Top 20 Most Common Insects in Yuba City

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.

Their appearance is quite similar to that of the western tiger swallowtail, except they are a white-cream color or very pale yellow. Some pale swallowtails also have differing amounts of red-orange patches on the wings just above the tail. Tiger stripes and borders are thicker than those of western tiger swallowtails. The wingspan is typically 9 - 11 cm .Caterpillars are plump green with a single yellow band behind the thorax. They have two eye-shaped spots on the upper thorax, which may help frighten predators. Like most swallowtails, they have a red wishbone-shaped organ called the osmeterium, which pops out from behind the head and releases a foul odor to warn off predators. Caterpillars turn brown just before the fifth moult. The pupa is brown and looks like a piece of bark.

Seven-spotted ladybug (Coccinella septempunctata), known in North America as the "seven-spotted ladybug," is the most common species of ladybird in Europe and the official state insect of five U.S. states. While not native to North America, it has established itself there after being introduced to control aphid populations. Its bright coloring deters predators, and it may also play dead or secrete foul-smelling liquids to discourage consumption.

The lorquin's admiral has brown-black wings, each with a row of white spots across it. Its forewings have orange tips. The wingspan is 4.5 - 7 cm; females are generally larger than males. Larvae are usually yellow with a patch of white on the back.

The Colias eurytheme, also known as the orange sulphur butterfly, is widely distributed in North America. It is easily found and recognized in the fields and gardens owing to its special characteristics. If you look carefully at it, you will see obvious orange color on the top of the wings and solid black borders, as well as a black spot on each forewing.

The name Pachydiplax longipennis implies that the blue dasher has long wings due to the "longipennis" section literally translating to it. But this would be misleading, as the insect does not have particularly long wings. Instead, they stick out with vibrant blue colors. The dasher part of their name may be in reference to their voracious diet, as they can eat up to 10 percent of their body weight daily.

The painted lady is a migratory butterfly that spends part of the year in Northern Africa and then migrates to Europe during the warmer months. Although the adults feed on nectar from flowers, the larvae feed on the leaves of nettles and thistles.

The state insect of Montana, mourning cloak (Nymphalis antiopa) owes its name to a visual comparison with a girl who, disliking mourning, allows a few inches of color to show from under her mourning garb. Among the longest-lived butterflies, individuals may persist for as long as eleven to twelve months. It is a powerful flier, with vagrants often found many miles from the usual migration paths.

The anise swallowtail (Papilio zelicaon) is often confused with the Tiger swallowtail. They are differentiated by being smaller in size and lacking the stripping patterns. They like flat plains or hills and are often seen hanging around the vacant lots of towns.