About Bug Life Cycles

This page is undergoing a gradual transition – I’m in the process of transferring life cycle information to Bugguide.net so it will be easier for people to find.  The links will also remain here, but please start checking the info pages on Bugguide for any species you’re interested in.

I’m not adding any new life cycles here, and I hope to have most of these links moved to Bugguide soon.

 

Insects have some of the most interesting and complex life cycles of any animals.  In many cases only one stage of their lives is familiar to us, and we know very little about the others. This site is a place to document and learn about the life cycles of wild insects and spiders found in North America.  I’m trying to collect and link to photographs of as many life stages as I can.    The information in these life cycles is based on photographs and observations.  I hope that by making this information more easily available, people will be inspired to look at insects and spiders more closely, and learn more about their lives.

To find a life cycle series, check out the pages, listed by Order at the right side of the page, or click on one of the photos – also listed by Order – below.

Marcie O’Connor Editor

Araneae – Spiders
Odonata – Dragonflies & Damselflies
Orthoptera – Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katydids
Dermaptera – Earwigs
Mantodea – Mantids
Blattodea – Cockroaches & Termites
Psocodea – Barklice, Booklice, Parasitic Lice
Hemiptera – True Bugs
Megaloptera – Alderflies, Dobsonflies, Fishflies
Neuroptera – Antlions, Lacewings
Coleoptera – Beetles
Hymenoptera – Ants, Bees, and Wasps
Lepidoptera – Butterflies
Lepidoptera – Moths
Diptera – Flies