Top 20 Most Common Insects in Poland

The meadow brown (Maniola jurtina) is similar to the Gatekeeper in the way that it rests with its wings open due to the "eye spots" on either end of its wings that ward off predators. While the color is a deep brown, the caterpillar form is a beautiful bright green with little, white hairs and a dark line leading down its back.

Small and colorful, small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) is the national butterfly of Denmark. However, it is capable of surviving anywhere the common nettle leaf may be found, which the larvae of this species depend on. Once among the most common butterflies in Europe and temperate Asia, this species is experiencing rapid declines for reasons still being investigated.

The map butterfly is unusual in that its two annual broods look very different. The summer brood are black with white markings, looking like a miniature version of the white admiral and lacking most of the orange of the pictured spring brood. The eggs are laid in long strings, one on top of the other, on the underside of stinging nettles, the larval food plant.

Red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) is a visually striking species of butterfly. Unusually territorial, males will compete for choice areas, and females will only mate with males that maintain their own territories. This butterfly is known for being particularly patient with human interactions, even to the point of perching on clothing or flesh.

Despite its common name, only male specimens of common blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus) can accurately be described as blue; the females are predominately gray-brown, with only a dusting of blue and a scattering of orange spots. The adults live for only three weeks before dying.

The silver, comma-shaped marked on the butterfly’s wings give it the common name the Comma. It is a common butterfly in southern Britain that was once on the verge of extinction in the 1930s. The butterflies are often found at the edge of forests, close to meadows with plenty of nectar-rich wildflowers.

Issoria lathonia is a medium-sized butterfly with a wingspan of 4 - 4.5 cm. The wings show a deep orange-violet background, with rounded black spots arranged in regular rows and suffused with greenish gray in the females. The underside of the hindwings is decorated with large pearly nacreous spots and it is crossed by a postdiscal row of black eyespots with pearly pupils. Some pearly spots also appear at the apex of the forewings. The caterpillar can reach a length of 3.5 cm. It is grayish brown, with black spots, and relatively short brown spines with white tip, and a double row of dorsal white streaks. The suspended chrysalis is dark brown, with a large white saddle-shaped stain and some smaller ones of the same color, resembling a bird's dropping. The imago is rather similar to Argynnis aglaja, Argynnis adippe and Brenthis daphne, which have the same orange color on the upperside of the wings, but show different markings and spots. Moreover, the underside of the hindwings does not have the large pearly spots characteristic of the queen of spain fritillary.

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.

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.

Interestingly, individuals belonging to orange tip (Anthocharis cardamines) occupy different habitats depending on gender: the males inhabit the edges of forests, whereas the females prefer meadows. When laying eggs, females release pheromones to deter other females from laying eggs on the same flowerhead. They are picky about choosing their host plants, and females will avoid plants not fully exposed to sunlight.