Insect Names

Posted on May 23, 2003 in Insects Words

Thumbing through the pages of
A Field Guide to Insects America North of Mexico I uncovered the names of many insects which would serve the purposes of a poet:

webspinner	mammal chewing louse	backswimmers	water boatmen
toad bug	ripple bug	minute pirate bug	ambush bug
assassin bug	ash-gray leaf bug	water measurer	negro bug
mealy bug	wrinkled bark beetle	crawling water beetle	whirling beetle
ant-loving beetle	lightningbug	glow worms	checkered beetle
water-penny beetle	mud-loving beetle	tooth-necked beetle	wounded tree beetle
shining flower beetle	fire-colored beetle	darkling beetle	death-watch beetle
pinhole borer	engraver beetle	ambrosia beetle	twisted-wing parasite
scorpion fly	punkie	ox warble fly	sawfly
horntail	yellow jacket	horntail

Also to catch my eye was the Hister Beetle, perhaps a scourge of Nostradamus.

And the many kinds of Fungus Beetle:

shining fungus beetle

minute fungus beetle

silken fungus beetle

dry fungus beetle

pleasing fungus beetle

handsome fungus beetle

hairy fungus beetle

Oh! The lives of these insects is a matter beyond their names that deserves personal study. I leave these as a trailheads for you.