Home Application Download FAQ
English
English
繁體中文
日本語
Español
Français
Deutsch
Pусский
Português
Italiano
한국어
Nederlands
العربية

Top 20 Most Common Insects in Kerala

Insects, the most diverse group of organisms in Kerala, are fascinating creatures, advanced in adaptability and resilience. Their variety is often attributed to the geographical spread within Kerala, encompassing coastal, mountainous, and forest regions. In this role, both as pests and allies, insects play a significant part in the ecological balance. Keep reading as we unveil the '20' most common insects of Kerala, spotlighting their unique characteristics and crucial roles.

Most Common Insects

Pied paddy skimmer

1. Pied paddy skimmer

The species is on the IUCN Red List as not endangered, year of assessment 2007.
Chocolate soldier

2. Chocolate soldier

Upperside of both sexes brown of varying depths of colour. Forewing: cell with one pair of subbasal and one pair of apical transverse sinuous fasciae, the outermost defining the discocellulars; a short, broad, dark, oblique fascia beyond to vein 4, its inner margin diffuse, its outer sinuous but sharply defined; below vein 4 a sinuous, transverse, more faint fascia, followed by a discal blackish fascia, very broad and diffuse, below costa, bordered by a row of faint ocelli, and a postdiscal and a subterminal similar fascia following the outline of the termen. Hindwing with a slender blackish loop near apex of cellular area; a broad inwardly diffuse, outwardly well-defined short discal fascia in continuation of the one on the forewing; a series of postdiscal somewhat ochraceous ocelli with black pupils minutely centred with white; postdiscal and subterminal broad lines as on the forewing. Underside brown, with very broad darker brown transverse fasciae, the interspaces between the markings irrorated (sprinkled) with purplish silvery scales. Forewing with two sinuous fasciae on basal half succeeded by a discal fascia, very broad at the costal margin and decreasing in width to the dorsum, bearing on its outer border a row of obscure ocelli. This is succeeded by a zigzag dark line, and sinuous subterminal and terminal lines; apex and tornal area suffused with purplish silvery. Hindwing: two irregular, very broad, dark brown, curved short fasciae near base; a straight, transverse, prominent, narrow ochreous-brown discal band defined outwardly by a black line; a transverse postdiscal dark brown fascia, widest in the middle and bearing outwardly a curved row of ochreous-brown white-centred ocelli, followed by a zigzag dark line in continuation of the one on the forewing; a subterminal somewhat diffuse dark fascia and a terminal dark line. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen dark brown.
Common mormon

3. Common mormon

The common mormon (Papilio polytes) is a beautiful, black butterfly with unique hindwings that have orange and white colorings and two spots jutting out. They are named after the Mormon religion, as the butterflies participate in polygamy, which is a common practice for Mormons. They are also known to mimic red-bodied swallowtail, who are inedible.
Common picture wing

4. Common picture wing

It is a medium-sized dark bodied dragonfly with colorful wings tinted with pale yellow. There are a few black spots on the apices and nodes of the fore-wings. There is a large patch in the base of the hind-wings, marked with black and golden yellow. In females, the apical half of the fore-wings are transparent; basal half tinted with golden-yellow with black marks. The apical ends of the hind-wings are transparent; rest of wings marked with golden-yellow and black.
Common four-ring

5. Common four-ring

Wet-season form: Upperside greyish brown. Forewing with the usual comparatively large, bi-pupilled, yellow-ringed, black preapical ocellus. Hindwing usually with two, sometimes with three, very rarely without any, smaller similar uni-pupilled postdiscal ocelli. Underside greyish white, not very densely covered with transverse short brown striae. Forewing with the preapical ocellus as on the upperside, obscure discal and subterminal dull brown transverse fasciae and a narrow brown ring round the ocellus diffusely produced posteriorly. Hindwing with one apical and typically three postdiscal posterior ocelli placed in a curve; traces of transverse brown discal and subterminal fasciae in most specimens. Antenna, head, thorax and abdomen greyish brown, the abdomen paler beneath. Male without secondary sex-mark. Dry-season form: Similar, somewhat paler on both upper and under sides; the discal and subterminal transverse fasciae more pronounced; the ocelli on the underside of the hindwing minute or absent. Adults have a wingspan of 4 - 4.5 cm.
Common crow

6. Common crow

The common crow is a glossy-black butterfly with brown undersides with white markings along the outer margins of both wings. The wingspan is about 8–9 cm and the body has prominent white spots. The male has a velvety black brand located near the rear edge on the upperside of the forewing. On the underside there is a white streak in the same location. This white streak is present in both male and female. Upperside dark brown, broadly paler along terminal margins; Fore and hind wing with subterminal and terminal series of white spots; on fore wing the former more or less oval, curved inwards opposite apex, the latter series often incomplete, not reaching apex, the spots smaller; often there is a small costal spot, and very rarely a spot in apex of cell and one or more discal spots; on the hind wing the inner series of spots are elongate, the outer conical.Underside similar, but ground-colour more uniform; cell, costal and discal spots on both fore and hind wing nearly always present.
Common fivering

7. Common fivering

Ypthima baldus, the common five-ring, is a species of Satyrinae butterfly found in Asia.
Weaver ant

8. Weaver ant

The weaver ant can be found in silk-woven nests in the foliage of Southeast Asia and Oceania. These ants have a painful bite and prey on other small insects. Larvae have many uses for local regions, including being a popular fishing bait and a good choice of bird food.
Chalky percher

9. Chalky percher

Diplacodes trivialis is small dragonfly with bluish eyes and greenish-yellow or olivaceous thorax and abdomen with black marks. In very old adults, the whole thorax and abdomen become uniform pruinosed blue. Clear wings, without apical or basal markings, and the creamy white anal appendages and deep pruinescence in adults help to distinguish this species from others in its genus.
Common cerulean

10. Common cerulean

Like many tropical butterflies, this species shows seasonal polyphenism, with the appearance differing between adults according to the season. Male upperside has the ground colour pale bluish white. The forewing has the terminal margin narrowly edged with black that broadens very slightly towards the apex of the wing; the cilia are brownish black. The hindwing is uniformly coloured, except for an anteciliary black line faintly edged on the inner side by a white line within which and touching it is a row of black spots, the anterior spots very faint, the spot in interspace 2 large and well-defined, two geminate (paired) spots in interspace 1 and a very small black lunular dot in interspace 1a; cilia brown, white at the base in the interspaces. In specimens obtained in the height of the dry season the black edging to the termen of the forewing is much reduced and the subterminal series of black spots in the hindwing is altogether missing. The underside is greyish brown. The forewing has seven transverse white bands as follows: two short bands one each side of the discocellulars, the inner one continued downwards to vein 1 and both represented at the costa by two detached spots; two parallel discal bands, the inner one broken at and the outer one terminating on vein 3; two parallel subterminal bands, the outer one slightly lunular; lastly, a more slender terminal band followed by an anteciliary slender black line; the dorsal margin narrowly white; cilia brownish black, their bases white in the interspaces. Hindwing: crossed by nine white bands or lines as follows: three between base of wing and apex of cell, those posteriorly in interspace 1 or on vein 1 abruptly turn upwards and terminate on the dorsum; the first band beyond the cell extends from vein 6 to vein 2, then curves upwards in interspace 1; the next extends straight from just below the costa to vein 4, thus overlapping the previous band for a short distance; the next or postdiscal band runs between the costa and vein 3, the subterminal two also between the costa and vein 3 but the inner one of the two bands is extended down to interspace 1 and there curves upwards towards the dorsum; both the subterminal bands are more or less lunular; in the interspace below vein 2 is a large subterminal black spot speckled with metallic blue scales and bordered inwardly by ochraceous orange; there are also in interspaces la and 1 two black dots inwardly edged by a short white streak set in an ochraceous background; lastly, there is a complete terminal white line followed by a black anteciliary line and a filamentous short black white-tipped tail at apex of vein 2; cilia as on the upperside. Antennae brownish black, the shafts as usual tinged with white; head, thorax and abdomen pale brown, bluish on thorax and base of abdomen; beneath: the palpi, thorax and abdomen white, the third joint of the palpi and the second joint anteriorly black. The female has the upperside ground colour paler than in the male, often quite white; terminal black edging to forewing very much broader, broadest at apex, its margin there diffuse. Hindwing: differs from that of the male as follows: costal margin broadly dusky black; a postdiscal transverse series of dusky-black connected lunules often more or less obsolescent; this is followed by a series of black spots each set in a background of the white ground colour; an anteciliary slender black line as in the male. The underside ground colour is paler than in the male, the markings however are identical. Antenna, head, thorax and abdomen as in the male. Closely resembles the males and females of the dry-season brood; the markings are similar but the ground colour is generally darker both on the upper and undersides, while the black edging to the forewing and the black postdiscal and terminal markings to the hindwing on the upperside are broader and more clearly defined. Antennae, head, thorax and abdomen as in the dry-season brood.
More
Cookie Management Tool
In addition to managing cookies through your browser or device, you can change your cookie settings below.
Necessary Cookies
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.
Analytical Cookies
Analytical cookies help us to improve our application/website by collecting and reporting information on its usage.
Cookie Name Source Purpose Lifespan
_ga Google Analytics These cookies are set because of our use of Google Analytics. They are used to collect information about your use of our application/website. The cookies collect specific information, such as your IP address, data related to your device and other information about your use of the application/website. Please note that the data processing is essentially carried out by Google LLC and Google may use your data collected by the cookies for own purposes, e.g. profiling and will combine it with other data such as your Google Account. For more information about how Google processes your data and Google’s approach to privacy as well as implemented safeguards for your data, please see here. 1 Year
_pta PictureThis Analytics We use these cookies to collect information about how you use our site, monitor site performance, and improve our site performance, our services, and your experience. 1 Year
Cookie Name
_ga
Source
Google Analytics
Purpose
These cookies are set because of our use of Google Analytics. They are used to collect information about your use of our application/website. The cookies collect specific information, such as your IP address, data related to your device and other information about your use of the application/website. Please note that the data processing is essentially carried out by Google LLC and Google may use your data collected by the cookies for own purposes, e.g. profiling and will combine it with other data such as your Google Account. For more information about how Google processes your data and Google’s approach to privacy as well as implemented safeguards for your data, please see here.
Lifespan
1 Year

Cookie Name
_pta
Source
PictureThis Analytics
Purpose
We use these cookies to collect information about how you use our site, monitor site performance, and improve our site performance, our services, and your experience.
Lifespan
1 Year
Marketing Cookies
Marketing cookies are used by advertising companies to serve ads that are relevant to your interests.
Cookie Name Source Purpose Lifespan
_fbp Facebook Pixel A conversion pixel tracking that we use for retargeting campaigns. Learn more here. 1 Year
_adj Adjust This cookie provides mobile analytics and attribution services that enable us to measure and analyze the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, certain events and actions within the Application. Learn more here. 1 Year
Cookie Name
_fbp
Source
Facebook Pixel
Purpose
A conversion pixel tracking that we use for retargeting campaigns. Learn more here.
Lifespan
1 Year

Cookie Name
_adj
Source
Adjust
Purpose
This cookie provides mobile analytics and attribution services that enable us to measure and analyze the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, certain events and actions within the Application. Learn more here.
Lifespan
1 Year
Download