Field Guide

There are 10 species of spider wasps in genus Auplopus in North America north of Mexico. They often snip off the legs of the spiders they capture, which makes them easier to move around.

Spider wasps in genus Entypus are bluish black and usually have some amount of amber color on their dark, smoky wings. Some species have bright yellow antennae.

The dotted wolf spider has a solid brown stripe running down the middle of the abdomen, seen from above. Like other wolf spiders, females have strong maternal instincts, carrying their spiderlings around on their back until they can be on their own.

The European hornet is a large, nonnative hornet that was introduced to New York in the mid-1800s. They now occur across most of the eastern United States, including Missouri. People may misidentify them as the highly publicized, so-called murder hornets.

Hackberry psyllids are a genus of tiny, planthopper-like bugs. As larvae, they develop within the leaves, twigs, buds, or bark of hackberry trees. The trees form warty galls in response to their presence. In the fall, tiny adult hackberry psyllids cling to window screens.

Cockroaches well-known: they are flattened, small, brown or black, often shiny insects that can hide in tight crevices and lack specialized appendages. Recently, termites have been included in their order.