Top 20 Most Common Insects in Lugano

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.

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.

The angle shades (Phlogophora meticulosa) is a type of moth that is very distinct given its pink and brown markings. You will likely float around gardens where its favorite plants will grow. It's a beautiful moth that isn't known to cause harm to anyone.

Lasiommata maera has a wingspan of 44–56 millimetres (1.7–2.2 in). These large butterflies are quite variable in color and pattern. Usually the upperside is orange in the forewings and mostly brown in the hindwings. The forewings always show a single ocellus, while the hindwings bear two or three ocelli. The underside of the forewings is orange and the underside of the hindwings is marbled with gray brown. This species is quite similar to Lasiommata megera, that is smaller and has paler yellow-orange forewings. Seitz P. maera L. (= adrasta Dup.) (45 d). On an average larger than hiera, more evenly coloured, the black markings of the ground less prominent in the nymotypical form with a sooty brown disc; the forewing of the male more pointed, with longer costal margin and more oblique distal margin; on the underside of the forewing the distal band extends without interruption across the median veins to the hindmargin. The underside of the hindwing has a much purer ground-colour, i. e. there are less clouds and shadows between the various dentate lines which cross the disc. The apical ocellus has a stronger tendency towardsduplication being usually somewhat distorted obliquely and — at least beneath — bearing two pupils. Between this ocellus and the apex there is nearly always a minute eye-dot, there occurring also often specimens with other accessory ocelli . Moreover, the ocelli of the hindwing are as a rule somewhat larger than in the same sex of hiera — A very large material proves that it is hardly possible to find definite trenchant distinctions , especially if one takes into account the large number of local forms of maera, all the various kinds of pattern and coloration exhibiting a great variability.

The moth has a wingspan of 30 to 35 mm. The length of the forewings varies from 14 to 17 mm. Forewing rufous brown, dusted with greyer; costal edge whitish; lines brown, conversely edged with paler; outer line obscurely lunulate-dentate, the teeth not marked by dots on veins; submarginal line pale, diffuse, edged outwardly with darker; reniform stigma forming a distinct white spot at lower end of cell; hindwing dark or pale grey, sometimes tinged with rufous or ochreous; in the form known as italogallica Mill, the wings are darker, dull brown; — flecki Carad.; from Romania and the Bukovina, is rather smaller, the forewing dull grey brown, the hindwing fuscous: - in fasciata Spul. the darker brown tints are more strongly developed in median area so as to form a kind of fascia; besides the above already named forms there appear to be two more, equally deserving of a separate name; — ab. ochrea nov. [Warren] is ochreous, dusted with grey, and with a slight flush, rufous in male reddish brown in female, with the lines dark grey and the marginal area darker; the white spot at end of cell as usual; hindwing dirty whitish in male with termen greyer, more wholly grey in female; two males from Silvaplana, Engadine, Switzerland, and one female without locality; — the other, ab. expallidata nov. is quite small, smooth pale grey with a tannish-peach tinge; the inner line hardly traceable, but the outer black and distinct throughout; the lunules and the teeth all alike strongly marked; but the usual marginal dark area is here concolorous with rest of wing; the median vein shows dark below the white discal spot; hindwing dirty white, greyer towards termen: One? from Digne, basses Alpes, June 1908.

The wingspan is 28–36 mm. Pattern and colouring are extremely variable. The colour varies from dove grey to dark grey brown, with light brown, light red, reddish-brown to black-brown markings. This has led to the distinction of formae (forms). The apex of the front wing is slightly concave. The head and thorax are coloured mostly according to the wing colour; the abdomen is partially or completely reddish brown. The inner and outer, serrated crossbars are usually darker than the colour and more or less clearly defined. These are often white lined specimens with much darker crossbars. Reniform and orbicular and stains can be as well shown, but also sometimes almost absent. There is always a black dot in the lower part of the reniform. The more or less significant medium shade is darker than the colour and has a strong median bulge. The wavy line is often a series of black dots. The moth flies from September to May depending on the location.

Lysandra coridon has a wingspan of 30–36 millimetres (1.2–1.4 in). These small butterflies present a sexual dimorphism. The males having pale silvery-blue upperside of the wings with a submarginal line of grey spots on the hindwings and a thin brown and white chequered fringe. Females have dark brown upperside of wings, with marginal orange spots and also with chequered fringes. The underside of the wings show a light ochre colouration, several dark spots surrounded by white, a submarginal line of black marks, a series of marginal orange spots on the hindwings and a blue dusting near the body. As with many blue butterflies, separation from similar species in the field is on the underside markings. Aberrations are common.

The wingspan is 34–40 mm. Forewing reddish grey, more or less dusted with dark: inner and outer lines blackish, indistinct; orbicular and reniform stigmata ringed with ochreous; submarginal line ochreous preceded by a fuscous or rufous shade; claviform mostly unmarked; veins towards termen pale: hindwing grey, the fringe paler. The species varies according to the amount of red present; — ab. pallida Tutt is pale grey, sometimes with an ochreous flush; — obliqua Vill. is darker grey with markings clearer; — suffusa Tutt is an equally well marked blackish-grey form; of these grey forms the second only obliqua Vill. is common; on the other hand when the red tints predominate we get the form rufa Tutt, which is also rare; - in junctus Haw. the upper stigmata, usually separate, are coherent; this accidental connection occurs in all the forms occasionally: — in ab. rufannulata Haw. the stigmata are edged with, and the submarginal line is coloured rufous instead of ochreous.

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.

The black-veined white has a wingspan of 5 - 7 cm. Females are commonly larger than males. The upperside of both forewings and hindwings is a translucent white boldly veined with black. The underside is similar in the male but the female has brown veining. Moreover, the female loses most of her scales by rubbing her wings together, resulting almost-transparent. This butterfly can be distinguished from other members of white butterflies of the genus Pieris by its distinctive veined wings. The eggs are yellow at first, darkening with age. The caterpillars are greenish grey with transverse banding. The pupa is creamy white, marked with black, attached by a silken girdle to a twig.