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.
Flea
A tiny, wingless, laterally flattened insect built for moving swiftly through fur, famous for its powerful hind legs that allow it to leap many times its own body length.
other
Water Flea
Despite the name, the water flea is not an insect at all but a tiny, jerky-swimming crustacean whose transparent body and single dark eye make it one of the most recognizable members of freshwater plankton.
otherFlea Beetle
A tiny, shiny beetle that springs away like a flea when disturbed, leaving characteristic small round holes peppered across the leaves it feeds on.
beetle
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.
flySand Wasp
A fast, sun-loving solitary wasp with large green or grayish eyes and yellow-striped markings that digs burrows in loose sand and provisions them almost entirely with flies.
waspSix-eyed Sand Spider
A flattened, sand-colored spider that buries itself just beneath the desert surface, ambushing prey while remaining almost invisible against the dunes.
spiderSpringtail
A minuscule, wingless hexapod best known for its spring-loaded tail-like structure that flicks it into sudden, erratic hops when disturbed, often found in huge numbers in damp soil and leaf litter.
other
Leafhopper
A small, wedge-shaped insect that darts sideways and springs away in quick hops when disturbed, often brightly striped or patterned and found clinging to the underside of leaves.
true-bugPlanthopper
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-bugNo-See-Um
A speck-sized fly so tiny it seems to vanish from sight, yet capable of swarming exposed skin near beaches and marshes at dawn and dusk.
flyBiting Midge
A minuscule, gray-winged fly that gathers in dense swarms near wetlands and can slip through window screens unnoticed.
flyPunkie
An almost invisibly small biting fly that swarms near wetlands at dusk, where only the females take blood meals from animal hosts.
fly
Digger Wasp
A solitary, ground-nesting wasp that excavates neat burrows in bare soil and provisions them with paralyzed prey for its young.
wasp
Tiger Beetle
A fast, metallic-hued ground beetle with oversized sickle-shaped jaws that sprints and short-flies down open sandy trails in pursuit of tiny prey.
beetle
Common Sanddragon
A sand-colored clubtail dragonfly that perches flat on bare, sunlit riverbank sand, nearly vanishing against the grains around it.
dragonflyPsyllid
A tiny, sap-sucking hopper that resembles a miniature cicada and springs away in a blur when its host leaf is disturbed.
true-bugCaddisfly Larva
A soft-bodied aquatic larva famous for building a portable protective case from sand, gravel, or plant debris bound together with silk.
aquatic-insectAntlion
An insect best known for its larval stage, the doodlebug, which digs a small conical pit trap in loose sand to ambush unwary ants, while the winged adult resembles a slender, delicate damselfly.
other
Tiger Centipede
A large, banded desert centipede with alternating dark and pale segments reminiscent of tiger stripes, capable of a fast, muscular scuttle across sand and rock.
myriapod
Caddisfly
A moth-like insect whose larvae are famous for constructing portable protective cases out of silk and whatever sand, twigs, or debris they can find.
aquatic-insect
Giant Desert Hairy Scorpion
The largest scorpion in North America, a robust golden-brown giant covered in fine bristles that digs deep burrows in the desert sand and hunts after dark.
arachnidYellow Scorpion
A robust, sandy-yellow scorpion of arid regions that spends daylight hours buried or hidden beneath stones, emerging at dusk to hunt.
arachnid
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
Karner Blue
A tiny, silvery-blue butterfly dependent entirely on wild lupine and now known chiefly from a small number of protected sandy-soil habitats in the Great Lakes and Northeast.
butterfly