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.
Army Ant
A nomadic predator that never builds a permanent nest, instead forming temporary living bivouacs from its own linked bodies and sweeping through the forest floor in massive predatory raids.
ant
European Mantis
A slender, typically bright green mantis native to Europe, Africa, and Asia, now widely established in North America, easily recognized by a small dark bullseye mark on the inside of its front legs.
mantis-stick
Bumble Bee Queen
The large, robust foundress of a bumble bee colony, noticeably bigger and fuzzier than her worker offspring, seen alone in early spring searching for a nesting cavity before her colony's first workers emerge.
bee
Metallic Wood-boring Beetle
The North American common name for jewel beetles, emphasizing the wood-tunneling habits of their larvae, which leave telltale flattened, D-shaped exit holes in bark of stressed or dying trees.
beetle
American Dagger Moth Caterpillar
A pale, sulfur-yellow to cream fuzzball bristling with dense tufts of hair and long black 'pencils' projecting from both ends, the American dagger moth caterpillar is one of the most recognizable hairy caterpillars on hardwood trees in fall.
caterpillar-larva
Banana Spider
"Banana spider" is a folk name applied inconsistently across the Americas, but in the southeastern United States it most often refers to the large, golden-silked orb weaver commonly seen spanning gaps between trees along shaded trails.
spider
Pearl Crescent
A small, orange-and-black checkered butterfly that is one of the most abundant and widespread species in open fields across the continent, easily recognized by its crescent-shaped pale marking on the hindwing underside.
butterfly
Ichneumon Wasp
A slender, long-antennaed parasitoid wasp, often mistaken for a giant mosquito or a stinging insect, that is best known for the extraordinarily long ovipositor some species use to drill into wood and lay eggs on hidden larvae.
wasp
Imperial Moth
One of the largest and most variably patterned silk moths in North America, with broad yellow wings mottled in shades of purple, brown, and pink, and a caterpillar that can grow to impressive size on a wide range of forest trees.
moth
Cicada Killer Wasp
One of the largest wasps in North America, a robust rust-and-black or yellow-marked digger wasp that excavates burrows in bare soil and specializes in hunting cicadas to provision its underground nest.
wasp
Emperor Scorpion
A massive, glossy black scorpion with heavy, oversized pincers built for crushing prey rather than stinging it, the emperor scorpion is one of the biggest and most recognizable scorpions on Earth. It digs deep burrows in rainforest soil and is unusual among scorpions for tolerating close family groups.
arachnid
Mourning Cloak
A dark, velvety maroon-brown butterfly edged with a ragged cream-yellow border and a row of iridescent blue spots, notable for overwintering as an adult and often being one of the very first butterflies seen flying in early spring.
butterfly
Bollworm
One of the most economically significant caterpillars in North American agriculture, the bollworm changes color from green to brown to pink across its life and bores into cotton bolls, corn ears, and tomato fruit alike.
caterpillar-larva
Yellow Garden Spider
Bold black and yellow markings, a large orb web anchored with a bright zigzag of silk, and a habit of sitting in plain view make the yellow garden spider one of the most eye-catching and recognizable spiders in North American backyards.
spider
Asian Longhorned Beetle
A large, glossy black longhorn beetle patterned with irregular white spots and boldly banded blue-white antennae, notable as one of the largest and most eye-catching wood-boring beetles seen in temperate hardwood trees.
beetle
European Hornet
A large, robust wasp with a reddish-brown thorax, yellow-and-brown striped abdomen, and a distinctive habit of nesting in hollow trees, making it the largest true hornet native to Europe and introduced to eastern North America.
wasp
Palo Verde Beetle
One of the largest beetles in North America, a heavy, dark reddish-brown longhorn beetle with long spiny antennae and a loud, buzzing flight that emerges from the desert soil around palo verde and mesquite trees in summer.
beetle
Regal Moth (Hickory Horned Devil)
One of the largest moths in North America, with orange-red and gray-veined wings on the adult, best known for its enormous, formidable-looking caterpillar, the hickory horned devil, a blue-green giant bristling with long orange spines.
moth
Wood Tick
A flattened, ornately patterned tick that waits on low brush in the Rocky Mountain foothills, ready to grab onto large mammals passing within reach. Its mottled, shield-marked back makes it one of the more distinctive North American ticks to identify.
arachnid
Whip Scorpion
A flattened, spider-like arachnid with a pair of extraordinarily long, whip-thin front legs used to feel out its surroundings in the dark, and large spiny pedipalps held out front like a crab's claws. Despite the name and fearsome appearance, it has no stinger and no fangs.
arachnid
Great Purple Hairstreak
The largest and most iridescent hairstreak in North America, with brilliant blue-green upperwings, red-orange spots on the body and wing base, and long twin tails, its caterpillars feeding on parasitic mistletoe clumps in host trees.
butterfly
Giant Leopard Moth
A striking white moth patterned with bold, hollow black rings and dots resembling leopard spots, revealing an iridescent blue-black abdomen marked with orange when its wings part, making it one of the most eye-catching tiger moths in North America.
moth
Human Bot Fly
A stout, dark-bodied fly from the American tropics famous for an unusual reproductive trick: it captures a blood-feeding mosquito mid-flight and glues its own eggs to the mosquito's body before releasing it to carry them to a future host. The adult itself is rarely seen, spending most of its short life in shaded forest understory.
fly
Brazilian Wandering Spider
A fast, ground-dwelling hunter of the South American rainforest floor, the Brazilian wandering spider builds no web at all, instead actively roaming at night in search of prey and occasionally turning up in shipments of bananas, which earned it a widely known nickname.
spider