Top 20 Most Common Insects in Venice

The european mantis (Mantis religiosa) is a bright green mantis that can be distinguished by the two black spots with single white spots inside on its front legs. These spots resemble the eyes of a predator. If it's threatened, it will raise its wings and show off these intimidating "eyes". Also, it's a fierce species that will chase down its prey to catch it.

The silver-washed fritillary (Argynnis paphia) is a beautiful, orange butterfly that is covered in black spots. It earns the "silver-washed" portion of its name through silver streaks you can find running along with it. It produces a scent using "scales" that allows it to distinguish itself when females are trying to locate it.

Often confused for the ladybug, multicolored asian ladybeetle (Harmonia axyridis) is a separate species that, unlike the ladybug, is a household pest. It is considered particularly annoying for its habit of returning to places from which it is removed. One of the most variable species in the world, there are many different colors and patterns multicolored asian ladybeetle may display, making identification potentially difficult.

It is a fairly large dragonfly (the length of 4.5 - 5 cm, 3 - 3.5 cm abdomen, rear wing 3.5 - 4 cm.) with relatively broad, flattened abdomen, but not as broad as to chaser species. With age, adult males develop extensive blue pruinescence on their abdomen, offset by yellow lateral patches. The middle lobe of the pronotum is large and notched in the middle. The chest is yellow or yellowish-brown. The base of the hind wings do not show a dark opaque spots. The pterostigma is dark brown or black. On the front wings pterostigma 2 - 3 mm long. Anal appendages are black. The females and immature males are a deep yellow color, with wavy black lines dorsally on their abdomen. Males and females have the costal vein (the leading edge of the wing) yellow or black.

Ischnura elegans can reach a body length of 2.5 - 3.5 cm and a wingspan of about 3.5 cm. Hindwings reach alength of 1.4 - 2 cm. Adult male blue-tailed damselflies have a head and thorax patterned with blue and black. There is a bi-coloured pterostigma on the front wings. Eyes are blue. They have a largely black abdomen with very narrow pale markings where each segment joins the next. Segment eight, however, is entirely pale blue. At rest, the wings of most damselfly species are held back together, unlike dragonflies, which rest with their wings out flat. The thorax of juvenile males has a green tinge. Female blue-tailed Damselflies come in a variety of colour forms.Juveniles may be salmon pink, form rufescens; violet, form violacea and a pale green form. The colour darkens as the damselfly ages. Mature females may be blue like the male, form typica; olive green thorax and brown spot, form infuscans or pale brown thorax and brown spot, form infusca-obseleta.

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 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.

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.

Named after its resemblance to hummingbirds, the hummingbird hawk-moth feeds on nectar-rich, tube-shaped flowers. This large, fast, buzzing insect is known for its ability to learn colors; its food preferences are based on visual recognition. It is a migratory species that starts its journey in Africa. The hummingbird hawk-moth is considered a lucky omen.

Crocothemis erythraea can reach a length of 3.5 - 4.5 cm. These dragonflies haves a flattened and rather broad abdomen. The adult male scarlet dragonfly has a bright scarlet red, widened abdomen, with small amber patches at the bases of the hindwings. Also the veins on the leading edges of the wings are red. Females and immatures are yellow-brown and have a conspicuous pale stripe along the top of the thorax.