28 insects containing the letter U — each with origin, classification, and notes.
Below are insects that contain the letter U anywhere in the name. Each of the 28 insects below opens to a full profile.
A predatory true bug that ambushes and stabs other insects with a powerful curved rostrum, injecting saliva that liquefies the victim's tissues — with some species also capable of transmitting Chagas disease to humans.
A small reddish-brown blood-feeding insect that hides in mattresses and furniture by day, emerging at night to feed on sleeping humans — making a global comeback since the 2000s after near-eradication in the mid-20th century.
The sulphur-yellow butterfly that heralds spring — males are an unmistakable lemon-yellow, females a paler greenish-white; one of the longest-lived British butterflies, spending the winter as an adult hibernating among ivy and evergreen leaves, then emerging on warm February days to become the first butterfly many people see each year.
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.
A large, fuzzy, surprisingly cold-tolerant social bee that pollinates many crops honeybees can't reach — beloved by gardeners, declining alarmingly across multiple species.
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.
A large orange-and-black butterfly famous for an annual multi-generation migration of up to 4,800 km between Canada and central Mexico.
A ragged-winged butterfly of woodland edges and hedgerows — named for the small white comma-shaped mark on the underside of its hindwing; the scalloped, jagged wing outline gives roosting adults a dead-leaf appearance of startling realism; common in England and Wales, the comma has expanded its range northward in recent decades.
The soil-dwelling caterpillar larvae of noctuid moths — one of the most destructive garden and agricultural pests, cutting seedlings off at soil level overnight, yet the adult moths are harmless and often beautiful.
An insect that feeds, reproduces, and navigates by animal dung — it rolls dung balls away from the pile, buries them, and lays eggs inside; the ancient Egyptians considered the scarab dung beetle sacred and a symbol of resurrection.
A small fly species (Drosophila melanogaster) that became the most important laboratory animal in genetics research — the workhorse of 20th-century genetics, with much of modern biology built on fruit fly studies.
A large, fast-moving, predatory beetle that hunts at night — one of the gardener's best allies, consuming slugs, aphids, and other pests by the thousand, and a key component of healthy soil ecosystems.
A common name for several stout-bodied scarab beetles that emerge in early summer in North America, the bumbling, light-attracted nighttime fliers familiar to anyone with a porch light.
A small, dome-shaped beetle in red, orange, or yellow with black spots — beloved by gardeners as a voracious aphid predator and a symbol of good luck across cultures.
A grasshopper that has transformed into the swarming phase — physiologically distinct from its solitary form, capable of forming billion-strong swarms that devastate agriculture across continents.
A wingless parasitic insect — head lice are particularly common among schoolchildren, body lice can transmit serious diseases including epidemic typhus, and pubic lice are a sexually transmitted parasite.
A small, blood-feeding fly responsible for more human deaths annually than any other animal, the primary vector for malaria, dengue, yellow fever, and Zika.
A tiny biting midge so small it slips through standard window screens, leaving disproportionately painful itchy welts — the bane of summer evenings in coastal and wetland areas.
A delicate white butterfly of spring hedgerows — males have vivid orange wingtips that give the species its name, while females are white with black tips, easily mistaken for other whites; the underside of both sexes is marbled green and white, providing perfect camouflage on cow parsley flowers where they roost.
A land-dwelling crustacean — not an insect but an isopod — that rolls into a perfect sphere when threatened, lives in moist soil and leaf litter, and plays an essential role in breaking down decaying plant matter.
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.
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.
The single reproductive female of a honey bee colony, mother to all 50,000+ workers, possessing distinctive elongated body, a smoother stinger she uses repeatedly, and a lifespan many times longer than worker bees.
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 large, hairy spider with a fearsome reputation that's mostly undeserved — about 1,000 species worldwide, with most posing minimal danger to humans, and the giant Goliath birdeater being the largest spider species at 30 cm leg span.
A large nocturnal moth with cryptic gray-brown forewings camouflaged like tree bark, concealing brilliantly colored hindwings flashed in startle displays to confuse predators.
A small blue butterfly of California's San Francisco peninsula — extinct since the 1940s, the first North American butterfly species lost to habitat destruction, and the namesake of the Xerces Society for invertebrate conservation.
A small white moth bound to yucca plants in an obligate mutualism — the only insect that pollinates yucca, while yucca seeds are the only food its larvae can eat.
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