Insects that contain H

Below are insects that contain the letter H anywhere in the name. Each of the 29 insects below opens to a full profile.

Table of contents 29 entries

List of Insects That Contain H

Aphid

Aphidoidea (superfamily — many species)

A tiny soft-bodied sap-sucking insect that reproduces astonishingly fast through asexual cloning — the gardener's nemesis on roses, vegetables, and fruit, and the prey ladybugs evolved to control.

One of Britain's most extraordinary camouflaged insects — at rest, the buff-tip moth is almost indistinguishable from a broken birch twig, with its pale yellow-buff wing tips and grey middle aligned to mimic a stub of birch; the hairy, yellow-and-black larvae are gregarious and can strip a tree of leaves in days.

Burnet Moth

Zygaena filipendulae (six-spot burnet)

A brilliantly coloured day-flying moth of chalk downland and coastal grassland — the six-spot burnet has six vivid red spots on metallic blue-black forewings, a warning colouration that advertises its toxicity; burnet moths produce hydrogen cyanide from their own tissues as a chemical defence, making them poisonous to predators; conspicuous in sunshine on downland flowers, flying weakly but apparently without concern for predators.

Chafer

Melolontha melolontha (cockchafer) and related Scarabaeidae

Large, clumsy, nocturnal beetles that blunder noisily into windows and lights on warm summer evenings — the adults are harmless leaf-grazers but the larvae (white C-shaped grubs) live in soil for 3–4 years eating plant roots, damaging lawns and crops; badgers and rooks dig up turf to find them.

Clearwing Moth

Family Sesiidae (various genera)

Moths with transparent wings that convincingly mimic wasps and bees — the hornet moth looks exactly like a hornet; other species mimic bumblebees or wasps so precisely that even experienced naturalists hesitate; adults are active by day and fly fast; larvae bore in tree trunks, stems, and roots for 2–3 years.

Cockroach

Periplaneta americana

A large, fast, exceptionally hardy insect that has been on Earth for 200+ million years and is now a near-universal urban pest, the species behind most "cockroach" stories.

Deathwatch Beetle

Xestobium rufovillosum

An ancient-wood-eating beetle whose larvae bore through structural timber in old buildings for up to 13 years — the ticking sound made by adults knocking their heads against wood to attract mates was historically heard in deathbed vigils and gave the beetle its sinister name; it has damaged medieval roofs across Britain and Europe.

Emperor Moth

Saturnia pavonia

Britain's only day-flying member of the silk moth family — the male emperor moth is one of the most spectacular insects on British heathland, with large owl-like eyespots on all four wings; the male can detect a female's pheromone from up to 11 km away; the caterpillar is a vivid green and black jewel, and the silk cocoon was once harvested.

Froghopper

Philaenus spumarius (common froghopper)

The world's greatest jumper relative to body size — the common froghopper can jump 70 cm straight up, accelerating at 400 g, which is greater than the force experienced by a fighter pilot in a dogfight; the larvae are hidden inside "cuckoo spit" — the white froth seen on plant stems each spring.

Goliath Beetle

Goliathus goliatus (and related Goliathus species)

The heaviest insect on Earth — a male goliath beetle in its larval stage can weigh up to 100 grams, more than a small bird; the adults are strikingly patterned in black and white and can reach 110 mm in length; found in the tropical rainforests of Africa, they are popular in the insect-keeping hobby.

Grasshopper

Schistocerca americana (American grasshopper)

A jumping insect with powerful hind legs and short antennae, eaten across many human cultures and capable, in certain species, of transforming into devastating swarming locusts.

Green Hairstreak

Callophrys rubi

Britain's only green butterfly — the vivid emerald underside of its wings makes it one of the most beautiful small butterflies of spring; the upperwing is a dull brown, making it effectively invisible when perched on brown vegetation, but when it opens its wings momentarily in sunlight the green underside flashes brilliantly; associated with gorse, broom, and bilberry on heathland and downland.

Hawk-Moth

Family Sphingidae (various genera)

The largest moths in the world — powerful fliers with streamlined wings, capable of hovering in front of flowers like hummingbirds while feeding with enormously long tongues; the deaths-head hawk-moth has a skull-pattern on its thorax and squeaks when disturbed.

Honey Bee

Apis mellifera

A flying social insect that pollinates roughly a third of human food crops and produces honey from the nectar of flowers.

Hornet

Vespa crabro (European); Vespa mandarinia (Asian giant)

A large social wasp with a particularly painful sting — including the European hornet that builds paper nests in tree hollows and the notorious Asian giant hornet, the "murder hornet" that decimates honeybee colonies.

Horsefly

Tabanidae (family)

A large biting fly with painful blood-feeding females — capable of cutting through skin with scissor-like mouthparts, leaving wounds that bleed freely and persist for hours, with major impacts on livestock and outdoor activities.

Hoverfly

Family Syrphidae (various genera)

The master mimics of the insect world — hoverflies are entirely harmless flies that mimic the yellow-and-black warning patterns of bees and wasps with remarkable accuracy; they hover motionless mid-air and visit flowers as important pollinators; the larvae include important aphid predators and the bizarre "rat-tailed maggot" that breathes through a snorkel tube while living in polluted water.

Inchworm

Geometridae (family — many species)

The caterpillar of geometer moths, distinguished by its looping "measure-the-cloth" gait — pulling rear feet up to front feet, then arching forward — and famous in nursery songs.

Leech

Hirudinea (subclass)

A blood-feeding annelid worm — used in medicine for over 2,500 years, with modern medical leeches still approved by the FDA for restoring blood flow to reattached body parts and skin grafts.

Longhorn Beetle

Family Cerambycidae (various genera)

Beetles whose antennae are often longer than their entire body — the larvae bore through wood for years before emerging as adults; some of the most destructive tree pests in the world, while others are important wood-decay specialists in old-growth forests.

Moth

Actias luna

A large, pale-green silk moth of eastern North America with long curved hindwing tails — adults that don't eat at all, living only a week to mate and die.

Puss Moth

Cerura vinula

A large, furry, pale grey moth whose caterpillar is one of the most extraordinary in Britain — vivid green with a dark saddle, a fierce face-like pattern, and two whip-like tails that it waves when threatened; adults are beautifully marked with grey and cream patterning and are among the most striking moths of woodland edges and riverside willows.

Roach

Blattella germanica

The small, light-brown cockroach species responsible for nearly all kitchen-pest cockroach infestations worldwide — fast-breeding, hard to eliminate, and the bane of restaurants and apartment buildings.

Silverfish

Lepisma saccharina

A small, primitive, wingless insect with a silver-gray scaly body and a long-evolutionary lineage, found in damp homes feeding on starches, paper, and book bindings.

Tortrix Moth

Family Tortricidae (various genera)

Small, bell-shaped moths whose caterpillars are among the most damaging to gardens and orchards — they roll leaves into shelters bound with silk and eat the enclosed tissue; the codling moth (apple's worst enemy) and the light brown apple moth are tortrix moths, and European vine moth damages grapevines worldwide.

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