Content tagged with "Insects, Spiders and Kin"

Damselflies

Photo of an adult damselfly on a twig next to water.

Species in the suborder Zygoptera

Like their close relatives the dragonflies, damselflies have long bodies, two pairs of long, membranous, finely veined wings, and predaceous aquatic larvae that have extendible mouthparts. Damselflies typically hold their wings together, above the body.

Differential Grasshopper

Melanoplus differentialis

This grasshopper is familiar to most Missourians. Originally it lived only in wet meadows and creek bottomlands, but with the spread of farms, it has become a pest of many food crops.

Dragonflies

Species in the suborder Anisoptera

Like their close relatives the damselflies, dragonflies have long bodies, two pairs of long, membranous, finely veined wings, and predaceous aquatic larvae. Dragonflies typically hold their wings stretched outward, horizontally.

Eastern Carpenter Bee

Xylocopa virginica

Eastern carpenter bees somewhat resemble bumblebees but have a noticeably black, shiny abdomen. Also, they are rather solitary and excavate their nests in wood. Carpenter bee nests are provisioned in the spring and summer.

Eastern Dobsonfly (Hellgrammite)

Corydalus cornutus

The adults are huge, mothlike, with large wings and a weak, fluttery flight. The fiercely predaceous aquatic larvae, called hellgrammites, are well-known to anglers, who often use them as bait.

Emerald Ash Borer

metallic, emerald-green beetle on ash leaf

Agrilus planipennis

Why shouldn’t you transport wood across state lines? Because so far, there are few other ways to control the spread of this incredibly destructive, invasive beetle, which kills every type of ash tree—even healthy, vigorous ones.

European Wood Wasp

Sirex noctilio

This species is known to cause the death of up to 80 percent of the pine trees in an area, and it could soon arrive in Missouri. Help protect our pines, whether they are in backyards, Christmas tree farms or wild forests, by learning how to identify this troublesome insect.