Top 15 Most Common Insects in Baguio City
Insects, small yet critical components of our ecosystem, are exquisitely molded by their environments, punctuating the intricate tapestry of life in Baguio City. The variety of insects, from those we see as pests to the pollinators and decomposers, underscores the rich biodiversity of Baguio City's unique geography. The list of '15 most common insects in Baguio City' will catalyze a deeper appreciation for these unsung heroes of our living world. So, let's ponder, learn, and marvel at nature's tiny marvels.
Most Common Insects
1. Green skimmer
Orthetrum serapia is a medium-sized dragonfly with a wingspan of 60-85mm. Its wings are clear except for a small dark spot at the base of the hindwing. The thorax is greenish to greyish yellow with black markings. The abdomen is black with pale yellow or pale green markings. Orthetrum serapia appears very similar to Orthetrum sabina and can be confused where the range of the two overlap in north-eastern Australia. 
2. Black-and-white spiny spider
Female black-and-white spiny spider are 6 - 9 mm wide and possess a hard, shiny abdomen armed with six black conical spines. The upper surface of the abdomen is white to yellowish with variable black or dark brown markings and sigilla. Males are much smaller at 3 - 4 mm and in place of spines have small bumps on their abdomens.
3. Rich spiny sugar ant
4. Banded-knees house spider
Zosis geniculata sometimes referred to as the humped spider or grey house spider, is a cosmopolitan species with a pantropical distribution. In Australia, it is often seen in buildings near human habitation.
5. Palm king
Male: upperside umber brown. Forewing with the costal margin narrowly fulvous (reddish brown) near apex, crossing towards the termen, forming an obscure preapical band joining a subterminal lunular band of the same colour. Hindwing uniform, with a subterminal band as in the forewing but not lunular, straight. Underside pale brown, with the following transverse pale lilac-white bands crossing both forewing and hindwing: basal, subbasal, discal, postdiscal, broad subterminal and terminal; the subbasal and discal of equal width, meeting above the tornal angle in V-shape, the space between the two bands with, on the forewing, two shorter similar bands crossing the cell, on the hindwing a single similar band from costa to median vein; subterminal band on hindwing bent upwards above tornal area and continued halfway up the dorsal margin, the broadly-produced tornus with a dark brown spot; finally a large ochraceous ocellus in interspace 2, and a smaller similar one in interspace 6. Antennae reddish; head, thorax and abdomen umber brown. Secondary sex-mark a glandular fold in membrane of wing shaded by tufts of long hair along vein 1 on upperside of hindwing, and preapically on the abdomen with tufts of stiff long hairs. Female: Upper and undersides as in the male but paler; on the upperside the fulvous along the costal margin widens into a preapical patch, and generally the bands on the underside show through and appear above as pale fulvous bands.Wingspan: 11 - 12 cm .Eggs: The freshly laid eggs are creamy white with a small black spot in the centre and a black circular ring. The eggs are laid in a row. At Thenmala, the observer saw two rows, the first having 15 eggs and the second 3 eggs. Prior to hatching, the colour of the egg changes to black. Larvae: The first instar larvae are cylindrical, measuring 0.6 - 0.8 mm in length. The second instar larvae are pale greenish yellow measuring 0.8 - 1.2 mm in length. The third instar larvae are morphologically very similar to the previous instar, but are longer ( 3 - 4 cm ) and stouter. The fourth instar larvae are stouter and longer measuring 4.5 - 5 cm . During the fifth instar, the larvae become more brownish than greyish and measure 7 - 8 cm in length. Larvae of the palm king are voracious feeders. Most of the time, they remain on the underside of the leaf, eating from the tip of the leaf working towards the base. With regard to coloration, the fifth instars show marked difference in their ground colour: some being more brownish and some more greyish. Pupa: The process of pupation takes about half a day and resulted in a greenish spindle-shaped pupa, well-camouflaged among the pointed leaves of the host plant. Initially, they are semi-transparent but later they become more opaque. The pupa has veins and lines similar to that of the leaves of the host plant, all veins ending at the pointed lower end of the pupa. The pupa becomes transparent on the eve of hatching, with the wings and head clearly visible.
6. Common Fruit-Piercing Moth
The wingspan is about 80–94 mm in male. Palpi with third joint long and spatulate at extremity. Forewings with non-crenulate cilia in male, crenulate in female. Head and thorax reddish brown with plum-color suffusion. Abdomen orange. Forewings reddish brown, usually with a greenish tinge and irrorated with dark specks. An oblique antemedial line present, which is generally dark and indistinct but sometimes pale and prominent. Reniform indistinct. A curve postmedial line found, which is almost always met by an oblique streak from apex. Hindwings orange, with a large black lunule beyond lower angle of cell. There is a marginal black band with cilia pale spots runs from costa to vein 2. Ventral side of forewings with orange postmedial band. The wingspan is about 90–110 mm in female. Female has much more variegated and dark reddish brown striated forewings. Reniform dark and sending a spur along median nervure to below the orbicular speck. There is a triangular white mark usually present on the postmedial line below vein 3. Larva has dilated 11th somite and surrounded by a tubercle. Body purplish brown, where dorsum brown from 6th to 11th somites. Legs red and spiracular scarlet patches largest posteriorly and with some irregular white markings round them, on somite 9 in the form of an oblique white bar. There is a yellow sub-basal mark found on 4th somite. Fifth and sixth somites have black ocelli with yellow iris and white pupils. Two yellow patches can be seen on 11th somite. The adult is considered an agricultural pest, causing damage to many fruit crops by piercing it with its strong proboscis in order to suck the juice. Attempts have been made to control them using baits for the adults, egg parasites and larval parasitoids.
7. Xyleutes strix
Xyleutes strix is a moth of the family Cossidae. It is found in India, south-eastern Asia, Sundaland, the Philippines, Sulawesi, the Moluccas and New Guinea.
8. Brown awl
Badamia exclamationis is a butterfly from the family of Badamia exclamationis (Hesperiidae). The scientific name of the species was first validly published in 1775 by Johann Christian Fabricius.
9. Psyche
Upperside is white,base of wings are very slightly powdered with minute black scales.The costa of forewing is speckled obscurely with black; apex black, the inner margin of this inwardly angulate; a very large somewhat pear-shaped post-discal spot also black. Hindwing is white,in most specimens an obscure, extremely slender, terminal black line. Underside is white; costal margin and apex of forewing broadly, and the whole surface of the hindwing irrorated (speckled) with transverse, very slender, greenish strigae and minute dots; these on the hindwing have a tendency to form sub-basal, medial and discal obliquely transverse obscure bands; the postdiscal of forewing is black,spot as on the upperside; terminal margins of both forewings and hindwings with minute black, short, transverse slender lines at the apices of the veins, that have a tendency to coalesce and form a terminal continuous line as on the upperside. Antennae dark brown spotted with white, head slightly brownish, thorax and abdomen white. Female is similar as male, the black markings on the upperside of the forewing on the whole slightly broader, but not invariably so. Wingspan is 2.5 - 5 cm. Larva is green with a pale glaucous tinge about the bases of the legs and slightly hairy. Pupa sometimes green, but more often of a delicate pink shade.
10. Ramadasa pavo
The wingspan is 45 mm in male and 50 mm in female. Forewing of male with veins 3, 4, and 5 curved at their bases. The membrane in the cell and interno-median interspace slightly ridged, probably for stridulation. Head and thorax clothed with grey brown mottled scaled. The frons barred with orange and metallic blue black. Abdomen orange. Forewings with greyish basal area, mottled with brown. Costa orange, with five blue-black spots. There is an oblique medial black line with vinous suffusion on its outer edge. The outer area pale chestnut. The reniform large and incomplete, outlined on its upper and inner sides by black and violet, the upper part of its outer edge by a black line, terminating in a red speck with two black specks below it. A black striga runs from the costa to the reniform, and a blue-black band beyond it from the costa to vein 6, where it is bent outwards to the margin as a streak. There is a black and white sub-marginal specks series. Hindwings are orange.
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