12 insects containing the letter K — each with origin, classification, and notes.
Below are insects that contain the letter K anywhere in the name. Each of the 12 insects below opens to a full profile.
Tiny beetles that bore beneath tree bark to lay eggs in galleries — under normal conditions they kill only weakened trees, but when populations explode during drought or after storm damage, they can kill millions of healthy trees across entire forests; the European spruce bark beetle has killed more trees than any other insect in European history.
A beetle that escapes predators by snapping its body to launch itself into the air with an audible click — a remarkable mechanical hinge mechanism that can catapult the beetle up to 30 cm high.
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.
A nocturnal insect known for the male's incessant chirping, originally from Asia and now naturalized worldwide as a pet-food, fishing-bait, and human-food crop.
A large family of dark-coloured, flightless desert beetles — including the mealworm beetle and the famous Namib fog-basking beetle that harvests drinking water from coastal fog on its textured back.
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.
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.
A green, leaf-mimicking long-horned insect closely related to crickets and grasshoppers, with an iconic raspy "katy-did, katy-didn't" night call from male wing-rubbing.
A regional Northeastern U.S. name for tiny biting midges, especially common in coastal Maine and the Maritime provinces — small enough to bite through screens and disproportionately painful for their size.
Masters of camouflage that resemble twigs, leaves, or sticks — over 3,000 species worldwide, with some Asian species reaching 60 cm long, including several capable of parthenogenetic reproduction without males.
A shield-shaped insect with foul-smelling defensive chemicals — including the brown marmorated stinkbug, an invasive Asian species that has become a major American agricultural pest since its 2001 detection in Pennsylvania.
A blood-feeding arachnid that transmits more diseases than any other arthropod — including Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever, and rickettsial infections, with major populations expanding due to climate change.
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