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.
Elm Seed Bug
A slim, brownish-orange seed bug that develops on elm seeds and becomes a familiar autumn nuisance as it seeks shelter on sun-warmed walls and window frames.
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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.
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No-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.
fly
Small Milkweed Bug
A red-and-black seed bug with a distinctive X-shaped pattern on its back, commonly found feeding on milkweed seeds and sap alongside monarch caterpillars.
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Bed Bug
A small, flat, reddish-brown, wingless insect shaped like an apple seed that hides in mattress seams and bed frames by day and emerges at night to feed.
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Milkweed Bug (Large Milkweed Bug)
A boldly patterned orange-and-black true bug found clustering on milkweed seed pods, sporting an elongated body with a distinctive black band across the wings.
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Mesh Web Weaver
A tiny, easily overlooked spider that spins a loose, bluish tangle of fuzzy silk over twig tips and seed heads to snare small insects.
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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.
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Milkweed Bug
A bold orange-and-black true bug that clusters conspicuously on milkweed seed pods, its warning colours advertising the plant toxins it safely stores from its host.
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Snout Beetle
A small beetle instantly recognized by its elongated, downward-curving snout, tipped with chewing mouthparts, used to bore into seeds, nuts, stems, or fruit.
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Weevil
A beetle instantly recognizable by its elongated, downward-curving snout tipped with tiny chewing mouthparts, used to bore into seeds, nuts, grain, and plant stems.
beetle
Harvester Ant
A large, industrious desert ant that clears a bare, sunburned disk of ground around its nest entrance while collecting and storing seeds by the thousands.
ant
Leaf-Footed Bug
A large, elongated brown true bug named for the flattened, leaf-shaped expansions on its hind legs, often found feeding on fruits, seeds, and vegetables in gardens and orchards.
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Wireworm
Slender, shiny, and armor-hard, the wireworm is the long-lived soil-dwelling larva of a click beetle, spending years underground feeding on seeds, roots, and tubers before ever taking beetle form.
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Biting Midge
A minuscule, gray-winged fly that gathers in dense swarms near wetlands and can slip through window screens unnoticed.
fly
Punkie
An almost invisibly small biting fly that swarms near wetlands at dusk, where only the females take blood meals from animal hosts.
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Gnat
A catch-all common name for a wide range of tiny, delicate flies, some no bigger than a grain of pepper, often seen hovering in small clouds near water, moist soil, or overripe produce.
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Cutworm
A plump, dull gray-brown caterpillar that hides in soil by day and emerges at night to sever young seedlings at the base, curling tightly into a C-shape when disturbed.
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Blue-eyed Darner
A large, fast-flying darner with brilliant sky-blue eyes that meet in a seam across the top of the head, patrolling ponds and open fields well into the evening.
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Bed Bug (Bat Bug)
A small, flat, reddish-brown, wingless true bug that hides in tight seams and crevices by day and feeds on blood at night, closely related to the bat bug, which occupies a similar niche in bat roosts.
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Ghost Mantis
A small, angular mantis crowned with a leaf-shaped crest, so thoroughly disguised as a withered leaf that it seems to vanish into dead foliage.
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Grizzled Mantis
Mottled in shades of gray and lichen-green, this flattened mantis presses itself against tree bark so convincingly that it seems to melt into the trunk.
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Powdered Dancer
Named for the pale, frosty bloom that coats mature males, the Powdered Dancer is a robust river damselfly often seen basking on sunlit rocks and gravel bars.
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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