Field Guide

The honeybee is the major pollinator of many field crops and almost all tree fruits. It is the world's most beneficial insect. In 1985 it was named the official state insect of Missouri.

Missouri has several species of ground crab spiders in the genus Xysticus. They are usually dull gray or brown with brown, white, or yellow markings. They typically live under bark or on the ground in leaf litter.

Missouri's Neoscona spiders, called spotted orbweavers, can be hard to identify to species. Most have camouflage patterns, and they all make the characteristic, delicate, wheel-shaped webs to catch prey.

The tan jumping spider usually lives on tree trunks. Its gray, tan, and brown coloration camouflages it against tree bark. There is usually an undulating pattern on the abdomen.

Horses, cattle, dogs, and deer all drop manna from above to eager dung beetles, which collect, hoard, and guard the precious organic materials left undigested in the pile.

Stag beetles are a family that, though not very colorful, have prominent pincers! Male stag beetles usually have enlarged, sometimes astonishing jaws. These “antlers” give rise to the common name.

Their streamlined shape is distinctive, but the behavior of click beetles is even more unique: Placed on their backs, these beetles flip suddenly into the air with an audible click.

Meet the horse fly: Stealthily, one will land on your back, slice your skin, and lap your blood. By the time it starts to hurt and you swat at it, the painful, itchy welt is rising.

Many blow flies are so shiny and colorful they’re called greenbottles and bluebottles. But pretty as they are, it’s hard not to be repulsed by their larval diets.

Ticks drink the blood of humans and other mammals. Because they can carry serious, sometimes deadly diseases, it's important to learn about ticks and how to protect yourself from their bites.