Top 20 Most Common Insects in Erbil

This is a large damselfly with a total length of up to 1.9 in and a hindwing length of up to 1.4 in. Male and female are variable in color and pattern. The male has translucent wings which each have a broad, dark iridescent blue-black spot (or band) across the outer part. On immature dragonflies the spot is dark brown. The body can be a metallic blue or bluish green or a combination of both colours, depending on the time of year and location. The dark wing patch of the male starts at the nodus (the slight dip midway down the upper edge of the wing) but can reach up to the wing-tip in southern races.

Carpocoris purpureipennis can reach a length of 11–13 millimetres (0.43–0.51 in). The pronotum is wide with a regular punctuation, almost straight and slightly pointed lateral margins with blunt tips. Also the lateral edges of the scutellum are nearly straight. The body color varies from purple or reddish-brown to yellowish. The pronotum angles are black. Moreover pronotum usually shows short longitudinal black stripes, while the scutellum may have some contrasting black spots. Antennae are black and legs are orange. This species is quite similar and can be confused with Carpocoris pudicus, Carpocoris fuscispinus and Carpocoris mediterraneus.

The green shield bug is a very common and distinctive sap-sucking bug. This fairly large bug is sometimes called a "stinkbug" as it releases an unpleasant smell when disturbed or threatened. Thanks to the pheromones that this bug excretes, individuals remain in sibling communities.

Orthetrum coerulescens can reach a body length of 4 - 4.5 cm. These dragonflies have a thorax with pale yellow ante-humeral stripes. In the males the color of these stripes fades with age. The abdomen is rather slim and shows an evident dorsal keel. Males have blue-grey eyes and a blue pruinescence on the abdomen, developed with age. Young males are yellow-brown. On the contrary some (androchrome) females at the end of the reproductive cycle assume the bluish color of the male. In the female the abdomen is yellowish-brown, with a thin median black line and small transverse lines to the connections of the various segments. The hyaline wings have yellow costa and a long yellow-brown pterostigma (about 4 mm). This species resembles the black-tailed skimmer but is smaller and slimmer and the male has no black tip. Females and immature males lack the black abdominal pattern.

Adults are easily recognizable due to their impressive body size with 69–80 mm length, the leaf-shaped flaps on the bottom side of the abdomen tip which are unique in European species, and wing venation. The flaps give the narrow and long abdomen club-shaped appearance. Basic color is pale yellow with dark brown or black markings of variable size. The pterostigma is also similarly colored. In south Croatia and Montenegro, it is possible to observe completely black individuals, which is probably a consequence of them developing in cold springs. The adults fly in the summer, from the end of May until August.

The wingspan of Utetheisa pulchella can reach 3 - 4 cm. The front wings are narrow, white or cream coloured with a variable pattern of numerous small black spots located between the larger-sized bright red spots. Sometimes the red spots are merged to transversal bands. The hindwings are wide, white, with an irregular black border along the outer edge and two black markings in the middle of the cell. The head and thorax range from cream colour to buff yellow, with the same pattern as the wings. The antennae are long and monofiliform. The abdomen is smooth, with a white background. Caterpillars are warty, dark brown or greyish, with tufts of greyish hairs, an orange crossline on each segment, a wide whitish line along the back and two other lateral white lines.

Colias croceus has a wingspan of 46–54 millimetres (1.8–2.1 in). The upperside of the wings is golden to orange yellow with a broad black margin on all four wings and a black spot near the centre forewing. Usually these butterflies settles with its wings closed, consequently the black margin of the uppersides of the wings is difficultly visible. The underside lacks the black borders and is lighter, with a more greenish tint, particularly on the forewings. In the forewing underside is the same dark spot as on the upperside, but often with a light centre; the hindwing underside has a white centre spot, often with a smaller white or dark dot immediately above it. Sometimes, a row of black dots occurs on the underwings' outer margins, corresponding to where the black border ends on the upperside. Females differ from the males in having yellow spots along the black borders on the upperside. In flight, Colias croceus is easily identifiable by the intense yellow colouring, much brighter than that of the lemon-yellow male common brimstone which also lacks black markings. Like all Colias species they never open their wings at rest. In a small proportion of females (about 5%) the golden upperside colouration is replaced by a pale cream colour. These females have been distinguished as form helice. The pale form helice does not seem to be that distinct as intermediates exist and the variation is to some extent related to humidity during development, with dryer conditions producing paler colouration. These pale forms helice can be confused with Berger's clouded yellow (Colias alfacariensis) and the rarer Pale clouded yellow (Colias hyale). Even the palest C. croceus tends to have more black on the upperside however, in particular on the hindwings. Young caterpillars are yellow-green, with a black head. Later they become completely dark green, with a white red spotted lateral line after the third moult. The pupae are green and have a yellow side stripe. This species is rather similar to Colias myrmidone, Colias chrysotheme, Colias erate, Colias hyale, Colias alfacariensis, Colias caucasica, Colias aurorina.

The Leptinotarsa decemlineata, commonly known as the colorado Potato Beetle, is a common pest, causes serious damages to potato crops. The beetles are in orange-yellow color with ten characteristic black stripes on the forewings. It has a strong ability to diffuse, come from North America, and now also has a wide distribution across Europe and Asia.

The upperside forewings are a bright orange with a dark outside edge border and with eight or nine black spots. The hindwings are dark with an orange border. Some females also have a row of blue spots inside the orange border and are known as form caeruleopunctata. The undersides are patterned in a similar way but are paler. The black spots on the forewings are outlined in yellow and the dark colouring is replaced by a pale brownish grey. The hindwings are the same brown/grey colour with small black dots and a narrow orange border. The caterpillars (larvae) are usually green, but some have a purple stripe down the middle of the back and along each side.