Insects & Their Relatives

(Carabidae) – Lively, mostly nocturnal, “eating machines,” tigers of the insect world. They may be easily confused with the slow moving darkling beetle or “iron-clads.”

(Coccinellidae) – All are predaceous in this area. May over-winter in clusters. They are good bio-control agents for aphids!

(Staphylinidae) – These are elongated with very stubby elytra (like wings of earwigs). Both larvae and adults are predaceous. Some live in ant and termite nests.

(Elateridae) – Also elongate; can flip or jump when upside down. Note the spine and pit underside of chest that give them the ability to click.

(Scarabaeidae) — “C” shape larvae (white grubs). Adults have “lamellate” antennae which look like a club with little side-by-side fingers. This variety includes “June bugs”

(Chrysomelidae) — a diverse plant-eating group. Look like elongated ladybird beetles (elm leaf beetle, cucumber beetle).

(Curculionidae) – These beetles have a snout or beak, with elbowed antennae on it (not arising on the head, as with other beetles). There are over 60K species of weevils in the world.

These are a large group of “broad-waisted” wasps where the thorax and abdomen seem like one piece in adults. The larvae look and feed like caterpillars.

Includes many social and solitary kinds. Wasps are meat eaters (adult & larvae) and have simple body hairs. Examples are “mud-daubers”, “paper-wasps,” “yellow jackets,” “velvet ants,” and parasitic wasps.

All bees have hairs which look “fuzzy” because of tiny side branches that hold pollen, the source of protein for their young. Examples of bees in our area are honey bees, bumble bees and carpenter bees. The latter look like bumble bees, but lack color bands on their abdomens. They mine old wood for nest sites. Thank honey bees for cross pollinating over 90% of the crops we eat!

All ants have “elbowed antennae” and a narrow constriction between the thorax and abdomen called a pediole. There are 2500+ species of ants and all have well-developed social lives. Our largest ant, the carpenter ant, mine wood for their tunnels and nests, not for food.

Their larvae live in moist areas. Adults look like flying daddy-long-legs, or giant mosquitoes (can also be confused with scorpionflies). Adults do not eat, instead living off of fat left over from their larval stage. They are short lived as adults.

They have aquatic larvae. Males generally feed on plant juices, only females take blood; they must have a blood meal before producing eggs. They, of course, are vectors of many human diseases.

Midges look like mosquitoes, but without stylets or hairs on veins. They have very fuzzy antennae. None suck blood. They are important for the food-chain; in the Arctic, their larvae are an important food for nesting shorebirds.

Biting flies with large “rainbow” colored eyes.

Robber flies have a long tapering abdomen and a notch on top of the head between the eyes. They often sit in ambush of flying insects on the uppermost ends of limbs of down trees.

Yes, they often hover as they feed on flower nectar and pollen

Includes several dozen families that look like and include house flies. Also includes stable, blow, bluebottle, flesh and parasitic flies. The parasitic flies have stiff hairs on the upper side of their abdomens.