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It’s true that most people don’t conflate the words “beautiful” and “insect” unless they think of butterflies. But there are beautiful insects out there that are not butterflies. Similar to butterflies, these beautiful insects have developed their colorful appearance not for humans to admire, but for camouflage themselves, to warn predators that they taste bad, or to attract mates. Read on to learn about 10 of the world’s most beautiful insects.
#10. velvet ant
The fact that the velvet ant can deliver a hellish sting does not make it any less beautiful to see. They are not ants at all but wingless wasps. The fact that they can sting makes them feminine, as a sting is a modified one ovipositor. These colorful, beautiful critters are covered in plush fur from which they get their name, and the fur is often red, gold, black, silver, or orange and is nicely patterned. Males have wings and sometimes they pick up the females and take them with them to mate. Velvet ants can be found in the United States.
Read this to learn more about wasps.
#9. fireflies
On their own, fireflies are not bad looking insects. The Common Eastern Firefly of East North America has a pink thorax with a black spot, and the elytra are black and fringed with yellow. What makes fireflies wonderful insects is the light they produce on warm spring and summer evenings. This light can be green, yellow or even faint red or blue. It is the result of a chemical reaction and does not produce heat. Even firefly larvae glow. In fact, the larvae of all insects in the Lampyridae family glows even when the adults don’t.
Fireflies are predators, and there is a genus of fireflies, photos, whose females produce light to attract unrelated fireflies. When the male comes near, photos woman kills and eats him.
#8. broad-winged katydid
This insect joins the list of beautiful insects for its color, the fresh, bright green of a new leaf. Indeed, the shape and color of this katydid’s body makes it almost disappear when resting on a leaf, and its favorite habitats are meadows and in the vegetation growing along roads and railway lines. As a member of the Microcenter genus, it has a compressed body and an angle with its wings that makes its shape particularly pleasant. Like their distant relative the grasshopperThe katydid has long hind legs that allow it to jump several times the length of its own body, but it can also fly. The broad-winged katydid is mainly found in the southern United States.
#7. Ladybird
ladybugs or ladybug beetles are not only beautiful but also cute, with their round bodies and the black dots that cover their elytra, which are often cheerful red, orange or yellow. Another thing that makes a ladybug a welcome sight, especially to gardeners, is that many species are voracious predators of “bad bugs,” such as aphids, mites, scale insects and others that infest garden plants. Both larvae and adults eat these pests, and sometimes you can see them eating together. If their permanent prey is scarce, they will eat other ladybugs, including their eggs and larvae. They also eat the eggs of moths and butterflies, but the ladybug’s usefulness in getting rid of pests makes up for it.
If you want to know more about ladybugs, read this.
#6. dragonflies
Since ladybugs are efficient land predators, dragonflies are predators of the air. They are easily identified by their long, spindle-like bellies, huge eyes, and their agility in flight, propelled by huge transparent wings that they extend horizontally when at rest. Dragonflies are also among the most beautiful insects. Among the most beautiful are:
- Twelve-pointed skimmer. This dragonfly gets its name from the 12 spots on its wings. There are three on each front wing and three on each rear wing. Its beauty is due to its body, which appears to be made of polished gold. This dragonfly is found in North America.
- Scarlet Dwarf. The body of this little exotic Asian dragonfly is a rich scarlet. The color can be found on his thorax, his abdomen and even his eyes. The wings have an orange blush near where they attach to the body.
- Sapphire Flutter. This is also a small dragonfly found in South Asia and Australia. Its long belly is cobalt blue and its wings glitter purple.
- Crimson glider. This beautiful insect from Asia has a Day-Glo magenta belly and the veins in its wings are scarlet. Males can be distinguished from females because their heads are reddish brown. The head of the female is brown and there are black and brown stripes on the thorax.
- Phantom Flutter. Depending on the light, this dragonfly found in Africa iridescent shades can be blue, violet-red, or purple, or sometimes all those colors at once. The hindwings have a large stretch of shimmering purple where they join the body.
damselflies are closely related to dragonflies, except they fold their wings when they rest. They are also smaller and thinner. One of the most beautiful is the great red dragonfly that can be found in Europe and North Africa. The abdomen of the male is scarlet red and ringed with black and bronze. There are three color types of females, and they can be black or red with yellow bands on the belly.
read about dragonflies here and the difference between dragonflies and damselflies here.
#5. Mourning Cloak Butterfly
Since no list of the most beautiful insects would be complete without butterflies and moths, the butterfly on this list is the mourning cloak. This beautiful butterfly is found in North America and Eurasia and looks like no other. The top of its wings is a velvety dark chestnut brown. The edges are frayed and fringed with what looks like gold leaf. There are iridescent blue spots between the maroon and the gold. The underside of the wings is filled with gray stripes and the golden edges of the wings are visible. Males and females are equal.
The mourning cloak is one of the longest-lived butterflies and can live up to a year. One reason for this is that they hibernate in winter, which gives them an advantage. Sometimes mourning cloaks come out of hibernation before all the snow has melted. They do not so much take nectar from flowers, but drink the juice, liquid from rotting fruit and honeydew from aphids.
To learn more about butterflies, read: this.
#4. Rosy Maple Moth
The pink maple moth is a silk moth, a family that includes some of the most common beautiful moths. It gets its name because it caterpillar usually feeds on various maple species, sometimes defoliating them. Ironically, the adult does not eat.
The smallest silk moth, the pink maple has only a wingspan of 1.25 to 1.75 inches, with the females being slightly larger than the males. Their wings are a striking pink and yellow, and they have pink or rose colored legs and antennae. Their furry bodies are also yellow and the antennae of the male are more fuzzy than those of the female.
To go here to read more about moths.
#3. Picasso Bug
This exotic bug, whose scientific name is Sphaerocoris annulus, looks like a kid who has picked up some paint and carefully painted all kinds of abstract designs on his back. Found in sub-Saharan Africa, the Picasso bug grows to only 1/3 inch tall. The ground color is green, but it has eleven spots with red and black edges and a wavy band of red rimmed in yellow and black at the head. These colors warn predators that the insect is poisonous, but if that doesn’t work, the insect gives off an unpleasant odor.
#2. Orchid praying mantis
The amazing orchid praying mantis is one of a group of praying mantises that mimic flowers. In this case, it mimics the sugar-pink Phalaenopsis orchids found in the tropics rainforests of Southeast Asia. It is almost impossible to see this colorful insect when it rests between the petals of this orchid. Four of its six legs resemble the orchid’s petals, allowing the other two to grab prey ranging from butterflies to moths to to fly, bees, and beetles. The rest of the body is the light green stem of the orchid, although the praying mantis can change color. These beautiful insects will also eat each other. As with many other mantids, the female is much larger than the male
For more information about praying mantis visit here.
#1. Chrysina aurigans
One of the jewel scarabs, this exotic little one beetle is not only the world’s most beautiful insect, but is arguably the most beautiful animal. The reason is simple. It looks like a drop of molten gold. Even though it has an exoskeleton made of chitin like the lowest cockroach, the light plays on it in a way that gives it its glittering appearance. Chrysina aurigans is native to the rainforests of Costa Rica. Other golden beetles of its kind are: C. sparkles and C. limbata. There is even a sister beetle that looks like a small nugget of polished silver. The name of this beetle is C. chrysargyrea.
Next one: Discover the oldest snapping turtle ever
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