Field Guide

The handsome trig lives in vegetation about four feet off the ground near water. This beetle-like cricket may be a mimic of bombardier beetles, which spew foul chemicals for defense.

Tree crickets, or pale bush crickets, are a subfamily of crickets that are little seen but often heard. True to their name, instead of living on the ground, they live in trees, bushes, and tall herbaceous plants.

Grayish, small, flattened, and rectangular, lace bugs have a lacy network of ridges on the wings and body. They suck nutrients from foliage with their beaks. The resulting pale spots on leaves might be the first sign of their presence.

With their bulging eyes and squat shape, big-eyed toad bugs really do look a lot like tiny toads. Their genus name means "laughable bug" or "ridiculous bug."

Tephretid fruit flies, in the family Tephritidae, are often called peacock flies for the intricately patterned, often brightly colored wings of many species.

Millipedes in family Xystodesmidae often have bright colors that serve as a warning to potential predators that they may secrete foul or toxic substances.

The olive-green swamp grasshopper lives on pond edges and wetlands where the vegetation is thick and lush. It has rather long antennae, for a short-horned grasshopper.

Megachilid bees are a family of solitary, native bees that carry pollen only on the underside of the abdomen, never on the hind legs. Large cutting mouthparts allow them to collect pieces of leaves, soil, or plant resins to line their nests.

Andrenid bees, also called mining bees, are solitary ground-nesters. Most are specialist pollinators whose life cycle is timed to correspond precisely to the blooming of specific flowers.

Ommatius robber flies are medium-sized robber flies with distinctively branching antennae. There are about four of five species that might occur in Missouri.