Field Guide

Aphids are common, small, soft-bodied insects that suck plant juices. To see them well, you probably need a hand lens, but the damage they do to plants can be all too obvious!

The wheel bug is a large gray or brown insect that carries something interesting on its back: Is it a cog, or a wheel, or a circular saw blade?

The common true katydid is a master mimic. Its bright green color matches surrounding leaves, and its wings are veined like leaves as well.

Most ichneumon wasps are harmless, although the long ovipositor of the female is intimidating. Their larvae live as parasites inside caterpillars and other larval insects.

Leaf beetles, or chrysomelid beetles, are members of a large, diverse, often very colorful beetle family. As the name suggests, they eat leaves and other plant parts and are common on foliage.

Leafcutter bees are common throughout Missouri from late spring into early autumn. All are solitary. They are dark-colored with several whitish hair bands across the abdomen. One sign of their presence is the rounded holes they cut in the leaves of plants.

Longhorned beetles are elongated and cylindrical, with antennae that are at least half the length of the body — sometimes much longer. The larvae are grubs that bore in wood or other plants. Some are serious pests.

Weevils are plant-eating beetles with a characteristic long, down-curving snout. The antennae are clubbed and elbowed. There are thousands of weevil species.