Insect Identification Guide

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This insect identification guide contains animals that are all members of the phylum Arthropoda-the arthropods. All share certain physical features, including:

• division of the body into segments
• an external skeleton and growth that requires periodic shedding of the exoskeleton (molting)
• jointed appendages
• internal structures tht include a heart running along the upper (dorsal) part of the body and a nerve cord running along the lower (ventral) part of the body
• bilateral symmetry in body organization...similar on both sides
Many of us that do week-end gardening realize too late that each plant in the landscape is the favorite food of some type of critter.

Actually, there are only a few kinds of true bugs, but many classifications of insects. This insect identification guide should help you determine the difference.

Thank goodness, most of these insects are not usually life threatening to your plants.

You do need to know what they are and how to care for your plants when an outbreak occurs.

The above graphic is a picture of the Fall Webworm (Hyphantria cunea). We are seeing on lots of plants lately. mainly big bushes like hydrangeas to trees such as this cherry tree in our front yard.

This insect has one of the widest host ranges of any caterpillar and may feed on more than 100 species of deciduous trees and shrubs.

Some of the common trees it prefers according to the book, The Ultimate Guide to Backyard Bug, Garden Insects of North American, are cottonwood, chokeberry, mountain-ash, pecan, elm, willow, and various fruit and nut trees.

The larvae feed on the leaves and build these "tents" very quickly. Defoliation of the tree or bush follows. Fall webworm is the most common tent-making caterpillar in North America. Its range can even go into southern Canada and northern Mexico.

Larva of fall webworm are hairy caterpillars with distinct paired dark spots on each segment of the back. They emerge in late June or July in northern areas. Eggs are laid in masses on the underside of leaves, and the young larvae feed together, first skeletonizing the leaf and then incorporating the entire branch in their loosely spun tent of silk .

Ask your local garden center for an insecticide spray to control this. There may be up to four generations per year in the southern states and one in the northern areas.

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Learn about the grasshopper insect

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