5 insects starting with the letter H — each with origin, classification, and notes.
If you've been searching for insects that start with H, you'll find 5 detailed insects below. We're not interested in giving you only a list of names — every entry on this page links to a full profile with the kind of detail you'd actually want to know.
For insects, that means taxonomy, habitat, diet, life cycle, and ecological role.
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 flying social insect that pollinates roughly a third of human food crops and produces honey from the nectar of flowers.
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.
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.
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.
That's our current list of insects starting with the letter H. We add new entries every week — if you have a favorite insect starting with H that isn't on this page, let us know and we'll write it up.
Looking for more? Try insects that end with H, or contain H anywhere in the name.