As a type of true bug (with piercing mouth parts), bee assassins stick their proboscis into their victim’s body and begin to feed. To improve their chances at catching a […]

Blister beetles in this genus can be found worldwide. In the US, they are more diverse in the west. There are two very different things about these blister beetles — […]

This beautiful species of weevil can be found in the western half of the United States and southwestern Canada. They overwinter in the adult stage and females will lay their […]

Square-headed wasps (subfamily Crabroninae), as you can probably guess, are named for their large and square heads. They are active, solitary wasps that mostly hunt adult flies to stock their […]

Kelly’s first photo almost had us believing this dragonfly had four wings on the left side, due to some shadows. The top dragonfly is a female and the bottom is […]

Aidan photographed this striking, day-flying moth while monitoring trumpeter swans near Ovando. We initially thought it was a Ridings’ Forester Moth (Alypia ridingsii), but it lacks the “white stripes” on the […]

It looks like a new generation of beetles will soon be on the way. Adults and larvae like to feed on willows, poplars, and (as you might guess) cottonwoods. They can be […]

This is one of several species of checkerspot butterflies in western Montana. Checkerspots are generally medium-sized, larger than crescents, and have orange and black checkered uppersides. Their flight is fairly fast, direct […]

This long-horned beetle can be found in coniferous forests across North America, especially in the northern United States, upper Midwest and much of Canada. The males have one white spot […]

This sighting is very exciting. Monarch butterfly populations are not doing well, especially for the western population of monarchs (overwintering off the coast of California). Despite growing conservation efforts, both populations […]