Field Guide

The male blue corporal has a rather dark blue body, a black head, and dark marks at the wing bases. Females and young males are brownish and have two short "corporal" stripes on the side of the thorax, behind the eye.

The black saddlebags is a dragonfly with memorable markings. Two dark blotches on each hindwing look like saddlebags.

The eyed click beetle is only one of about 1,000 species of click beetles in North America. Most of the others are drab in comparison.

The female black giant ichneumon wasp deposits her eggs through wood. The larvae eat the grubs of wood-boring insects.

The female long-tailed giant ichneumon wasp deposits her eggs through wood. The larvae eat the grubs of the pigeon tremex, a wood-boring horntail wasp.

The locust borer is a longhorned beetle whose larvae tunnel into the trunks of black locust. The colorful black and yellow adults are often seen in late summer as they feed on the pollen of goldenrod and other flowers.

The spotted lanternfly has not yet been found in Missouri, but it is present in several eastern states. It has the potential to damage our forests and food supply by feeding destructively on trees and crops.

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 giant stag beetle is enormous, the males reaching 1½ inches in length without the mandibles, and nearly 2½ with them. Look for them on rotting logs in forests in early summer. They’re also attracted to lights.

Female baskettails have a specially adapted, upturned abdomen tip, which allows them to carry around their egg masses in a little, orangish glob.