Beneficial bugs
Every species in the Wild Files corpus where beneficial is a defining trait.
92 on file
Buff-Tailed Bumblebee
Flies in cold honey bees can't. Vibrates flowers at 400 Hz to shake out pollen. Pollinates your tomatoes.
African Driver Ant
22 million workers per colony. Raid in columns kilometers long. Clean a house in hours.
African Dung Beetle
Navigates by the Milky Way. Rolls perfect straight lines. Pound-for-pound, the strongest insect ever measured.
Common Eastern Firefly
Glows on demand using a chemical reaction efficient enough to embarrass a lightbulb.
Western Honey Bee
Pollinates a third of your food. Dances in code. Vote on where to live by quorum.
Seven-Spotted Ladybug
Eats 5,000 aphids a lifetime. Bleeds yellow. Universally considered good luck.
Monarch Butterfly
Migrates 4,800 km — across four generations — to a forest none of them have ever seen.
Silkworm Moth
Domesticated 5,000 years ago. Built the Silk Road. Adults can no longer fly.
Common Fruit Fly
The most-studied animal in scientific history. Six Nobel Prizes ride on her shoulders.
Marmalade Hover Fly
Looks like a wasp. Can't sting. Pollinates your garden. Larvae eat aphids by the thousand.
Green Lacewing
Larva eats 600 aphids. Mother lays eggs on stilts to keep siblings from eating each other. Sold by the kilo.
Common Pillbug
Not a bug. A land crustacean. Closer to a lobster than to anything in your garden.
Asian Honey Bee
The bee that cooks giant hornets alive. Tolerates varroa. Speaks waggle-dance with a Japanese accent.
Black & Yellow Mud Dauber
Builds mud nests on your wall. Stuffs each cell with paralyzed spiders. Doesn't sting people.
Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly
Dragonfly's slender cousin. 200 million years old. Iridescent metallic body, midnight black wings.
European Paper Wasp
Invented paper before humans. Recognizes nestmates by face. Tense dominance hierarchies under your eaves.
Tiger Swallowtail
North America's tiger butterfly. Yellow with black stripes. Caterpillar wears fake eyes and a smelly orange horn.
Wheel Bug
Wears half a gear-wheel on her back. Bite hurts worse than most snakes. Liquefies caterpillars.
Calico Pennant
Small NA dragonfly with intricate STAINED-GLASS WING PATTERNS. Perches on twigs like a tiny flag or pennant.
California Carpenter Bee
Western NA carpenter bee. Females shiny black; MALES bright GOLDEN-YELLOW with green-gold eyes.
Long-Horned Bee
Solitary bee with ANTENNAE LONGER THAN HER OWN BODY. Major legume crop pollinator. Honey bee alternative.
Potter Wasp (Mason Wasp)
Constructs MINIATURE URN-SHAPED MUD POTS — perfect symmetrical pottery vessels for single-caterpillar provisions.
Variable Dancer
Stream-side dancer damselfly. Distinctive jerky 'DANCING' flight pattern. Color-variable.
Striped Earwig
Largest NA earwig. Major beneficial predator of crop pests. Females provide GUARDED MATERNAL CARE.
Patent Leather Beetle (Bess Beetle)
EUSOCIAL-LIKE beetle. Adults and larvae live in family groups inside decaying logs. 14+ stridulation calls.
Spined Soldier Bug
PREDATORY stink bug. Eats caterpillars and beetle larvae. Commercially reared as biocontrol agent.
Eastern Carpenter Bee
Bumblebee-sized solitary bee. Excavates nest tunnels in wooden buildings. Males hover-and-dive but cannot sting.
Eastern Amberwing
Smallest NA dragonfly. Bright AMBER WINGS. WASP-MIMIC — pumps abdomen up and down like a wasp.
European Red Wood Ant
Massive THATCH-COVERED MOUNDS up to 2m tall. PROTECTED SPECIES across Europe. Major forest pest control.
Squash Bee
OBLIGATE squash specialist. Co-evolved with Cucurbita. Allowed pre-Columbian squash agriculture to spread north.
Dragonhunter
Largest clubtail in NA. Hunts and eats other DRAGONFLIES. Apex predator of NA freshwater systems.
Black Soldier Fly
Larvae are the foundation of MULTI-BILLION-DOLLAR global insect-protein industry. Bioconverts waste into feed.
Carolina Mantis
Only NATIVE mantis in eastern NA. State insect of SC. Famous for sexual cannibalism.
Big Dipper Firefly
The classic NA backyard firefly. Males perform J-SHAPED upward flash displays at dusk.
Pandora Sphinx
Camouflage hawk moth with olive-pink-cream graduated bands. Larva has FIVE oval eye-spots like a five-eyed snake.
Eastern Black Swallowtail
The 'parsley caterpillar' butterfly. State butterfly of OK and NJ. Female mimics toxic pipevine.
Cloudless Sulphur
Bright LEMON-YELLOW migratory butterfly. Millions migrate south through the eastern US each autumn.
Snowberry Clearwing
BUMBLEBEE-mimic clearwing moth. Sister species to the hummingbird-mimic clearwing.
Common Eastern Bumblebee
Most widespread NA native bumblebee. Foundation of NA commercial bumblebee pollination. BUZZ pollinator.
Common Whitetail
Males have CHALKY-WHITE abdomens. Flicked at rivals as territorial displays. Females look like a different species.
Eastern Forktail
Most ABUNDANT damselfly in eastern NA. Females have THREE color morphs. Female-mimics-male strategy.
Eastern Pondhawk
Eats other dragonflies. EMERALD-GREEN females, POWDER-BLUE males. Most aggressive NA pond predator.
Hummingbird Clearwing
Day-flying hawk moth that looks and behaves so much like a hummingbird that birders misidentify her.
White-Lined Sphinx
Most widespread hawk moth in NA. Hovers at flowers like a hummingbird at dawn and dusk.
Convergent Lady Beetle
Native NA ladybug. Mass-overwinters in Sierra Nevada aggregations. Most commercially-collected biocontrol agent.
Great Black Wasp
35 mm jet-black solitary wasp. Paralyzes katydids alive. Famous in philosophy of mind ('Sphexishness').
Six-Spotted Tiger Beetle
Iridescent METALLIC EMERALD GREEN beetle. Sprints so fast it temporarily goes blind.
Twelve-Spotted Skimmer
12 dark wing spots in alternating bands. Males develop white 'flash' patches. NA flagship dragonfly.
Bold Jumping Spider
Most familiar US jumping spider. Iridescent green-blue chelicerae. Recent research shows she DREAMS.
Brown Hawker
European hawker dragonfly with HEAVILY-TINTED AMBER WINGS visible in flight. 8 cm body, hours of patrol.
Marmalade Hoverfly
4 BILLION migrate across Britain annually. Largest insect migration on Earth. Pollen mass ~80M tons.
Pill Millipede
Rolls into an armored ball — same trick as pillbugs, but completely independently evolved.
Spinybacked Orb-Weaver
Crab-shell-shaped abdomen with SIX SHARP SPIKES. Bright colors. Web tufts as visual bird warnings.
Giant Tachinid Fly
8,200+ species, all parasitoids of other arthropods. Free natural pest control.
Flame Skimmer
Brilliant flame-red dragonfly of western North America. Major desert mosquito predator.
Green Bottle Fly
FDA-approved for medical maggot therapy. Eats dead tissue, kills MRSA, stimulates healing.
House Cricket
Most globally significant edible insect. Domesticated for food in 30+ countries. Chirp rate = temperature.
Seven-Spot Ladybird
The original 'ladybird.' Named for Mary's Seven Sorrows. Eats 5,000 aphids per lifetime.
Elephant Mosquito
Largest mosquito on Earth. Adults DON'T bite. Larvae eat 200+ Aedes mosquito larvae each. Used as biocontrol.
Clouded Yellow
Bright orange-yellow migrant. Multi-generational annual migration. 'Clouded yellow years' bring billions north.
Owl Fly
Dragonfly look-alike that's actually a lacewing relative. Giant owl-eyes. Butterfly-club antennae.
Red-Blue Checkered Beetle
Iridescent red-and-blue. Adult pollinator. Larva hitchhikes on bees and eats their brood.
European Garden Spider (Cross Spider)
European garden orb-weaver. White cross on her back. First spider to build a web in space (1973).
Common Green Darner
Largest North American dragonfly (8 cm). Multi-generational 1,500+ km migration. Apple-green thorax.
Zebra Jumping Spider
Black-and-white striped jumping spider on your sunny windowsill. Watches you with puppy-dog eyes.
Devil's Coach-Horse Beetle
Raises her tail like a scorpion when threatened. Medieval Europe believed she carried curses.
Snake Fly
Insect with a 'snake' neck. Tiny ancient order — 270 million years old. Only in the Northern Hemisphere.
Cochineal Insect
Source of carmine red dye for 2,000+ years. Aztec second-most-valuable trade after gold. In your lipstick.
Eastern Eyed Elater
Two giant fake eye-spots on her back. 380g click-launch. Largest click beetle in eastern US.
Goldenrod Soldier Beetle
Beneficial garden pollinator + predator. Looks like military uniform. Gathers on goldenrod by the hundreds.
Emperor Dragonfly
Largest dragonfly in Europe. 95% hunting success. Eats prey in flight. Brilliant sky-blue abdomen.
Caddisfly
Larvae build portable cases. French artist had caddisflies build cases from gold and gemstones.
Giant Leopard Moth
White wings with leopard-spot rings. Iridescent blue-orange abdomen hidden under the wings. Plays dead.
Mexican Honey Wasp
Wasp that makes honey. Centuries-old delicacy in Mexico. Pollinator AND predator AND honey producer.
Tobacco Hornworm
10 cm green caterpillar with red 'horn.' Major model organism. Devastates tomato gardens.
Red Velvet Mite
Crimson velvety mite. Appears in masses after rainstorms. Predator and traditional Indian medicine.
Varied Carpet Beetle
Eats wool and fur like clothes moths. Used by museums to clean every skeleton on display.
Fairyfly
Smallest insect on Earth. 0.139 mm. Smaller than a single Paramecium. Fully functional brain.
Common Ground Beetle
40,000 species of beneficial ground predators. Eats slugs, caterpillars, weed seeds. Iridescent.
Book Scorpion (Pseudoscorpion)
Tiny scorpion-cousin in your bookshelf. Eats booklice and dust mites. Hitchhikes on flies.
Scarlet Malachite Beetle
Britain's most beautiful beetle. Emerald-green with scarlet wing tips. Critically declining.
Drone Fly
Bee-mimic hoverfly. Larva is the 'rat-tailed maggot' that breathes through a 5x body-length snorkel.
House Centipede
The bathroom centipede everyone has screamed at. Eats cockroaches and bed bugs. Not actually an insect.
Black-and-Yellow Garden Spider
Garden zigzag-web spider. The cultural inspiration for Charlotte's Web. Stabilimentum function still debated.
Eastern Carpenter Bee
Drills perfect 1.6 cm holes in your deck. Buzz-pollinates tomatoes. The big black bumblebee that isn't.
Alfalfa Leafcutter Bee
Cuts perfectly round leaf discs and rolls them into cigar-cells. Backbone of US alfalfa seed industry.
Blue Orchard Mason Bee
One female pollinates as many fruit blossoms in a day as 100 honey bees. Solitary. Gentle. Builds with mud.
Stingless Bee
Has no sting. Maya kept her in hollow logs for 1,000 years. Honey is medicine in three civilizations.
Metallic Green Sweat Bee
Iridescent metallic green. Drinks human sweat for the salt. Key model for evolution of insect society.
Cellar Spider
The basement 'daddy long legs.' Hunts and kills black widows. The viral venom myth is false.
European Earwig
Practices maternal care. Did NOT inspire her name — the ear-burrowing myth is false.
Harvestman (Daddy Long-Legs)
TRUE daddy long-legs. NOT a spider. No venom. No silk. Eats solid food. 410 million years old.