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10 Types of Caterpillars in Illinois: From Monarchs to Stinging Saddlebacks
Illinois backyards, prairies, and woodlots host far more caterpillars than most residents ever notice.
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Category: Insects
Delve into the fascinating world of insects — the most diverse group of animals on Earth, covering beetles, butterflies, ants, bees, and thousands of other six-legged creatures and their behaviors, habitats, and roles in ecosystems.
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7 Types of Caterpillars in Kentucky (And How to Identify Them)
Walk through any Kentucky backyard, park, or hardwood stand between April and October and there’s a good chance a caterpillar is nearby, whether it’s munching on milkweed, spinning a silk tent in a cherry tree, or disguising itself as a dead leaf.
10 Types of Beetles in Kentucky: From Ground Dwellers to Longhorns
Beetles outnumber nearly every other group of animals on the planet, and Kentucky’s mix of hardwood forests, farmland, and river valleys gives them plenty of room to spread out.
14 Types of Caterpillars in Colorado (and How to Identify Each One)
Colorado’s caterpillars range from harmless woollybears wandering across hiking trails to spiny stingers best admired from a distance.
6 Types of Caterpillars in Pennsylvania (From Gentle Monarchs to Stinging Species)
Pennsylvania’s forests, gardens, and roadside meadows are crawling with more caterpillars than most residents ever notice.
The 7 Types of Caterpillars in Ohio You’re Most Likely to Spot
Walk through an Ohio backyard, park, or woodland between May and September and there’s a good chance a caterpillar is nearby, whether it’s tucked under a leaf or crawling across a sidewalk in plain sight.
7 Types of Mosquitoes in Florida: How to Identify Each Species
Slap at a whining insect on a humid Florida evening, and there’s a decent chance it isn’t even interested in your blood.
Types of Caterpillars in New York: 6 Species Every Backyard Explorer Should Know
New York’s oak forests lost more than 680,000 acres of leaves to a single caterpillar species in 2021, then barely registered damage four years later.
15 Types of Butterflies in Maryland: A Field Identification Guide
Step into a Maryland meadow on a warm June afternoon and you’ll likely see more than one kind of butterfly working the same patch of milkweed or joe-pye weed.
13 Types of Wasps in Mississippi (And How to Tell Them Apart)
Mississippi’s warm, humid climate supports a surprising range of wasps, and most Mississippians only recognize two or three of them on sight.
15 Cicadas in Iowa: What’s Singing in Your Backyard
Step outside on a humid July afternoon in Iowa and the air fills with a sound that seems to come from everywhere at once.
8 Types of Caterpillars in Northern California (With Identification Tips)
More than a dozen caterpillar species turn Northern California’s oak woodlands, coastal gardens, and mountain meadows into a seasonal nursery for future moths and butterflies, though most people never notice them until an oak tree loses half its leaves overnight.
7 Types of Caterpillars in California and How to Identify Them
California’s caterpillars turn up in the most ordinary places: a milkweed patch, a fennel plant left to flower, a coast live oak shading the backyard.
Types of Caterpillars in New Jersey: 5 Species Every Gardener Should Know
New Jersey’s backyards, meadows, and hardwood forests support a surprising amount of biodiversity, and one online database tracks 156 caterpillar insects documented in the state.
8 Types of Caterpillars in Texas: From Harmless Monarchs to Stinging Asps
Reach into a shrub in your Texas backyard without looking, and you might come away with more than a scratch from a branch.
Types of Mosquitoes in Georgia: Identifying the 5 Species Behind Every Bite
Not every whine near your ear at dusk comes from the same insect.
7 Types of Caterpillars in Arkansas You Can Find in Your Backyard
Not every caterpillar climbing across an Arkansas porch screen is destined to become a butterfly.
7 Types of Caterpillars in Tennessee (And How to Tell Them Apart)
Tennessee’s mix of Appalachian forest, farmland, and suburban gardens supports an enormous range of insect life, and caterpillars are some of the easiest to spot if you know where to look.
17 Types of Beetles in Idaho: A Field Guide to the Gem State’s Most Common Species
From the wheat fields of the Palouse to the lodgepole forests of the Sawtooths, Idaho’s landscapes support an enormous range of beetles.
5 Types of Caterpillars in Nebraska and How to Identify Them
Nebraska is home to roughly 206 butterfly species, yet most people walk past their future caterpillars every single day without a second glance.