Top 20 Most Common Insects in Payson
Insects, those diverse creatures with segmented bodies and jointed limbs, stage a fascinating show in the natural theatre of Payson. These small actors play big roles in our ecosystem - cycling nutrients, aerating soil and aiding in pollination. This compilation will navigate you through 20 most frequent flyers and crawlers, shapeshifters and stingers, pests and partners of Payson, highlighting the symbiotic relationship between these two diverse ecosystems.
Most Common Insects
1. Flame skimmer
Male flame skimmers are known for their entirely red or dark orange body, this includes eyes, legs, and even wing veins. Females are usually a medium or darker brown with some thin, yellow markings. This particular type of skimmer varies in size but is generally measured somewhere between 5 cm and 8 cm long. These naiads are known for being rather large and chubby-looking due to their rounded abdomen. They are covered with hair but, unlike most young dragonflies, they lack hooks or spines.
2. Queen
The queen butterfly (Danaus gilippus) is a North and South American butterfly in the family Nymphalidae with a wingspan of 70–88 mm (2.8–3.5 in). It is orange or brown with black wing borders and small white forewing spots on its dorsal wing surface, and reddish ventral wing surface fairly similar to the dorsal surface. The ventral hindwings have black veins and small white spots in a black border. The male has a black androconial scent patch on its dorsal hindwings. It is found throughout the tropics and into the temperate regions of the Americas, Asia and Africa. It can be found in meadows, fields, marshes, deserts, and at the edges of forests. This species is possibly a close relative to the similarly colored soldier butterfly (or tropic queen; Danaus eresimus); in any case, it is not close to the plain tiger (Danaus chrysippus) as was long believed. There are seven subspecies. Females lay one egg at a time on larval host plants. Larvae use these plants as a food source, whereas adult butterflies feed mainly on nectar from flowers. Unpalatability to avian predators is a feature of the butterfly; however, its level is highly variable. Unpalatability is correlated with the level of cardenolides obtained via the larval diet, but other compounds like alkaloids also play a part in promoting distastefulness. Males patrol to search for females, who may mate up to 15 times a day. Male organs called hair-pencils play an important role in courtship, with males with lower hair-pencil levels being selected against. These hair-pencils may be involved in releasing pheromones during courtship that could attract female mates.
3. Springwater dancer
The springwater dancer has a black stripe along the side of its thorax. The male is typically blue, but some can be violet. The female is pale brown.
4. Sleepy orange
The sleepy orange is a bright orange butterfly with the upperside of the wings having wide black borders. The forewing coastal margin has a small, narrow black spot. The underside of the wings varies seasonally: summer forms are bright yellow with brick-red markings, while winter forms are browner and more heavily marked. It has a wingspan of 3.5 - 6 cm .
5. Variegated meadowhawk
The variegated meadowhawk is a small to medium-sized dragonfly with a slender abdomen, often reaching a length of 4.5 - 23 cm. The male is commonly dark brownish black with an abdomen of bright red, pink, and golden brown. The thorax may be marked with a pair of yellow dots on each side. The leading edges of the wings are marked with pinkish. The females are similar in color but not as brightly colored, with gray and yellow replacing the red of the male. Young variegated meadowhawks are much paler and mottled with pale green, pale yellow, golden brown, and orange.
6. White-Lined Sphinx
The white-Lined Sphinx ( Hyles lineata) is a colorful furry moth with striped wings. It has a similar size of a hummingbird, and behaves like a hummingbird as well. It can fly extremely fast, and instantly swing from side to side while hovering just like a hummingbird. It feeds on nectar from a variety of flowers including petunia, honeysuckle, lilac, clovers, thistles, and jimson weed.
7. American snout
American snout have prominent elongated mouthparts (labial palpi) which, in concert with the antennae, give the appearance of the petiole (stem) of a dead leaf. Wings are patterned black-brown with white and orange markings. The forewings have a distinctive squared off, hook-like (falcate) tip. The caterpillars appear humpbacked, having a small head, swollen first and second abdominal segments, and a last abdominal segment which is tapered and rounded. They are dark green with yellow stripes along the top and sides of the body, and have two black tubercles on the top of the thorax.
8. Western hercules beetle
The western hercules beetle (Dynastes grantii) is one of the largest beetles found in the United States. Given their size, they are commonly found in countries that participate in beetle fights. They are normally identified with their light-brown or greyish color, but that is known to darken if the beetle gets wet.
9. Western honey bee
Western honey bee(Apis mellifera) is the most common species of honeybee in the world. Among the first domesticated insects, its cultural and economic impact on humanity has been vast and far-reaching, providing honey, wax and its services as a pollinator. Western honey bee faces challenges worldwide, such as colony collapse disorder, and populations are thought to be decreasing.
10. Spring azure
Celastrina argiolus ladon is a butterfly from the Lycaenidae family, the small pages, fire butterflies and blues. This subspecies used to be considered as a separate species, but in a revision it is classified as a subspecies of the blue tree. This revision is not accepted by all authors.
More