Insects & Spiders of North America (and other Bugs)

Please CLICK the TEXT & PHOTO links below to visit the databases for those groups of bugs. We have pictures of many bugs that are common in United States cities. We also have a large picture database of various insects and spiders that are common in the hobby of keeping live bugs as pets. Please make use of the <Back button on your browser from the sub-category pages until we have a chance to make navigation a bit easier.

Common Name Scientific Name Description Size Photo Link
Ants Hymenoptera usually wingless, ground-dwelling 3/8 - 3/4 in.
Aphids, Leafhoppers & Cicadas Homoptera most small, suck juices from plants. Cicadas have familiar buzzing song and are an inch or more in length. 1/2-1 1/2 in.
Bees Wasps & Hornets Hymenoptera 2 pairs of wings, fairly long antennae, most sting 1/2 - 1 in.
Beetles: Including Scarab, Stag, Rhino Coleoptera hardened wing-covers, rounded shape 1/4 - 3 in.
Butterflies Lepidoptera fly by day, usually colorful, hold wings vertically at rest 3/4 - 3 in.
Centipedes & Millipedes Chilopoda & Diplopoda many pairs of legs, long-bodied (not actually insects) 3/4 - 4 in.
Cockroaches Blattaria Mostly nocturnal. Closely related to mantids, though pronotum (neck-covering) usually extends over downward-pointing head. 1/2 - 4 in.
Dragonflies & Damselflies Odonata 2 pairs of wings, usually found near source of water 1 1/2 - 3 in.
Earwigs Dermaptera pincers on end of abdomen, often seen on roses and in ears of corn at grocery stores 1/2 - 1 in.

Flies Diptera 1 pair of wings, short antennae, stingless 1/4 - 1 in.
Grasshoppers, Crickets & Katydids Orthoptera "Hopper" insects, hind pair of legs are longer 1/2 - 4 in.
Lacewings, Antlions, Alderflies Myrmeleontidae Wings with prominent veins.  Antennae long.  Antlions like dragonflies with long antennae.  Mantispids like mantises with raptorial forelegs. 1/2- 3 in.
Mantises Mantidae Large. front pair of legs together as if "praying" but used for catching other bugs 1/4 - 4 in.
Moths Lepidoptera Most fly by night, usually brown and not very colorful, hold wings in tent shape over body 1/4 - 5 in.
Spiders Araneae 8 legs, often in webs but not always, 2 main body parts (insects have 3) 1/4 - 3 in.
Stick-insects (Walkingsticks) Phasmida long, skinny, look like twigs, usually brown or green 3/4 - 6 in.
Termites Isoptera most commonly seen in summertime, male is winged at this time with a reddish body, otherwise clear to white and found underground or in wood. 1/4 - 1 in.
True Bugs- Stink Bugs Hemiptera some species seem to come in swarms (boxelder bug) and are common on houses and bushes 1/8 - 3 in.
Scorpions Scorpiones Nocturnal arachnids with two pincers and tail with venomous "stinger" on the end of it. Some species are considered deadly. 3/4 - 10 in.
Tailless Whipscorpions Amblypigi Cave-dwellers and in rodent burrows. Found in deserts. Two long "feelers" are modified legs. Triplicate pincers. 1/2 - 3 in.
Windscorpions Solfugidae Fast as wind, nocturnal arachnids. Jaws proportionately largest in animal kingdom. Non-venomous. 3/4 - 6 in.
Tarantulas Theraphosidae Usually large and covered with hair. Species distinguished as arboreal or terrestrial.  Most species are mildly venomous. 3 - 12 in.
Aquatic Bugs Various bugs found in water Various bugs found in water including True Bugs (Hemiptera) and Beetles (Coleoptera) 1/8 - 3 in.
Slugs & Snails Gastropoda Snails have shells.  Slugs don't. 1 - 10 inches