Insect ID: Some Flying Insect Possibilities
For butterflies and moths, visit our page of photos dedicated only to butterflies and moths: Butterflies and Moths
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- Bald-faced Hornets
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- Blow Fly
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- A type of blow fly commonly called a Green Bottle Fly.
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- Carpenter Ant (Winged Queen)
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- Carpenter Ant (Winged Queen)
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- male Carpenter Ants (males have wings for the purpose of nuptial flights with winged queens)
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- Cicadas (comparing Periodical cicadas with an Annual cicada)
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- An Annual / Dog-day Cicada found in Maine
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- Click Beetle (dorsal view)
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- Click Beetle (wireworm adult)
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Eyed Elater
(a species of Click Beetle)
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- Cluster Fly
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- Example of a Crane Fly (this one is a “Large Crane Fly” in the Tipulidae family)
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- Phantom Crane Fly (Family Ptychopteridae)
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- Damselfly
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- Dobsonflies (their larvae are aquatic)
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- Female dobsonfly
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- Drain Fly (also called a Moth Fly)
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- Dragonflies (the nymphs are aquatic)
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- Autumn Meadowhawk (dragonfly)
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- Eastern Cicada-killer Wasp (Sphecius speciosus) (~1.5″ long; solitary and non-aggressive) (they provision their underground rearing chambers with paralyzed cicadas as food for their offspring) (Raymond Cape, ME; 7/11/2022) (Photo courtesy of Paul Tracy)
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- Eastern Cicada-killer Wasp (Sphecius speciosus) (Photo courtesy of Scott Saunders) (8/29/2021; Hollis, Maine)
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- European Chafer (adult stage)
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- Fishfly adult (July 16th, 2016; central Maine)
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- Fishfly adult (their larvae are aquatic)
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- Flesh Fly
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- Dark-winged Fungus Gnats (Family Sciaridae) captured on a yellow sticky card placed in the pot of a houseplant (they are drawn to light and also to the color of yellow)
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- Example of a moth in the Geometridae (inchworms) family of moths.
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- Giant Water Bug (“Toe-biter”)
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- Giant Water Bug (“Toe-biter”)
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- Northern Paper Wasp (Polistes fuscatus) (known also by three other common names: Dark Paper Wasp, Golden Paper Wasp and the Common Paper Wasp)
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- Species of Horntail (also called Wood Wasps) (this one is the Pigeon Horntail, Tremex columba)
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- Lacewings
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- Mayflies (the immatures are aquatic)
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- Mayfly
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- Mayfly
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- Metallic Wood-boring Beetle (Family: Buprestidae)
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- Northeastern Pine Sawyer
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- Rose Chafers (beetles)
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- Scorpionfly
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- Example of a solitary ground-nesting bee (Port Clyde, ME; 7/11/2009)
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- Stable Fly
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- Stink Bug
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- Brown Marmorated Stink Bug (adult)
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- Stink Bug
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- Male (left) and Female (right) Spotted Wing Drosophila, photo by Griffin Dill. Actual size: 2-3 mm.
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- Stonefly (adult)
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- Stonefly (adult) (the immatures/nymphs are aquatic)
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- Stonefly (adult)
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- Transverse-banded Flower Fly (Eristalis transversa) (another example of a species that mimics bee/yellowjacket patterning)
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- Virginia Giant Hover Fly / Yellowjacket Hover Fly (Milesia virginiensis) (a good yellowjacket mimic; feeding on Queen Anne’s Lace pollen)
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- Tufted Globetail (Sphaerophoria contigua) (Photo courtesy of Dana Wilde from Unity, ME) (mid July, 2013)
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- Common Drone Fly (Eristalis tenax) (Drone fly is sometimes written as one word: Dronefly)
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- Tachinid Fly – Photo courtesy of Ashley Anderson (Dayton, ME) (July 2013)
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- Tachinid Fly
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- Tarnished Plant Bug
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- Six-spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata)
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- Six-spotted Tiger Beetle (Cicindela sexguttata) feeding on a mosquito
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- Catskill Potter Wasp (Ancistrocerus catskill) (Troy, ME; 6/17/2008) (This wasp is a solitary species of Vespid wasp in the group known as Potter and Mason wasps.)
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- Whiteflies
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- Whitespotted Sawyer Beetles
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- Whitespotted Sawyer Beetle (female); Photo by C. Armstrong
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- Western Conifer Seed Bug
Information and Additional Photos:
Note: Commonly known insects such as house flies, honey bees and bumblebees, Japanese beetles, mosquitoes, monarch butterflies, ladybugs, etc. are not included here since most people know what they are.
- Annual Cicada
- Ants (winged queens and male drones)
- Bald-faced Hornets
- Blister Beetles
- Blow Flies and Flesh Flies
- Browntail Moth
- Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
- Butterflies and Moths
- Carpenter Ants (winged queens and male drones)
- Cicadas
- Click Beetles
- Cluster Flies
- Crane Flies
- Damselfly
- Deer Flies
- Dobsonflies
- Dragonflies
- Drain Flies (also called Moth Flies)
- Eastern Cicada-killer Wasp (Missouri Dept. of Conservation) See also: Sphecius speciosus (BugGuide.net)
- European Hornet
- Eyed Click Beetle (Eyed Elater)
- Fishflies
- Flower Flies (also called Hover Flies or Syrphid Flies)
- Fruit Flies
- Fungus Gnats
- Giant Water Bug (adults are attracted to lights at night)
- Golden Paper Wasps (BugGuide.net)
- Ground-nesting Solitary Bees (Cornell)
- Hornets/Wasps/Yellowjackets
- Horntails
- Ichneumonid wasps (Texas A&M)
- Katydids (they can fly and are attracted to lights at night)
- Lacewings (Virginia Tech)
- Mayflies (Michigan State Univ. Extension)
- Metallic Wood-Boring Beetle (Univ. of Minnesota Extension)
- Moths
- Northeastern Pine Sawyer Beetle
- Paper Wasps/Yellowjackets/Hornets
- Pennsylvania Wood Roach
- Rose Chafer
- Sawyer Beetles
- Scorpionflies (Univ. of Kentucky)
- Stable Fly (University of Florida)
- Stink Bugs
- Stoneflies (BugGuide.net)
- Sweat Bees (BugGuide.net)
- Syrphid Flies (also called Hover Flies or Flower Flies)
- Tachina (Tachinid) Flies (BugGuide.net)
- Tarnished Plant Bug
- Tiger Beetles (Texas A&M)
- Common genus: Cicindela (University of Vermont)
- Maine IF&W: Rare Tiger Beetles
- Toe Biter (adults are attracted to lights at night)
- Wasps/Hornets/Yellowjackets
- Western Conifer Seed Bug
- Whiteflies (University of Missouri)
- Whitespotted Sawyer Beetle
- Wood Roach
- Yellowjackets/Hornets/Wasps