20+ Insects Names in English with their Properties

This lesson is specially designed for ESL students. In this lesson we will study insects names in English. Insects are the most numerous of all the animal groups on earth. In many parts of the world, they are a problem to farmers and gardeners because they eat crops and flowers. As well as being a danger to people’s food supply, insects can also spread diseases such as malaria and yellow fever.

Insects come in a great variety of shapes and sizes. Some have wings that allow them to fly around freely while others crawl slowly across the ground or swim underwater, where they can be quite safe from predators. Insects do not breathe with lungs like we do; most species extract air through tiny holes called spiracles located on their sides or abdomens.

List of Insect Names

Ant

Ant is a insect. It has a very small size and lives in a group called colony. Ants have six legs and a pair of antennae.

Termite

Termite is an insect that has the same characteristics as ant, but it lives alone rather than in a colony. Termites also have six legs and two antennae.

Mosquito

Mosquito is an insect that sucks human and animal blood. It has a very thin body and long legs and antennas.

Gnat

Gnat is an insect with small size and transparent wings, which means we can see through them. Gnats have only one pair of wings, while other flying insects such as moths or flies have two pairs of wings.

Housefly

Housefly is an insect that lives near the places where people live. Houseflies are attracted to food and are known for spreading diseases in hospitals or restaurants by contaminating surfaces with germs when they land on them.

Cockroach

Cockroach is a type of insect which has round flat body, six legs, two antennae and a pair of wings. The female cockroach produces eggs which she keeps inside her body till they hatch as babies.

Bee

Bee is a flying insect with four transparent wings and small size. Bees make honey by collecting nectar from flowers, which they store in their hive as food for the winter or use it to feed their young ones called larvae.

Beetle

Be Beetle is a type of insect that has the shell covering its body and four wings. Beetles can fly and some species spend their life under water. For example, diving beetle lives in water, while water-boatman beetle swims underwater on surface of ponds and rivers.

Mosquito larvae

Larva is the insect before it becomes an adult. Larva has a simple body without legs or wings. Mosquito larvae are aquatic, meaning they live in water.

Centipede

Centipede is an invertebrate animal with many legs and usually one pair of legs per segment. Centipedes have flat bodies and strong claws.

Earwig

Earwig is a kind of insect that has a pair of pincers at the end of the body. Earwigs use their pincers to hold prey and defend themselves against predators.

Butterfly

Butterfly is a flying insect with four wings covered with scales which give it its bright colors. Butterfly larvae or caterpillars feed on plants.

Beetle larva

Beetle larvae are young beetles which grow inside eggs produced by adult female beetles. Beetle larvae look like maggots or white worms with six legs near the head end of their body, but they don’t have wings.

Housefly pupae

Pupa is a stage in the life cycle of insects like butterflies, beetles and houseflies. Pupa has a simple body without legs or wings, but it doesn’t look like larva. Housefly pupae are also known as maggots and they live in garbage and other places where decaying organic matter provides food for them to eat and develop into adult houseflies.

Termite larvae

Termite larvae are young termites before they become adults. Termites grow in special nurseries inside their colony, where they feed on wood and other types of plant material.

Dragonfly

Dragonfly is a flying insect with four transparent wings and long legs. Dragonflies can move forward, backward and sideway, as well as up and down thanks to their large wings.

Grasshopper

Grasshopper is a kind of insect that has a powerful jump and long back legs. Grasshoppers have two pairs of wings, but they cannot fly like other insects because their hind wings are not strong enough for this purpose.

Beetle pupae

Beetle pupae look like adults, but they have wings folded on their back. They live in cocoons until they become adults and leave the cocoon to continue their life cycle.

Cockroach

Cockroach is a insect with a flat oval body and six legs. Cockroaches have a pair of antennae on the head and mouth parts called mandibles which they use to chew.

Bee

Bee is an insect which collects nectar by flying from flowers to its hive. Bee makes honey when it mixes nectar with special secretion, which they produce in their body.

Wasps

Wasps are insects that build nests made of paper or wax in warm places near the ground where they can easily hunt for food like other insects, spiders or even small birds and mammals.

Termites

Termites are social insects which live inside colonies with one male and several female queen termites, which produce eggs. Termites feed on wood or other types of plant materials and they digest them in special stomach and distribute the food particles to all members within their colony through special tubes called “blood veins”.

Worm

Worm is a kind of insect which has an elongated cylindrical body with no legs and one pair of antennae. Earthworms and leeches are two kinds of worm you can find almost everywhere on the surface of our planet, including desert and polar regions.

Moth

Moth is an insect. Moths have a furry body and wings covered with scales. They produce special substances to attract other insects which provide food for them, such as nectar or pollen.

Cricket

Cricket is an insect that produces loud chirping sound in the night when it rubs its wing against its abdomen like a violin string. Crickets have a flat body and long antennae on the head.

Mosquito larvae

Mosquito larvae are young mosquitoes that look like maggots or white worms with six legs near the head end of their body, before they become adults.

Bee pupae

Bee pupae look like adults, but they have wings folded on their back. They live in cocoons until they become adults and leave the cocoon to continue their life cycle.

Ladybug larvae

Ladybug larvae are young ladybugs which look like brown alligators with black spots on their back. Ladybugs have six legs, two pairs of wings, but they cannot fly like other insects because their hind wings are not strong enough for this purpose.

Wasp larvae

Wasp larvae look like white maggots with no eyes and dark heads, but they have a pair of black antennae on the head which help them to find food and locate other members in their colony.

Mosquito pupae

Mosquito pupae look like adult have wings folded on their back. They live in cocoons until they become adults and leave the cocoon to continue their life cycle.

Insect Names List (Pictures)

Most Common Insects