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.
Long-Legged Fly
A jewel-bright little fly that flashes metallic green, blue, or bronze in the sunlight as it darts across leaves on comically long, stilt-like legs, pausing to perform quick territorial displays. Both adults and larvae are active hunters of even smaller insects, making this tiny fly a useful predator in gardens and wetlands alike.
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Crane Fly
A long-legged, mosquito-like fly with a slender tan or gray body and a single pair of narrow wings, often seen wobbling clumsily around outdoor lights on summer evenings.
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Dance Fly
A slender, long-legged predatory fly named for the swarming courtship dances males perform at dusk, often while carrying a captured insect as an offering.
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Cactus Fly
A slender, long-legged desert fly that specializes in breeding within the soft, fermenting tissue of decaying cactus, particularly saguaro and other columnar cacti.
flySnipe Fly
A slender, long-legged fly often seen perched head-down on a sunny tree trunk or fence post, patiently watching for smaller insects to ambush. Its tapered, wasp-like abdomen and habit of resting motionless with legs splayed give it a distinctive, almost sentry-like posture in woodland clearings.
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Bee Fly
A fuzzy, bee-mimicking fly with a long, forward-pointing proboscis that hovers motionless in front of spring flowers while sipping nectar.
flyBot Fly
A stocky, bumblebee-mimicking fly whose adults never feed and live only long enough to mate and locate a rodent or rabbit burrow for their eggs. Despite their harmless, buzzing adult stage, bot flies are best known through the larvae that develop as internal parasites of small mammals.
flyMarch Fly
A stout, all-black fly that emerges in sudden, dense swarms during the first warm days of spring, often dangling its long hind legs conspicuously in slow, low flight over grass. Its name comes from its habit of appearing reliably around the start of the month, sometimes on cue near a particular saint's feast day in the traditional European calendar.
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Carrot Rust Fly
A slender, shiny black fly barely a few millimeters long whose slim yellowish larvae tunnel rust-colored trails through carrot and parsnip roots.
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Fruit Fly (Vinegar Fly)
A tiny tan fly with bright red eyes that seems to appear from nowhere the moment a piece of fruit begins to overripen or a splash of wine is left uncovered.
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Blow Fly
A brilliant, metallic green fly that gleams like a jewel in sunlight, quickly locating decaying material with an acute sense of smell.
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Robber Fly
A powerfully built, bristly-faced predatory fly that ambushes other flying insects in midair, piercing them with a stout beak-like proboscis.
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Drain Fly
A tiny, fuzzy gray-tan fly with broad, moth-like wings held tent-fashion over its body, often seen resting motionless on bathroom walls near drains.
flyLouse Fly
A flattened, leathery-bodied fly that clamps onto fur or feathers with stout claws and scuttles sideways like a tiny crab rather than taking flight when disturbed. Several species shed their wings for good once they settle on a permanent host, spending the rest of their lives buried in fleece or plumage.
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Tachinid Fly
A bristly, house-fly-like insect that looks unremarkable at a glance but hides one of the most important ecological roles among flies: its larvae develop as internal parasites of caterpillars, beetles, and other insects, quietly regulating populations across the landscape. Gardeners often welcome tachinid flies as natural allies against crop-damaging pests.
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Vinegar Fly
A tiny tan fly with bright red eyes that seems to appear out of nowhere the moment a banana starts to spoil, drawn in by the smell of fermentation rather than the fruit itself. Few insects have contributed more to the science of genetics, making this unassuming kitchen visitor one of the most studied animals on Earth.
flyWarble Fly
A furry, bee-mimicking fly that never lands on flowers or feeds as an adult, spending its brief life darting around grazing cattle to lay eggs on their legs and lower body. Herds sometimes react with sudden panicked runs, known as gadding, whenever a warble fly approaches.
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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.
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Sand Fly
A tiny, densely hairy fly that holds its wings erect in a distinctive V-shape and travels in short, silent hops rather than sustained flight.
flyPhorid 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.
flyOnion Fly
A slender gray fly closely related to houseflies whose white legless larvae bore into onion bulbs, feeding in clusters within a single rotting bulb.
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House Fly
A gray, fuzzy-bodied fly with four dark stripes on its thorax and large reddish compound eyes, famous for its erratic buzzing flight and tendency to land repeatedly on food and surfaces.
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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.
flyHorse Fly
A stout, fast-flying fly with large iridescent eyes and a heavy, robust body, known for its persistent, buzzing pursuit of large mammals on warm summer days.
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