Field Guide

The nymphs of spittlebugs and froghoppers are famous for hiding in small foamy masses of fluid. The “spit” conceals them as they suck juices from plant stems. The adults resemble leafhoppers.

The leafhoppers are a large and diverse family of sap-sucking, hopping insects. You can distinguish them from similar groups of hoppers by the hind legs, which have at least one row of small spines on the hind tibiae (“shins”).

Planthoppers are a large and diverse group of small hopping bugs. They tend to be less abundant than other types of hoppers.

Treehoppers can resemble thorns, bark, weird plant bumps, or tiny leaves. If you can recognize one of these as an insect, you're doing well!

Trashline orbweavers decorate their small, circular webs with an unimpressive line of insect husks and other debris. The small orbweaver rests at the hub within this line of garbage, looking like just another bit of trash.

The featherlegged orbweaver has two very long forelegs that, when held together, look like a tiny twig resting in the circular web. When they’re held apart, the spider looks like a little V.

Antlions, also called doodlebugs, are most familiar in their immature stages, when they create pits in sand in which to trap ants. The adults look something like drab damselflies.