Insects

The Baltimore checkerspot is a black, orange and white butterfly that feeds on white turtlehead leaves and nectar. It can be found in the entire Chesapeake Bay region.

Bumble bees are small, black and yellow fuzzy insects found throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed. They are important pollinators and are threatened by pesticides, herbicides, habitat loss, disease and climate change.

Caddisflies are moth-like insects that are attracted to lights at night and live near lakes or rivers. They are popular food for fish and often used in fishing.

Annual cicadas, also known as dog-day cicadas, emerge every summer in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. 

Dragonflies and damselflies are commonly in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. These insercts large eyes and wide airplane wings at rest. 

The emerald ash borer is a green, shiny beetle that lives on ash trees in certain parts of Maryland, Virginia and Pennsylvania. It is an invasive species.

The European honey bee, found worldwide, is known for its honey and is an important pollinator for flowering plants.

The luna moth is a light green, giant silk moth that lives only one week in their adult stage.

Mason bees are solitary bees, best known for their ability to pollinate fruit-trees. There are both native and non-native species within the Chesapeake Bay watershed. 

Ephemeroptera is a group of 2,000 insect species commonly known as mayflies. They are known for their extremely short life spans and emergence in large numbers in the summer months.

The monarch butterfly is known for its bright orange and black wings, which signal to potential predators that the species is poisonous.

The northeastern beach tiger beetle is a tiny, sand-colored beetle that lives on sandy beaches throughout the middle and lower Chesapeake Bay.

The snowberry clearwing is a type of hummingbird moth that can be found throughout the Chesapeake Bay region. It is a pollinator that hovers in front of flowers to drink nectar.

Previous known as the Gypsy moth, the spongy moth moth is a destructive, invasive pest. Moth larvae gorge themselves on shrub and tree leaves, leaving them bare and susceptible to disease and damage from other pests.

The spotted lanternfly is an invasive insect with distinctive spotted wings. It damages plants by feeding on the sap which weakens the plant and attracts mold and other insects.

Stonefly, an order of about 2,000 species of insects, have long antennae, weak, chewing mouthparts, and two pairs of membranous wings.

Diptera, commonly referred to as “true flies,” are a class of two-winged insects such as mosquitos, backflies or horseflies. One of the largest insect orders, it numbers more than 125,000 species.

The zebra swallowtail is a butterfly with thick, black stripes on its white wings. It lives in moist, low woodlands where its host plant, the paw paw tree, grows.