Random Bug Generator: 225 Real Insects, Spiders and Other Bugs: how it works
Real bugs only, 225 of them. They run from the Fairyfly, a family of tiny wasps that holds the smallest known insect at 0.139 mm, to Chan's megastick, a stick insect measured at 56.7 cm. Press New bugs and five come up, each with its kind, where it lives and one checked fact. There are 176 insects and 49 other small animals with jointed legs.
Insects, true bugs and the rest
An insect has six legs, a body in three parts and one pair of feelers, called antennae. A spider has eight legs and no antennae, so it is an arachnid, like scorpions and mites. Centipedes, millipedes and woodlice have more legs still. Woodlice are crustaceans, closer kin to crabs than to beetles. True bugs are one order of insects, Hemiptera, which feed through a beak made for piercing and sucking: cicadas, aphids and pond skaters belong to it. A ladybird is a beetle, not a true bug.
A bug hunt sheet you can print
Tap Insects and every draw has six legs, which turns the page into a random insect generator for a minibeast project. Set Lives in to your part of the world, draw up to 40 and press Print. The sheet comes out with a box beside each bug and the hunt rules at the top. On screen, tick each bug you find and the tally keeps count.
Tips
Count legs first: six is nearly always an insect, eight an arachnid, more a centipede, millipede or woodlouse.
Tap Beetles for two record holders. The Hercules beetle reaches 17 cm counting his horn; the Titan beetle passes 17 cm without one.
Four bugs name no part of the world, the Antarctic midge among them, so they come up only under Anywhere.
Questions and answers
Why does the random bug generator include spiders?
In everyday speech a bug is any small animal with jointed legs and a hard outer skeleton, and this page uses the word that way. To a scientist a spider is an arachnid, and only the order Hemiptera holds true bugs. Tap Insects to leave the others out.
Is every entry a single species?
No. Most cards name one species, such as the Seven-spot ladybird. Some name a whole group, such as Mayfly or Wolf spider, because that is the name most people know. Each fact was checked against its English Wikipedia article in September 2026.
Are worms, slugs and snails bugs?
Not on this list. Every animal here is an arthropod, with jointed legs and an outer skeleton that it sheds to grow. Worms, slugs and snails have neither. The Garden snail, the Banana slug and the Common earthworm are in the random animal generator.
🪲Asian long-horned beetleBeetle, China and Korea. Its banded antennae are longer than its body.
🪲Atlas beetleBeetle, Southeast Asia. Males carry three horns, and bigger males grow longer ones.
🪲Boll weevilBeetle, Mexico, then the cotton fields of the USA. Feeds on cotton buds and flowers.
🪲Bombardier beetleBeetle, every continent except Antarctica. Sprays a boiling chemical mix from its rear with a loud pop.
🪲Burying beetleBeetle, northern half of the world. Rare among beetles: both parents stay to feed their grubs.
🪲Click beetleBeetle, worldwide. Snaps a spine on its chest to flip into the air with a click.
🪲CockchaferBeetle, Europe. Called the May bug. Its grubs spend three to four years underground.
🪲Colorado potato beetleBeetle, North America, now Europe and Asia too. Ten dark stripes run down its yellow wing cases.
🪲Common eastern fireflyBeetle, eastern North America. Males light up on the upswing of a J-shaped swoop.
🪲Common glow-wormBeetle, Europe and Asia. The wingless female glows to call in flying males.
🪲Deathwatch beetleBeetle, Europe, in old timber. Taps its head on wood to call a mate, a ticking heard in quiet old houses.
🪲Devil's coach horseBeetle, Europe. Curls its tail up like a scorpion when it feels threatened.
🪲Diabolical ironclad beetleBeetle, California and Baja California. Cannot fly. Its fused wing cases bear 39,000 times its weight.
🪲Emerald ash borerBeetle, north-east Asia, now North America. A green jewel beetle whose grubs tunnel under ash bark.
🪲European stag beetleBeetle, Europe. Males wrestle rivals with jaws shaped like a stag's antlers.
🪲Giraffe weevilBeetle, Madagascar. The male's neck is two to three times as long as the female's.
🪲Golden tortoise beetleBeetle, the Americas. Shines like a drop of gold, and can change colour when it is disturbed.
🪲Goliath beetleBeetle, tropical Africa. Among the largest insects. A grub can weigh 80 to 100 grams.
🪲Great diving beetleBeetle, ponds in Europe and northern Asia. Stores air under its wing cases to breathe on a dive.
🐞Harlequin ladybirdBeetle, eastern Asia, now spread worldwide. Its spots vary from none to over twenty, on red, orange or black.
🪲Hercules beetleBeetle, Central and South America. Counting his horn, a male can reach 17 cm, the longest of any beetle.
🪲Japanese beetleBeetle, Japan, now North America. Copper wing cases and a green head. It eats some 300 kinds of plant.
🪲Japanese rhinoceros beetleBeetle, East Asia. A popular pet in Japan, where it is now also bred in captivity.
🪲Jewel beetleBeetle, worldwide. Its shining wing cases have been used in jewellery.
🪲Mealworm beetleBeetle, now much of the world. Its grubs are the mealworms fed to pet birds and reptiles.
🪲Minotaur beetleBeetle, western Europe. A dung beetle. The male has three horns pointing forward.
🪲Namib Desert beetleBeetle, the Namib Desert. Drinks fog: droplets gather on its bumpy back and roll to its mouth.
🪲Rose chaferBeetle, Europe and Asia. Metallic green, and it flies with its wing cases shut.
🪲Sacred scarabBeetle, around the Mediterranean. The dung-rolling scarab that ancient Egyptians held sacred.
🐞Seven-spot ladybirdBeetle, Europe and Asia, brought to North America. Adults and grubs both eat aphids, so gardeners welcome it.
🪲Ten-lined June beetleBeetle, western North America. Hisses when picked up.
🪲Tiger beetleBeetle, worldwide. The fastest kind runs at 9 km/h, so quick that it has to stop to see its prey.
🪲Titan beetleBeetle, South American rainforest. One of the largest beetles, growing to over 17 cm long.
🪲Varied carpet beetleBeetle, Europe, Asia and the Americas. Its hairy grubs, called woolly bears, chew wool and feathers.
🪲Violin beetleBeetle, Indonesia and Malaysia. Shaped like a violin. It lives between layers of bracket fungus.
🪲Wasp beetleBeetle, Europe. Harmless, but its yellow bands and jerky walk copy a wasp.
🪲Whirligig beetleBeetle, ponds and streams worldwide. Each eye is split in two: one half watches above the water, one below.
Butterflies and moths 38
🦋Anna's eighty-eightButterfly, wet forests of Mexico and Central America. The marks under its hindwing look like the number 88.
🦋ApolloButterfly, mountains of Europe and Asia. White with black spots, and red eyespots on the hindwings.
Atlas mothMoth, South and Southeast Asia. The adult has no working mouth and never eats.
Bogong mothMoth, south-eastern Australia. Flies up to about 965 km to spend the summer in cool mountain caves.
Cecropia mothMoth, North America. North America's largest native moth.
Cinnabar mothMoth, Europe and Asia. Its striped caterpillars eat ragwort and take in the plant's poison.
Comet mothMoth, rainforests of Madagascar. The male's tails trail about 15 cm behind him.
🦋Common brimstoneButterfly, Europe, Asia and North Africa. Its leaf-shaped wings hide it while it sleeps through the winter.
Common clothes mothMoth, worldwide, indoors. The caterpillars, not the moths, eat holes in wool.
Death's-head hawkmothMoth, Europe, Africa and Asia. A skull shape marks its back. It squeaks, and it raids beehives for honey.
Domestic silk mothMoth, farmed, first in China. Its caterpillar, the silkworm, spins the cocoon that silk thread comes from.
🦋Eastern tiger swallowtailButterfly, eastern North America. Males are yellow with black tiger stripes. Some females are almost black.
Elephant hawk mothMoth, Europe and Asia. Pink and olive. The caterpillar looks like an elephant's trunk.
🦋Glasswing butterflyButterfly, Central and South America. You can see straight through its clear wings.
Hercules mothMoth, New Guinea and northern Australia. About 27 cm across, with the largest wing area of any living insect.
Hummingbird hawk-mothMoth, Europe, North Africa and Asia. Hovers at flowers by day to sip nectar, just as a hummingbird does.
Isabella tiger mothMoth, North America. Its banded woolly bear caterpillar freezes solid in winter and thaws in spring.
Luna mothMoth, North America. Pale green, with long tails on its hindwings that may throw off hunting bats.
Madagascan sunset mothMoth, Madagascar. Flies by day, and its rainbow colours come from light bending in its scales.
🦋Menelaus blue morphoButterfly, Central and South America. The blue is no pigment: tiny ridged scales reflect the light.
🦋Monarch butterflyButterfly, North America. Eastern monarchs fly south each autumn to winter in the mountains of Mexico.
🦋Mourning cloakButterfly, North America, Europe and Asia. Adults can live 11 to 12 months, a long life for a butterfly.
🦋Old World swallowtailButterfly, Europe, Asia and North America. Yellow and black, with a little tail on each hindwing.
🦋Orange oakleafButterfly, tropical Asia. With wings shut it looks just like a dry leaf, veins and all.
🦋Owl butterflyButterfly, Mexico to South America. A huge eyespot on each hindwing looks like an owl's eye.
🦋Painted ladyButterfly, every continent except Antarctica and South America. The most widespread butterfly of all.
🦋Peacock butterflyButterfly, Europe and temperate Asia. Flashes four big eyespots, and hisses by rubbing its wings.
Peppered mothMoth, Europe, Asia and North America. Dark moths took over in sooty factory towns: natural selection at work.
Polyphemus mothMoth, North America. Named after the one-eyed giant Polyphemus for its big hindwing eyespots.
🦋Queen Alexandra's birdwingButterfly, Papua New Guinea. The largest butterfly. A female's wings span 25 cm or more.
🦋Red admiralButterfly, Europe, Asia, North Africa and North America. Its caterpillars feed mainly on nettles.
Rosy maple mothMoth, eastern North America. Woolly, pink and yellow. Its caterpillars feed on maple leaves.
🦋Small whiteButterfly, Europe and Asia, now far beyond. Also called the cabbage white, after what its caterpillars eat.
🦋Ulysses butterflyButterfly, Australia and New Guinea. Its electric blue flashes are easy to spot from far off.
🦋ViceroyButterfly, North America. Looks so like a monarch that birds leave both alone.
🦋Western pygmy blueButterfly, western North America. One of the smallest butterflies, with wings 12 to 20 mm across.
White witch mothMoth, Mexico to South America. Holds the record for wingspan among insects, at up to about 30 cm.
🦋Zebra longwingButterfly, South America to Texas and Florida. Eats pollen as well as nectar, and sleeps in groups.
Bees, wasps and ants 28
🐜Argentine antAnt, South America, now far beyond. Its nests join into supercolonies hundreds of kilometres long.
🐜Army antAnt, Central and South America. Builds no nest. Workers link into a living camp called a bivouac.
🐜Black garden antAnt, Europe, Asia, North America. A queen can live up to 29 years, the most known for a social insect.
🐝Buff-tailed bumblebeeBee, Europe. Reared in boxes to pollinate greenhouse tomatoes.
🐜Bullet antAnt, Honduras to Brazil. Its sting sits at the top of the Schmidt sting pain index.
🐜Carpenter antAnt, worldwide. Tunnels into damp wood to nest but does not eat it.
🐝Carpenter beeBee, worldwide. Bores its nest tunnels into dead wood or bamboo.
Common waspWasp, Europe and Asia. Builds a paper nest from wood fibre it chews and mixes with spit.
European hornetWasp, Europe and Asia, brought to North America. The largest social wasp native to Europe.
FairyflyWasp, worldwide. A family of tiny wasps. The smallest known insect is one, at 0.139 mm.
Fig waspWasp, in fig trees. Its grubs grow inside figs. Many figs are pollinated by a wasp of their own.
Giant ichneumon waspWasp, North America, Europe and Asia. Some kinds have the longest egg-laying tubes of any insect.
🐜Honeypot antAnt, North America, Africa and Australia. Some workers swell with nectar and hang as living pantries.
🐜Leafcutter antAnt, South America to the southern USA. Eats no leaves: it grows fungus on them and eats that.
🐝Leafcutter beeBee, worldwide. Cuts neat pieces out of leaves to line its nest cells.
Mud dauberWasp. The female shapes her nest from mud with her jaws, often under a cliff ledge or on a building.
Northern giant hornetWasp, East and South Asia. The world's largest hornet.
🐝Orchid beeBee, Central and South America. Metallic green or blue. Males gather scents from orchids in their back legs.
Paper waspWasp, worldwide. Its open paper comb hangs from a single stalk.
🐜Red imported fire antAnt, South America, now many warm countries. In a flood the colony links up into a floating raft.
🐝Red mason beeBee, Europe. A solitary bee that walls up each nest cell with mud.
🐜Saharan silver antAnt, the Sahara. Silver hairs reflect the sun, and it sprints 108 body lengths a second.
🐝Sweat beeBee, worldwide. Named for its habit of landing on people, drawn by their sweat.
Tarantula hawkWasp, warm regions worldwide. A spider wasp that hunts tarantulas to feed its young.
Velvet antWasp, worldwide, mostly dry and sandy places. No ant at all: a furry wasp whose females have no wings.
🐝Wallace's giant beeBee, Indonesia. The largest known bee. Thought lost until one was filmed alive in 2019.
🐜Weaver antAnt, tropical Africa, Asia and Australia. Glues leaves into a nest with silk squeezed from its own grubs.
🐝Western honey beeBee, kept worldwide. A forager tells her hive where flowers are with a waggle dance.
True bugs 20
AphidTrue bug, worldwide, most in mild climates. A female can give birth to live young with no male at all.
Assassin bugTrue bug, worldwide. Stabs other insects with a curved beak that folds into a groove under its chest.
Bed bugTrue bug, worldwide, indoors. Its wings are tiny pads, so it cannot fly. It feeds on blood, usually at night.
Boxelder bugTrue bug, eastern North America. Black with red wing veins. Crowds sun themselves on warm surfaces.
Brown marmorated stink bugTrue bug, East Asia, now North America and Europe. Lets out a strong smell when it is disturbed or squashed.
CochinealTrue bug, prickly pear cactus in the Americas. The red dye carmine is made from the dried insects.
Common backswimmerTrue bug, Europe, North Africa and parts of Asia. Swims and rests on its back, just under the water surface.
Common pond skaterTrue bug, Europe. Skates on the pond surface without sinking, on water-repelling hairy legs.
Double drummerTrue bug, eastern Australia. Australia's largest cicada, and one of the loudest insects anywhere.
FirebugTrue bug, Europe and Asia. Red and black. Groups of them gather at the foot of lime trees.
Giant water bugTrue bug, fresh water worldwide. In some kinds the male carries the eggs on his back until they hatch.
Lac bugTrue bug, India and Southeast Asia. Shellac comes from the resin it makes on tree branches.
Large milkweed bugTrue bug, North and Central America. Feeds on milkweed seeds. Its orange and black coat is a warning.
Lesser water boatmanTrue bug, ponds in Europe. Two millimetres long, yet its song reaches 99.2 decibels.
Meadow froghopperTrue bug, Europe, Asia and North America. Its young hide in blobs of foam on plants. Adults jump well.
Periodical cicadaTrue bug, eastern North America. Spends 13 or 17 years underground, then a whole brood comes up together.
Spotted lanternflyTrue bug, China, now the USA too. A planthopper, no fly. First found in the USA in 2014.
Thorn bugTrue bug, Florida, Mexico, Central and South America. Looks like a thorn on a twig.
Water scorpionTrue bug, fresh water worldwide. No scorpion: the tail is a breathing tube it pokes above the surface.
Wheel bugTrue bug, mostly the Americas. A crest shaped like half a cogwheel stands on its back.
Flies 14
Antarctic midgeFly, Antarctica. A wingless fly 2 to 6 mm long, and the largest animal that lives only on Antarctic land.
Black soldier flyFly, warm and mild regions. Farmed for its grubs, which turn food waste into animal feed and compost.
Common fruit flyFly, worldwide. For over a century the favourite lab animal for studying how genes pass on.
🦟Common house mosquitoFly, worldwide, in mild and warm regions. Only females bite. They need blood to make their eggs.
Crane flyFly, worldwide. Its larvae are called leatherjackets and live in soil, eating roots.
Drone flyFly, every continent except Antarctica. Looks like a honey bee. Its larva is the rat-tailed maggot.
Horse-flyFly, almost worldwide. Only females bite, and many have eyes banded in bright colours.
🪰HouseflyFly, worldwide, wherever people live. Tastes its food through sensors on its feet.
Large bee-flyFly, Europe, Asia and North America. Furry like a bumblebee. It flicks its eggs into solitary bees' burrows.
Marmalade hoverflyFly, Europe, North Asia and North Africa. Striped like a wasp but has no sting. Its larvae eat aphids.
New Zealand glowwormFly, New Zealand. A fungus gnat whose glowing larvae hang sticky threads to trap insects.
Petroleum flyFly, California. Its larvae live in pools of crude oil and eat insects that get stuck there.
Robber flyFly, worldwide. Catches other insects in flight.
Stalk-eyed flyFly, mostly tropical Africa and Asia. Its eyes sit on the ends of long stalks.
Other insects 39
🪳American cockroachCockroach, now worldwide. American in name only: it came from Africa and the Middle East.
AntlionInsect, warm sandy places. The larva digs a cone-shaped pit in sand and waits at the bottom for ants.
Azure damselflyDamselfly, Europe. Bright blue and black, and common around ponds and lakesides in summer.
Banded demoiselleDamselfly, rivers in Europe and Asia. The male has a dark band across each wing like an inky fingerprint.
CaddisflyInsect, fresh water worldwide. Many larvae build a case of sand, twigs or shells, bound with silk.
Chan's megastickStick insect, Borneo. One measured 56.7 cm with its legs stretched out.
Chinese mantisMantis, Asia, brought to North America in 1896. Longer than most mantises, at about 11 cm.
Common scorpionflyScorpionfly, Europe and northern Asia. The male's curled tail looks like a scorpion's sting but is harmless.
🦗Desert locustGrasshopper, Africa to south-west Asia. Lives alone until crowding turns it into a swarming form.
Devil's flower mantisMantis, East Africa. One of the largest mantises that mimic flowers.
Eastern dobsonflyDobsonfly, eastern North America. The male has long curved jaws. Anglers call the larva a hellgrammite.
🦗Eastern lubber grasshopperGrasshopper, south-eastern USA. Its wings are too small for flight, so it walks. It hisses when bothered.
Emperor dragonflyDragonfly, Africa, Europe and Asia. The largest dragonfly in most of Europe, about 78 mm long.
European earwigEarwig, Europe, now North America too. The mother guards her eggs and licks them clean.
European mantisMantis, Europe, Asia and Africa. Folds its spiked front legs as if praying while it waits for prey.
FleaInsect, worldwide, on mammals and birds. Wingless, but it can jump around 50 times its own body length.
Ghost mantisMantis, Africa and Madagascar. Looks like a dried-up leaf.
Giant helicopter damselflyDamselfly, Central and South America. Wings span up to 19 cm, the widest of any dragonfly or damselfly alive.
Giant leaf insectLeaf insect, Malaysia. One of the largest leaf insects. In captivity, females breed without males.
Giant wētāWētā, New Zealand. One of the heaviest insects. A captive female weighed about 70 grams.
Globe skimmerDragonfly, every continent but Antarctica. Its yearly 18,000 km migration takes several generations.
🦗Great green bush-cricketBush-cricket, Europe and Asia. Its thin antennae can reach up to three times the length of its body.
Green darnerDragonfly, North America. Known for long migrations from the northern USA to Texas and Mexico.
Green lacewingLacewing, North America and Europe. Its larvae eat so many aphids that they are called aphid lions.
🦗House cricketCricket, south-west Asia, now worldwide. Bred in huge numbers as food for pet reptiles.
Ice crawlerInsect, mountains of North America and Asia. Lives by glaciers and cannot stand warmth.
Indian stick insectStick insect, southern India, kept in classrooms worldwide. Females lay eggs that hatch without any male.
Jerusalem cricketCricket relative, western USA and Mexico. It is no true cricket, and it does not come from Jerusalem.
Lord Howe Island stick insectStick insect, Ball's Pyramid, Australia. Thought extinct by 1920, then found alive in 2001 on a sea stack.
🪳Madagascar hissing cockroachCockroach, Madagascar. Hisses by pushing air out of breathing holes along its sides.
Magnetic termiteTermite, northern Australia. Builds thin slab mounds that all line up north to south.
MayflyInsect, fresh water worldwide. Adults do not feed, and their lives are very short.
🦗Migratory locustGrasshopper, Africa, Asia, Australia and New Zealand. The most widespread locust of all.
🦗Mole cricketCricket, every continent except Antarctica. Digs with shovel-like front legs, much as a mole does.
Orchid mantisMantis, rainforest in Southeast Asia. Pink and white, with petal-shaped legs, so it passes for a flower.
SilverfishInsect, worldwide, indoors. Wingless at every age. It eats starchy things such as paper and glue.
SnakeflyInsect, temperate forests north of the tropics. A long neck lets it lift its head like a snake.
🦗Snowy tree cricketCricket, North America. Called the thermometer cricket: its chirps speed up as the air warms.
StoneflyInsect, every continent except Antarctica. Its young need clean water, a good sign for a stream.
Spiders and other arachnids 34
🕷️Ant-mimic jumping spiderSpider, mostly tropical Africa, Asia and Australia. Passes for an ant by waving its front legs like antennae.
🕷️Bagheera kiplingiSpider, Mexico and Central America. A jumping spider that eats mostly plants, the only spider known to.
🕷️Bolas spiderSpider, Americas, Africa, Australasia. Swings a sticky blob on a thread to catch moths lured by its scent.
Camel spiderArachnid, deserts and dry places. No true spider. Tall tales exaggerate its size and speed.
🕷️Chilean rose tarantulaSpider, Chile, Bolivia and Argentina. Probably the most common tarantula in pet shops.
🕷️Daddy long-legs spiderSpider, worldwide, indoors. Legs five or six times its body length. It preys on other spiders.
🕷️Darwin's bark spiderSpider, Madagascar. Strings its web across rivers on bridge lines up to 25 m long.
🕷️Diving bell spiderSpider, ponds in Europe and Asia. The only spider known to live almost wholly under water.
🦂Emperor scorpionScorpion, West Africa. One of the largest scorpions, about 20 cm. It glows under ultraviolet light.
🕷️European garden spiderSpider, Europe and North America. White dots on its back form a cross.
🕷️Flic-flac spiderSpider, sand dunes in Morocco. Escapes danger with forward or backward flips that double its speed.
🦂Giant desert hairy scorpionScorpion, deserts of the south-western USA and Mexico. The largest scorpion in North America, at about 14 cm.
🕷️Giant huntsman spiderSpider, caves in Laos. The widest spider: its legs span up to 30 cm.
Giant vinegaroonWhip scorpion, southern USA and Mexico. Sprays acetic acid, the acid in vinegar, from the base of its tail.
🕷️Golden silk orb-weaverSpider, warm regions worldwide. Named for the yellow colour of the silk in its web.
🕷️Goldenrod crab spiderSpider, North America and Europe. Can turn white or yellow to match its flower, which may take 25 days.
🕷️Goliath birdeaterSpider, northern South American rainforest. The heaviest spider. Despite its name it rarely eats birds.
🕷️Gooty sapphire tarantulaSpider, one small forest in Andhra Pradesh, India. Bright metallic blue.
HarvestmanArachnid, every continent except Antarctica. No spider: it has no silk and no venom.
🕷️Hawaiian happy-face spiderSpider, Hawaii. Some have marks on the back that look like a smiling face.
🕷️Ladybird spiderSpider, northern and central Europe. The male's back is bright orange with six black spots.
🕷️Mexican redknee tarantulaSpider, western Mexico. Black legs ringed with orange at the knees. A favourite with tarantula keepers.
🕷️Net-casting spiderSpider, warm regions worldwide. Holds a small web in its front legs and throws it over passing prey.
🕷️Peacock spiderSpider, Australia. The male lifts a bright flap like a peacock's tail and dances for the female.
PseudoscorpionArachnid, worldwide. 2 to 8 mm long, with pincers but no sting. It hitches rides on bigger animals.
🕷️Raft spiderSpider, Europe and Asia. Hunts on the water's surface, and sometimes catches a small fish or frog.
Red velvet miteMite, in soil and plant litter. Bright red and velvety, and also known as a rain bug.
🕷️Southern black widowSpider, south-eastern USA. The female is glossy black with a red hourglass under her abdomen.
🕷️Spitting spiderSpider, worldwide, often indoors. Spits a zigzag of sticky silk and venom to pin its prey down.
Tailless whip scorpionWhip spider, tropical and warm regions worldwide. Walks on six legs. The front pair are long thin feelers.
🕷️Trapdoor spiderSpider, warm regions worldwide. Waits in a burrow under a hinged lid made of soil and silk.
🕷️Wasp spiderSpider, Europe, North Africa and Asia. Striped like a wasp, with a silk zigzag down the middle of its web.
🕷️Wolf spiderSpider, worldwide. The mother carries her egg sac, then her spiderlings ride on her back.
🕷️Zebra jumping spiderSpider, Europe, Asia and North America. Spots prey with big front eyes, then pounces like a cat.
Centipedes, millipedes and more 15
Amazonian giant centipedeCentipede, South America and the Caribbean. One of the largest centipedes, over 30 cm. It can catch bats.
Brown centipedeCentipede, Europe, now other continents too. Common under garden stones. Adults have 15 pairs of legs.
Common pill woodlouseWoodlouse, Europe, now worldwide. A land crustacean that rolls into a ball, so it is also called a pill bug.
Common rough woodlouseWoodlouse, Europe, now worldwide. A land crustacean that cannot roll up, so it runs or clamps down.
Eumillipes persephoneMillipede, Western Australia. The first millipede found with over 1,000 legs: one had 1,306.
Freshwater shrimpCrustacean, streams in Europe. Swims on its side. It shreds the dead leaves that fall into streams.
Giant African millipedeMillipede, East Africa. One of the largest millipedes, growing to about 33 cm, with around 256 legs.
House centipedeCentipede, now worldwide, in houses. Runs on 15 pairs of long legs and hunts flies and silverfish.
Illacme plenipesMillipede, a small part of California. With up to 750 legs it held the leg record until 2021.
Pill millipedeMillipede, Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas. Rolls into a ball like a pill bug, but it is a millipede.
Shocking pink dragon millipedeMillipede, Thailand. Bright pink, a warning that it makes cyanide. It was named in 2007.
SpringtailSoil animal, worldwide. Six legs, yet no longer counted as an insect. A forked tail flings it into the air.
Tadpole shrimpCrustacean, pools from Europe to India. Its eggs resist drought and can wait decades for water.
Water fleaCrustacean, ponds and lakes worldwide. 0.2 to 6 mm long, and named for its jerky hops through the water.
Yellow-spotted millipedeMillipede, Pacific coast of North America. Gives off a smell of almonds when it is disturbed.
How this list was compiled: All 225 entries were checked on 2026-09-18. Each entry's scientific name, range and fact were read against the English Wikipedia article for that animal or group, fetched that day; the article checked is the x.src URL on each item (for example https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giraffe_weevil and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maratus_volans). Facts that the article did not state plainly were reworded to what it does say or left out. Class-level facts were checked against https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect (six legs, three-part body, one pair of antennae), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arachnid (eight legs, no antennae or wings), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemiptera (true bugs, piercing-sucking mouthparts), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodlouse (woodlice are crustaceans), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springtail (no longer counted as insects) and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthropod. Each bug sits in one group only, so the full list prints it once. The region list on each item (x.region, used by the Lives in row) was read on 2026-09-19 from the item's own where text: North America includes Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean runs from Mexico south, a bug spread worldwide counts everywhere, and Hawaii counts with Australia and the Pacific. 4 entries name no region and appear only under Anywhere: Mud dauber, Fig wasp, Antarctic midge, Red velvet mite. Mud dauber was corrected on 2026-09-19 to the tribe its article covers (Sceliphrini), and its habitat moved out of the range field. Group counts are counted from the dataset. Wording is our own. Licence: own work