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.
Corn Earworm
A color-variable caterpillar, ranging from pale green to reddish-brown, that burrows headfirst into corn ears and is one of the most economically significant crop pests in North America.
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Corn Earworm Moth
A tan to olive-colored moth whose caterpillar, the corn earworm, is one of the most economically significant crop pests in North America, feeding inside corn ears, tomatoes, and cotton bolls.
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Tomato Hornworm
A large, thick green caterpillar with diagonal white stripes and a distinctive curved horn at its tail end, often found stripping leaves from tomato plants in gardens.
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Tomato Hornworm Moth (Five-spotted Hawkmoth)
A large, robust grey-brown sphinx moth named for the five pairs of yellow-orange spots along its abdomen, best known as the adult form of the large green tomato hornworm caterpillar familiar to home gardeners.
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Cotton Bollworm
A variably colored caterpillar, ranging from green to brown to nearly pink, that burrows into cotton bolls, corn ears, and tomato fruit, feeding concealed inside the very structures it damages.
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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.
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Earthworm
A long, smooth, segmented soil-dweller with no legs, eyes, or shell, best recognized by its ringed body and the pale saddle-like band (clitellum) found on mature individuals.
otherRootworm
Working unseen below ground, rootworm larvae chew tunnels through the root systems of corn and other crops, the underground counterpart to the small, often striped or spotted beetles seen on leaves and flowers above.
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Spotted Cucumber Beetle
A small, elongated yellow-green beetle marked with twelve black spots across its wing covers, commonly seen on cucurbit and corn plants throughout the growing season.
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Bagrada Bug
A tiny, orange-and-black stink bug with an intricate mottled pattern, notable as a small-bodied specialist pest of cabbage-family plants in warm, dry climates.
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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.
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Garden Spider
A large, strikingly patterned orb weaver with a black-and-yellow abdomen and a bold zigzag band of silk woven into the center of its web, making it one of the most recognizable garden spiders.
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Fall Armyworm
A brownish-green caterpillar marked with a pale inverted "Y" on its head, notorious for rapid, large-scale outbreaks that devastate corn and other grass crops across the globe.
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Tobacco Hornworm
A large, chunky green caterpillar with diagonal white stripes and a curved red-orange horn at its tail end, often found stripping tomato and tobacco plants.
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Tobacco Hornworm Moth (Carolina Sphinx)
A large, streamlined gray-brown sphinx moth with six pairs of orange spots along its abdomen, best known as the adult stage of the tobacco hornworm caterpillar that feeds on tomato and tobacco plants.
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Snail
A shelled land mollusk that carries a coiled, calcium-carbonate shell on its back and glides slowly across damp gardens and vegetation on a slime-lubricated foot.
otherTrapdoor Spider
A stocky, burrowing spider that engineers a hinged, camouflaged silk door over its underground tunnel, waiting just inside to snap the lid open and seize passing prey in an ambush lasting a fraction of a second.
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Eastern Dobsonfly
The classic dobsonfly of eastern North America, famous for the male's outsized, tusk-like jaws and for its aquatic larva, the hellgrammite, a favorite live-bait fishing lure.
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Sac Spider
A pale, uniformly colored spider that spins a small silk sac retreat rather than a capture web, often found tucked into rolled leaves or corners of rooms.
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Firebrat
A fast, wingless, mottled gray-brown insect with long antennae and tail bristles that thrives in the warm, humid corners near ovens, boilers, and pipes.
otherRecluse Spider
A pale, unassuming spider recognized by its dark violin-shaped marking and unusual six-eyed arrangement, spending most of its time hidden in quiet, undisturbed corners.
spiderWater Penny Beetle
A flattened, coin-shaped larva that clings almost invisibly to the surface of submerged stream rocks, named for its uncanny resemblance to a small penny.
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American House Spider
A small, brownish spider with a bulbous, mottled abdomen that spins loose, irregular tangle webs in quiet corners, ceilings, and window frames.
spiderCobweb 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.
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