| Num | English |
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| The yellow butterfly is similar to
the common butterfly, with the two
easily mistaken for one another.
Males are more often a yellowish
color, and females are more often
white.
The larvae feed on plants of the
Fabaceae family, such as milk vetch
or white clover. |
| The larvae of tiger butterflies feed
on leaves of orange trees until
they metamorphose.
When they're threatened, they emit
a foul smell from their antennae to
protect themselves.
The dusting you see on your fingers
whenever you touch their wings is
actually from their scales.
These scales form the wing pattern
as well as repel rainwater, making
them very important for survival. |
| The back of the wings of a peacock
butterfly is black, while the front is
blue or green.
The males have black, velvet hair on
their forewings and are easy to spot
because of their beauty.
Sometimes you may see a group of
male peacock butterflies drinking
water together. |
| Monarch butterflies are known for
their lengthy southward migrations
in the winter.
Once spring rolls around, they
return to their original homes until
the weather turns cold again.
In their southern habitat during
winter, you may see thousands
of them covering the trees. |
| Emperor butterflies are easily
recognized because of their lovely,
iridescent blue wings.
Pigmentation isn't actually what
causes the color, but rather the
reflections on their wing scales.
Since their wings shimmer when
moving, noticing them is much
easier when they are midflight. |
| Agrias butterflies are argued to
have the most beautiful wings of
all butterfly species.
They're capable of flying quite fast,
making them more difficult to catch
than a number of their peers.
Their wings sport three colors—red,
blue, and black—but many have
different patterns and shapes. |
| Raja Brooke butterflies have red
heads and a red strip around their
necks, giving the look of a collar.
They are known to drink hot-spring
water and often hang around water
flowing up from the ground.
While males are vibrantly green,
females are much more commonly
seen with brown wings. |
| The world's largest butterflies,
birdwing butterflies, have wings
that can measure 30 cm long.
The females have longer wings than
the males, while the males' wings
have a deeper blue color.
Though they are extremely popular
with collectors, international trading
is either limited or fully banned. |
| Moths are related to butterflies,
but they're most often active
at night instead of day.
They use their large antennae to
sense, smell, and guide themselves
in the dark.
Interestingly, the number of moth
species is estimated at 160,000, so
"moth" is a fairly broad descriptor. |
| Oak silk moths are seen in the
summer and are one of the largest
moth species in the world.
They make silk from their mouths
as they transition into the pupa
stage.
As adults, they don't eat anything
and only live off the nutrients they
stored while they were caterpillars. |
| Honeybees gather nectar from
flowers and make honey, making
them integral in many ecosystems.
The worker bees are females and
the only ones capable of stinging,
though that is rather rare.
The hive does contain males, but
after mating season, they are all
sent away.
Honey has been consumed since
ancient times. Cave paintings 8,000
years old show people eating honey. |
| Bees are prone to attacking anyone
who comes too close to their hive,
so be careful when approaching!
The yellow and black you see on
their bodies are colors often used
to convey danger.
This danger is pretty significant, as
many varieties of bees are capable
of stinging multiple times. |
| When male long locusts jump, you
can hear the trademark stridulation
noise they make.
Long locusts can be green as well as
brown. The brown ones usually hide
near dried grass or brown areas.
While males are long, females are
consistently much longer, making
it simple to tell them apart. |
| Migratory locusts are large insects
that can jump up to 32 feet, as they
open their wings when they jump.
These locusts love to eat and can
consume their own weight in food
every single day.
As a group, their hunger is enough
that a million locusts can consume
one ton of food per day.
Oddly, when migratory locusts grow
up surrounded only by other locusts,
their shells will be entirely black. |
| Rice grasshoppers are typically
known as pests that eat farmers'
crops, making them undesirable.
But they're also edible, and boiling
them in soy sauce is a typical way
to prepare them in certain regions.
While they are generally green, their
shells will turn a darker color when
heavily crowded in groups. |
| Mantises are known for the praying
pose they sit in while ambushing
unsuspecting prey.
They'll snatch whatever is moving
nearby and can even capture
creatures larger than themselves.
When threatened, mantises will
spread their thin green wings to
appear more intimidating. |
| Orchid mantises look like orchids
and use them as camouflage for
protection from predators.
While this camouflage keeps them
safe, it also helps them to surprise
any prey that comes to the flowers.
They are usually carnivorous, but
they still eat the occasional banana
to balance their vitamin intake. |
| The crying of brown cicadas is
usually associated with the sound
of hot oil sputtering.
Their wings are brown instead of
being transparent, making them a
rare species throughout the world.
While completely harmless by
themselves, in swarms they can
cause devastation to crops. |
| Robust cicadas are distinguished by
the shortness of their bodies in
relation to their wing size.
They used to share territories with
brown cicadas, but robust cicadas
tend to prefer dry locales.
As you'd expect, they make a rather
robust call, though males actually
change their sound around females. |
| As the name might indicate, giant
cicadas are one of the largest
species of cicada in the world.
They used to live mostly in warmer
western Japan, but they've now
also moved to urban eastern Japan.
Though they're now common in
these areas, they aren't well known
in other parts of the world. |
| Walker cicadas have a unique crying
sound that gives the impression
they're all singing in harmony.
They usually start crying late in the
summer, so people can associate
their sound with summer's end.
This call is so related with summer
in general, TV shows regularly use
this cicada to indicate the season. |
| Evening cicadas cry when it's dark
out, regardless of what time of day
it actually is.
People tend to think it's the end of
summer when they hear the cry of
evening cicadas.
However, this species of cicada
starts crying at the end of the rainy
season, which generally falls in July. |
| Cicada larvae emerge from the
ground in the evening and molt on
trees, leaving behind empty shells.
It's possible to find out the species
of cicadas just by looking at these
shells.
Collecting the shells will tell you
how many and what kind of cicadas
inhabit a certain area. |
| Lantern flies stay on trees to drink
tree sap, which is where you'll most
commonly find them.
Their heads are shaped like
alligators, though this is just
an odd coincidence.
Their wings have patterns that look
like eyes so when they're open they
can scare off predators.
They don't really cry that much,
but they are still related to cicadas
to some extent. |
| Red dragonflies are seen in the fall,
as they're rather sensitive to the
heat of summer.
They stay in the mountains during
summer and come down to the
plains in cooler weather.
The males' bodies turn red when
they mature, but their heads and
thoraxes are brownish.
The females have a more yellowish
color and aren't as red as the males,
making them easy to tell apart. |
| The heads and thoraxes of darner
dragonflies are colored a lovely
yellow green.
The males have a light-blue spot on
their bellies, which is not a trait the
females share.
Darner dragonflies can usually be
seen flying around bodies of water
such as lakes or ponds. |
| Banded dragonflies have black-
and-yellow-striped bodies and
bright-green eyes.
They are large and can fly quite
fast. They have strong jaws, so it
might be painful if you're bitten.
Their larval stage lasts two to four
years, where they live near water,
feeding on tadpoles and small fish. |
| Dragonflies very similar to petaltail
dragonflies have been found in
fossils from the Jurassic period.
They are considered "living fossils"
that haven't changed much since
prehistoric times.
Their wingspan is over 16 cm,
making them the world's largest
dragonfly. |
| Ants are small but very powerful
and are able to carry items far
heavier than they are.
In the nest, there is a queen and
also worker ants, making them
somewhat similar to bees.
In some habitats, ants actually make
up between 15-20% of the area's
total terrestrial-animal biomass. |
| Pondskaters distinguish themselves
by having the ability to run on the
surface of water.
They have a mouth part that lets
them suck up bugs that fall on the
water's surface.
Their wings allow them to freely
move to different parts of the
water's surface if the need arises.
Some say they smell like candy,
which is a rather curious association
to make in the insect world. |
| Diving beetles swim using thick,
hairy hind legs and clean the water
by eating dead insects.
They store a supply of air under
their wings to breathe underwater
and surface to replenish as needed.
When they're caught by predators,
they release a foul-smelling bluish
fluid from their heads in defense. |
| Stinkbugs are known for their foul
smell, enough to drive away most
predators and people.
The smell is so strong that if they
release it in an airtight place, they
pass out from their own smell.
They like to gather in clumps to
stay warm in sunshine, though they
will seek out warm houses as well. |
| Snails are mollusks that live on land
and are related to shellfish like
clams and oysters.
One snail can play the role of both
a male and a female, so it can lay
eggs all by itself.
Newly hatched snails already have a
tiny shell, so right from birth they
are easily identified.
Most species have clockwise spirals
on their shells, though spirals that
go counterclockwise are possible. |
| The chirping sound you often hear
from male crickets is emitted by
the stridulation of their wings.
Crickets' ears are located just
below the middle joint of each front
leg.
While this seems odd to us, it helps
them easily pinpoint where various
sounds are coming from. |
| The chirping sound of bell crickets
is considered beautiful and tends to
represent the coming of fall.
This easily recognizable chirping is
created when males of the species
rub their forewings together.
The resulting sound is much higher
in pitch than the human voice, so
it can't be heard over a phone. |
| Grasshoppers are known for their
unique songs, but unlike crickets,
it doesn't come from their wings.
Rather, the chirping sound comes
from their rubbing their legs
together.
They look like a thicker version
of locusts, but some species of
grasshoppers actually eat locusts. |
| Mole crickets live underground in
tunnels they dig themselves, moving
freely through the soil.
Their forelimbs resemble those of
moles and are very suitable for the
task of digging.
They have large wings that allow
them to fly, but they can also swim
if the need arises.
In the past, people used to think the
noise they made underground was
actually coming from worms. |
| Walking leaves look just like real
leaves. They're related to walking
sticks, which resemble twigs.
The females are better at mimicking
leaves than the males, though they
can't fly.
Their mimicking is so thorough that
some of them even have fake bite
marks on their bodies. |
| Walking sticks disguise themselves
to confuse predators and are very
closely related to walking leaves.
They have cylindrical bodies that
look like sticks. Some of them can
even change their pigmentation.
Females can lay eggs without the
males, so most of the walking sticks
you see are females. |
| Bagworms are certain moths in
caterpillar phase. They stay in cases
or cocoons for warmth in winter.
They construct their cases by
sticking silk threads together
between leaves or branches.
Females don't have wings, and some
simply wait inside their cocoons for
males to come by to mate. |
| Despite the name, not all ladybugs
are "ladies." There are also male
ladybugs.
Though you'll see different ladybugs
with different numbers of spots,
they don't get more as they age.
Ladybugs eat insects harmful to
crops. A few species eat the leaves
of crops, but most are beneficial.
They're tough against the cold, but
during winter they stay in groups
under dry leaves for warmth. |
| As the name indicates, these bugs
resemble violins. They're very thin
and roughly five mm thick.
They stay on top of fungi on trees
and prey upon small bugs that
happen by.
When predators come near, violin
beetles emit a noxious fluid to
protect themselves.
The fluid is toxic and can be painful
if it touches your hands or eyes, so
be careful! |
| Longhorn beetles have very strong
mandibles, and both adult and larval
forms eat through the bark of trees.
They have extremely long antennae
that are sometimes even longer than
their bodies.
The adults have such strong
mandibles that they can bite off
people's hair.
And keep in mind that hair isn't the
only thing they'll bite, so be careful
when handling them! |
| Tiger beetles are known for their
aggressive predatory habits and
fast running speed.
Their bodies are rather colorful and
reflect the sunshine, giving them a
shimmery appearance.
Tiger-beetle larvae live in cylindrical
burrows and capture insects that
wander past with their mandibles. |
| Dung beetles are famous for the
exact thing you'd assume they're
famous for.
In fact, they use their namesake
both as a source of food and a
place to lay their eggs.
Dung beetles are very strong and
can roll things 10 times the weight
of their bodies.
One species can even pull objects
1,141 times its weight, which is like
a human pulling 6 packed buses! |
| Wharf roaches can be seen along the
sea, usually just above the waterline
on rocky cliffs.
They feed mainly on microalgae and
detritus that drift to the seashore,
making them cleaners of sorts.
They often move in groups and run
away quickly when they hear people
approaching. |
| Hermit crabs live in empty shells
they can fit their bodies into. As
they grow, they find bigger shells.
They're quite picky about each new
shell and first measure the opening
with their claws.
The shells they choose usually fit
well, and they'll sometimes fight
one another over ownership rights. |
| Both male and female fireflies are
capable of producing light from
their lower abdomens.
This light isn't the same as the light
from a lightbulb, though, and isn't
hot when you touch it.
Fireflies can actually glow when
in the egg and larval stages, but
that light is comparatively weaker. |
| The fruit beetle has a brilliant-
green-colored body and tends
to hang around fruit trees.
They have a hard outer wing casing
and lift this casing when they need
to fly using their thin wings.
The larvae of fruit beetles feed
on decaying vegetable debris and
plant roots. |
| Scarab beetles have elegant,
metallic-looking bodies and are
shinier even than fruit beetles.
They're so shiny that they're said to
gleam like gold. They're very rare
and can be sold for high prices.
Like all beetles in the scarab family,
the outer shell provides a very thick
layer of protection from predators.
The high value and golden shell do
make them more vulnerable when it
comes to Bell hunters, though. |
| Jewel beetles are very pretty
insects that show a red line on their
green bodies when refracting light.
They're so pretty that it's believed
people used them for craftwork a
long time ago.
Their shiny wings are easy to notice,
but birds have a hard time targeting
them.
This is because birds aren't very
good at seeing things that change
color in different lights. |
| Miyama stags look strong, with
their thick, bumpy exoskeletons and
yellow hair covering their bodies.
They're active during the day but
really don't prefer the heat during
the summer.
Contrary to their appearance, they
are rather delicate insects, so be
sure to handle with care. |
| The most distinguishing feature of
saw stags are their large, curved
jaws.
The inner parts of their jaws look
like saws, which is how they get
their moniker.
When they feel vibrations, they stop
moving right away and feign death
as a defense mechanism. |
| Giant stags are huge stag beetles
with one tooth in each side of their
large jaws.
They're very territorial but careful
at the same time, so they usually
hide in holes in trees.
They have a long life span. Records
show that some have lived up to
five years.
They're very popular among
collectors as pets, so they
commonly fetch a high price. |
| Rainbow stags are called the most
beautiful of stag beetles because
of their metallic-rainbow color.
Not only are their wings a pretty
rainbow color, but their bellies are
as well.
They are quite laid back, but they
can be seen every now and then
fighting to protect their territories. |
| Cyclommatus stags are identified
by their long pairs of mandibles,
which can be as long as their bodies.
Their large mandibles are actually
already formed when they're in the
pupal stage of life.
Although these beetles are mostly
easygoing, those living in mountains
really can't stand the heat. |
| Golden stags are named after their
unique gold color and are highly
prized by collectors.
They shine like gold when their
bodies are dry, but when it's humid,
they actually look black.
Golden stags have short mandibles
that aren't good for fighting, but
males sometimes fight for territory.
The males are surprisingly friendly
to the females, which gives these
beetles a likable quality. |
| Horned dynastids are part of the
scarab family. Their horns are
actually part of their exoskeleton.
Horned dynastids don't have a nose
or ears, but they can sense smells
with their antennae.
They are also able to feel the minor
vibration of sounds traveling in the
air using thin hair on their bodies.
They are fairly loud when flying,
plus they emit a rather sour odor,
so they are hard not to notice. |
| Horned atlases, though perhaps not
the largest, are still known as the
strongest of the dynastid beetles.
Their 3 horns make them look like
a mash-up of a dynastid beetle
and a stag beetle!
In the pupal stage, they already
have 3 horns and tend to be
pretty strong. |
| Horned elephants are some of the
heaviest dynastid beetles in the
world.
The thin yellow hair that covers
their bodies makes them rather
attractive to mates and collectors.
Their horns resemble an elephant
raising its trunk, which is how they
got their name.
They're already big in their larval
stage, but by their pupal stage, they
are the size of a person's hand. |
| Horned herculeses are the largest
beetles in the world, reaching over
17 cm in exceptional cases.
Their 2 long horns look pretty,
but they're powerful and can hurt
a lot if you're pinched by them.
The longer horn is covered with
short, soft yellow hair, which helps
them to sense vibrations.
The yellow on their bodies turns
black when it's humid, making them
difficult to spot on humid evenings. |
| Goliath beetles, named after the
legendary giant, are among the
largest insects in the world.
The larvae can weigh four ounces or
more. Once mature, they are only
half that weight, however.
They spend their days flying from
tree to tree to feed on tree sap or
fruits. |
| Fleas are tiny insects that feed on
blood from humans and animals,
which then results in an itchy rash.
They use their piercing mouths to
suck blood while injecting saliva
into their host at the same time.
Unlike mosquitoes, both males and
females suck blood. The females
are larger than the males. |
| Pill bugs live in moist places, which
is why you will commonly find them
under rocks and in stumps.
When they're touched, they roll into
a ball. Oddly enough, they're part of
the crustacean family.
As such, and since they don't like
dry places, they can travel for a
short time underwater if need be. |
| Mosquitoes can easily be found
flying around on warm summer
nights looking for targets.
Only the females feed on blood, and
when they do so, they also inject
saliva.
The saliva is actually what causes
the annoying itchy feeling, rather
than the bite itself.
Mosquitoes detect body heat,
sweat, and carbon dioxide, so they
are drawn to exercising humans. |
| Flies are often seen rubbing their
forelegs to clean them, which seems
odd, because, well, they're flies.
However, they need to keep their
legs clean as they contain taste and
tactile receptors.
By doing so, they can better savor
the flavor of whatever they find
to eat next.
The legs also contain a sticky liquid
so flies can more easily land on
smooth surfaces. |
| The house centipede has many
remarkably long legs that give it
a very intimidating appearance.
However, despite this intense look,
they are for the most part harmless
to humans.
When an enemy is holding down one
of its legs, the house centipede will
drop that leg to make an escape.
The dropped leg will continue to
flail for a while, though, providing
a distraction. |
| Despite the name, centipedes have a
varying number of legs, from about
30 to 46 rather than 100.
They also have forcipules, which
are a modification of the first pair
of legs, that inject venom.
Centipedes are sometimes used as
an ingredient in herbal medicine,
though the effect is questionable. |
| Spiders emit silk from their
spinnerets and use it to create
elaborate webs to snag prey.
The horizontal threads are sticky to
the touch, allowing them to be used
as very strong restraints.
However, the vertical threads are
smooth, allowing spiders to walk on
them without getting stuck. |
| Tarantulas are large arachnids that
live in warm areas. They're some-
times kept as pets.
They have sharp fangs, and while it
is painful if you're bitten by one,
they aren't deadly to humans.
What's scarier is the hair they kick
off of their abdomens to protect
themselves.
The hair can cause serious itching
and rashes wherever it sticks and
can be rather difficult to remove. |
| Scorpions resemble crabs and are
in the class arachnida, though they
aren't aquatic.
Most species possess venom, but
of the 1,000 or more species, only
25 are deadly to humans.
Scorpion eggs hatch inside the
female's abdomen, and the young
spend time on her back after birth. |
| Scorpions resemble crabs and are
in the class arachnida, though they
aren't aquatic.
Most species possess venom, but
of the 1,000 or more species, only
25 are deadly to humans.
Scorpion eggs hatch inside the
female's abdomen, and the young
spend time on her back after birth. |
