
A minuscule ant with a dark head and pale, nearly translucent legs and abdomen that seem to vanish against light-colored surfaces, giving the species its ghostly common name.
ant
Common Water Strider
Skating effortlessly across the surface film of ponds and slow streams, the common water strider rows itself along on hair-fringed legs to ambush insects trapped in the surface tension.
true-bug
Chinese Oak Silkmoth
A large, rust-brown silkmoth with prominent transparent eyespots on all four wings, native to oak forests of China and long cultivated there for coarse tussah silk production.
moth
Click Beetle
An elongated, streamlined beetle famous for the audible clicking snap it makes to flip itself upright when placed on its back, a spring-loaded escape mechanism unique to this family.
beetle
Banded Woolly Bear Moth
Best known as the black-and-rust-banded fuzzy caterpillar that famously curls into a ball when disturbed, this species matures into a plain golden-orange to tan tiger moth.
moth