Top 20 Most Common Insects in Cyprus

The male lulworth skipper has a wingspan of 2.5 - 2.5 cm, and the female 2.5 - 2.5 cm. Beyond its small size, it is distinguished particularly by its dark, dun-coloured wings that appear with tinges of olive-brown; this darkening especially apparent in males. The butterfly is sexually dimorphic; females have a distinct circle of golden marks on each forewing, often called "sun-ray" markings due to their likeness to the rays around the eye of a peacock's feather. Males sometimes have these markings, though they are noticeably fainter.

The old World swallowtail (Papilio machaon) is commonly just called the "swallowtail," giving it the added title of "old world" to distinguish it and remind us that it comes from the "old world" (Asia, Africa, Europe). The upper side of them is a beautiful combination of pure white with black striping, the underside being a brownish version of the same thing. There is blue and two red dots on its back side.

Among the most common mosquitos in the Unites States, common house mosquito (Culex pipiens) is a ubiquitous biting pest. It has adapted to thrive in human-touched conditions and even to feed on the blood of avian species closely connected to humans, such as pigeons and doves. However, only females consume blood; the males survive on sap and nectar.

Carcharodus alceae has a wingspan of 28–32 mm. The background color of the forewings is pinkish brown, with approximately square brown markings, short, white transverse stripes running from the edge and clear patches on the discal area. Hindwings are brownish or grey-brown, with some prominent brighter spots on the underside. Males are without hair tuft on forewings underside. Antennae have cherry brown tips. The eggs are yellowish and hemispherical and the surface is covered with elongated warts, connected each other with low ribs. The egg has a prickly appearance. In the course of the development they turn red. The caterpillars can reach a length of about 0.91 in. They are dark gray, covered with small white dots and short, white hairs. The head is black with yellow spots, separated by black stripes.

Its labium and labrum are golden-yellow and face and frons are greenish yellow and eyes are green, bluish when aged. Its thorax is pale olivaceous brown with dark brown sutures. Its segment two of the abdomen is turquoise blue. Segment three has a large blue patch at each side. Segments 4 to 9 have an irregular black middorsal stripe. Segment 10 is black.

The wingspan is 24–32 mm for males and 24–34 mm for females. In these small butterflies the males have a mainly blue violet upper face of the wings with the brown edges, while the females have only a small amount of blue colour in the centre of the wings (sexual dimorphism). Both sexes have a thin, long tail in the hindwings and two black spots in the anal angle. The underface of the wings is ocher and adorned with white markings and with a larger white submarginal streak. The underface of each hindwing shows a pair of small black eye-spots beside each tail, with an orange marginal spots at the anal angle.

C. thersamon Esp. (= xanthe Hhn.) (76 e). Bright golden red; but the hindwing, also in the male, so much dusted with dark scaling that a light submarginal band contrasts with the ground. On the underside the disc of the forewing and the submarginal band of the hindwing both cinnabar-red, contrasting with the grey ground. South-east Europe, the eastern districts of Italy opposite the Balkan Peninsula, Asia Minor and Turkestan, extending north-westwards to Hungary, Bohemia and Saxony. — omphale Klug (76 e) is the short-tailed summer-form, which flies from July until September. — In persica Bien. the upperside is very fiery and the dots of the median row on the hindwing beneath are larger; in the sub-alpine region of the mountains north-west of El Meshed (Persia). — alaica Gr.-Grsh. is washed with dark on the upperside, and has the underside more yellowish with larger dots. Ferghana. — Larva green, with swollen segments, the dorsal line yellow, thinly divided, the side-line likewise yellow, between the two lines darker oblique smears; head and legs brown; adult in June and again in the autumn on Sarothamnus and Rumex. The pupa evenly rounded, dark brown. The butterflies occur as tailless form in April and May, and again as omphale from July onward, flying on dry sunny hillsides, not being rare at their flight-places.

S. briseis L. (= janthe Pall., daedale Bgstr.) (42b). Very variable in size and markings; recognizable by the flat triangular club of the antenna and the pale costal margin of the forewing. The dark wings are traversed by a band which is usually composed of narrow transverse spots, bearing a distinct apical ocellus and a second similar spot before and somewhat below the middle of the distal margin. Band of the hindwing sometimes shaded. On the underside the male has large dark angular spots at the base of both wings, the female having the hindwing beneath generally uniformly brownish or grey; North France, Germany, Austria, Hungary, and the adjacent districts of Russia. — meridionalis Stgr. (42b) is the South-European form, which is especially common on the Mediterranean coasts of Europe. The white spots composing the band of the forewing are broader than in specimens from Central Europe. — magna Stgr. is the from East Europe, which flies also in some districts of Asia Minor; in size like meridionalis , but the band somewhat broader and purer white, especially on the hindwing. — ab. pirata Esp. (42 f) has the size of the previous, but the band is ochreous ; occurs among white-banded specimens in South and East Europe , and Anterior Asia, being especially large in the last country. — major Oberth. (42 c) is still considerably larger than meridionalis, the band of the forewing being much narrower, and differs at a glance from all the other forms of briseis in the hindwing beneath, on which in the male the dark triangular spot at the middle of the hindmargin is wanting and the dark longitudinal spot above the middle of the cell is quite light green-grey and not sharply defined. This large form is locally not rare in North Africa, in the Aures Mts. and the Kabylie. — hyrcana Stgr. (42 b) is similar to magna, the white band on the upperside being very narrow and the underside very conspicuously variegated ; in Persia and various places of Anterior Asia, especially in the Achal-Tekke country. —fergana Stgr. (42c) is the largest form, which has a rather large white band and in the female a reddish grey underside; from Asia Minor and the Pamir. — turanica Stgr. is nearly as large, the band not being very broad and on the hindwing of the male distinctly tinged with red-brown. — maracandica Stgr. (42 b) , from Samarkand, is a medium-sized form which has very much white, the median band of both wings being very broad and in addition the distal margin of the hindwing being broadly white. — Larva yellowish grey, with a dark dorsal stripe and dark subdorsal lines; two light lateral lines above the spiracles, the stigmata themselves being black; venter light grey; till June on grasses. Pupa brownish yellow, with a darker dorsal stripe. The butterflies from July till September; they prefer chalky soil and love to settle on bare places of the ground and on boulders. The flight is low and hopping in the small northern form, stately, floating and rather fast in tlie large forms from Africa and Asia Minor. The butterfly now and again visits scabious thistles or other composites, keeping the wings tightly closed when resting.

Large white (Pieris brassicae) is visually similar but quite larger than its close relative P. rapae. It lays its eggs on food plants such as cabbages – the origin of its common name – leading to many farmers' classifying this species as a pest.