Top 20 Most Common Insects in Hilton Head Island

Hermeuptychia sosybius, the Carolina satyr, is a butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. It is found in the United States from southern New Jersey south along the coast to southern Florida, west to south-eastern Kansas, central Oklahoma and central Texas. It is also found in Mexico. The wingspan is 32–38 mm. The upperside is brown without markings. The underside is also brown, but with small eyespots rimmed with yellow on both wings. They feed on sap and rotting fruit. Its larvae can feed upon the highly-invasive Japanese stilt grass Microstegium vimineum, so populations of this butterfly are potentially at risk from efforts to remove stilt grass. The endangered Mitchell's Satyr Neonympha mitchellii is also able to feed upon stilt grass. The larvae also feed on various Poaceae species, including Axonopus compressus, Eremochloa ophiuroides, Stenotaphrum secundatum and Poa pratensis.

The wingspan is 3.5 - 4.5 cm.

The zebra longwing (Heliconius charithonia) is a beautiful butterfly that has a texture resembling a zebra. They feast and pollen and nectar, using the pollen to produce chemicals that poison predators if they are eaten, deterring most predators from attack. Unfortunately, their populations have been decimated after being caught in the crossfire of sprays meant to control mosquitos.

The fiery skipper (Hylephila phyleus) is a butterfly of the family Hesperiidae and is approximately 1 inch (2.5 cm) long. The males are orange or yellow with black spots while the females are dark brown with orange or yellow spots. The caterpillars are greenish pink with a black head. The caterpillars are often considered pests and can feed on Bermudagrass, creeping bentgrass, and St. Augustine grass. Fiery skippers, along with all other species of skippers and skipperlings, can hold their wings in a "triangle" shape. The forewings are held upright, and the hindwings are folded flat. This position is thought to better absorb the sun's rays. The fiery skipper lives in North and South America, from Canada to Argentina. It is a migratory species.

Thanks to its sapphire blue claws, blue crab is famous for its attractive appearance. Despite its lovely looks, the crab shows aggressive nature when it feels threatened. Blue crab has important commercial value and it's harvested for culinary use. Many people find its meat to be sweet and delicious.

The wingspan is between 32 and 44 mm, not to be confused with the sleepy orange that is large and orange not yellow. The dorsal view of the forewing has a broad dark margin and the hindwing's ventral view has two basal blacks spots.

Armases cinereum is a crab species from the Sesarmidae family. The scientific name of the species was first validly published in 1802 by Bosc.

The upperside of the wings is blackish brown with both wings having a yellow postmedian band and a yellow submarginal band. There is a yellow bar at the end of the forewing cell. The underside of the wings is black with the forewing having a yellow postmedian band and a yellow submarginal band. The hindwing has a few colored bands; the first being cream; the second, orange; the third, blue; and the fourth, orange. There is a yellow streak on the inner margin of the hindwing which runs parallel to the body. The wingspan ranges from ​4.5 to ​5.125 inches.

Thinstripe hermit crab (Clibanarius vittatus) is a species of hermit crab that lives in the Caribbean Sea, the Gulf of Mexico, and the western parts of the Atlantic. Like other hermit crabs, it chooses and resides in discarded shells of sea gastropods. The thinstripe hermit crab is distinguished from its cousins by the white-grey stripes and streaks seen all over its body, especially the legs.