Try for Free
AI entomologist in your pocket, scan QR code to download
Decked in a rich velvety coat, timulla vagans is known for its distinct, vibrant coloration which varies widely, often exhibiting a mesmerizing interplay of hues that serves as a warning for its potent venom. Despite being wingless, it navigates its arid habitats with impressive agility. Timulla vagans's carnivorous larvae rely on a gruesome yet fascinating strategy of development, infiltrating the nests of ground-nesting bees, upon which they parasitically feed, showcasing a remarkable example of interspecies interaction and lifecycle adaptation.
Red velvet ant (Dasymutilla occidentalis) is a ferocious parasitic wasp. It's easy to misidentify the wingless female as a red, giant, fluffy ant. Its bite brings such long-lasting, intense pain that it was named from the exaggerated description that the pain of its bite could kill a cow.
Yellow velvet ant is named ‘velvet’ for the soft red-brown hairs that cover its upper body. Despite its common name, it isn’t actually an ant, but a species of wasp. Even though it has a cute and fluffy appearance, it should be avoided since it is one of a genus of wasps that give particularly painful stings.
While called a velvet ant, this insect is actually a type of flightless wasp. With its large size and fuzzy appearance, this insect is interesting to look at, but humans shouldn't get too close. When this wasp stings, it delivers high levels of pain that even gave it the nickname "the cow killer," although the sting is not deadly.
A quintessential desert dweller, magnificent Velvet Ant shows an intriguing adaptation with its wingless nature. This unique trait aids its survival by reducing desiccation risks, supplying a tactical advantage in its harsh ecosystem. Magnificent Velvet Ant is known to be a parasitoid, laying its eggs inside host insects, demonstrating an indirect beneficial role by regulating other insect populations. Far from being passive, magnificent Velvet Ant also displays aggressive defense mechanisms using its potent sting to ward off predators.
The thistledown Velvet Ant is a diurnal creature recognized by its vibrant velvet-like hair covering, which displays a myriad of colors, most notably red-orange and black. While often mistaken for a type of ant due to its wingless females, thistledown Velvet Ant is neither an ant nor a bee but rather belongs to a group of wasp-like insects. Adult thistledown Velvet Ant predominantly hunt other insect larvae, whereas the methodical females engage in a unique reproductive strategy by laying their eggs in the nests of ground-nesting bees and wasps, making them effective kleptoparasites.
It’s hard not to notice the yellow velvet ant, named for its brightly colored body covered in bristly hairs. While its common name denotes ant, it is a type of stinging wasp. Found primarily in Mexico and the southwestern United States, the wasp does not live in colonies; it is a solitary, ground-dwelling insect.
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.
The monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) is the most recognizable butterfly in North America. It is best known for its appearance, but should be better known for the fact that it has a 3000-mile migration that takes the butterfly 4 generations to complete. Their diet is also a natural deterrent for predators, as they eat milkweed, a poison that induces vomiting.
The japanese rhinoceros beetle (Trypoxylus dichotomus) is a massive beetle about the size of the palm of a hand. It's distinguished by its long Y-shaped horn, which it uses to fight other males with. It's a nocturnal bug that feeds on sap and sweet fruits. This species is sometimes kept as a pet due to its unique appearance and simple care requirements.
The silken threads produced by silkworm during its larval stage have been highly coveted for millennia, manifesting as a luxurious fabric in human society. Remarkably, this creature has a singular diet, feeding exclusively on the leaves of its primary host plant from which it extracts the necessary nutrients to facilitate its transition into a non-feeding, winged adult.
Menelaus blue morpho (Morpho menelaus) is a gorgeous butterfly with large, royal blue wings. Linnaeus named the genus Morpho the Aphrodite-Ancient Greek goddess of love and beauty for its extreme beauty. It is native to tropical rainforests. Though many butterfly gardens now cultivate them in captivity, there are still many people who never get a chance to see them.
While the atlas moth (Attacus atlas) can't tell you where to find your country on the map, it does earn its name through other means. It is one of the largest moths in the world, with a wingspan that is far larger than its body, creating an abnormal comparison. In India, their silk is gathered in a non-commercial capacity and is considered to be more durable than the domestic silkworm.
Both sexes reach about 5 mm in body length. Females and immatures of both sexes are brown but have color patterns by which they can be distinguished from related species. Also, the males dance to attract females.
Often confused for the ladybug, multicolored asian ladybeetle (Harmonia axyridis) is a separate species that, unlike the ladybug, is a household pest. It is considered particularly annoying for its habit of returning to places from which it is removed. One of the most variable species in the world, there are many different colors and patterns multicolored asian ladybeetle may display, making identification potentially difficult.
