How Can I Identify a Bug I Found?

The ten key questions to ask yourself when trying to identify a bug you found are:

Is it an insect?
Is it an adult insect?
Where did you find it and when is it active?
What do the wings look like?
What do the antennae look like?
What do the legs look like?
What do the parts of the mouth look like?
What does the abdomen of the bug look like?
What color is it?
What is its method of movement?

Answering these ten questions can help you to identify any bug or insect that can be found in nature.

1. Is it an insect?

There are specific things you will be looking for in an insect:

You can identify the creature as an insect if it has five distinct parts.
The five distinct parts of an insect are the head, three pairs of legs or six legs in total, a thorax, an abdomen, and antennae.
If the bug you are looking at has all of these parts you are looking at an insect.

2. Is it an adult?

To tell the age of the insect:

Insects have three specific stages of life. These three stages of life include pupa, larvae, and adult.
For instance, a butterfly is an insect that advances through these three stages of life. A cocoon would be considered the pupa stage, the caterpillar would be considered the larvae or adolescent stage, and the actual butterfly would be the adult stage of the lifecycle of this particular insect.
It is much easier to identify adult insects then attempting to identify an insect at the other two stages in their life cycle.

3. Where did I find it?

Consider where you found the insect and whether or not it was active when you found it:

Like most other creatures, insects are active either during the day, at night, or both.
Identifying when the insect is most active is one way to identify the type of bug you have found.
You will also want to keep in mind the type of environment you found the bug in. Some insects prefer trees while others prefer dead logs and leaves.
Where you find the insect and the environment you find it in can really help to identify the type of bug you have found.

4. What do the wings look like?

Look closely at the wings:

Almost all insects have a pair of wings.
The appearance of these wings can either be described as hard, scaly, lace-like, or leathery.
The wings will be an important way to identify the type of insect you have found and even the presence of no wings can be a significant clue as to what type of insect you have.

5. What do the antennae look like?

Check out the antennae:

All bugs have some type of antennae and these can be described as feathery, fan-shaped, clubbed, or leaf-shaped.
The absence of antennae can also help to identify the type of bug it is as well since not all bugs have antennae.
If the antennae are tiny, you may need a magnifying glass to look at them closely in order to determine the type of antennae the bug has.

6. What do the legs look like?

The appearance of the legs is another key in helping you to identify what kind of bug you found:

All insects have three pairs or sets of leg for a total of six legs in all.
Typically insects will either have jumping, grasping, running, or swimming legs which all differ in appearance from one another. For instance, a grasshopper would be an insect that clearly has jumping legs while a praying mantis would be an insect that clearly has grasping legs.
Examine the legs closely with a magnifying glass to look at the characteristics of the legs to help identify the insect accurately.

7. What do the parts of the mouth look like?

The parts of the mouth on the insect may give you some clues:

Bugs can either have sponging, siphoning, sucking, or chewing mouth parts.
You will definitely need a magnifying glass for this part of bug identification because the mouth parts of many bugs are tiny.
Depending on what the bug uses as its main source of food will determine what type of mouth it has. For instance, butterflies will have distinct siphoning mouth parts that they use for gathering nectar from flowers and insects that depend on plant matter will have chewing mouth parts to break down the food that they eat.

8. What does the abdomen of the bug look like?

Check the abdomen of the bug:

The insect kingdom is very diverse and there are four main types of abdomens that are possible.
There can be an abdomen covered by wings like that of a ladybug, a long abdomen that ends with a tail, an abdomen that ends with a forked tail, and an abdomen that is segmented or has a waist like that of an ant.
The body structure of the abdomen is another important characteristic that will help you to identify the type of bug you have found.

9. What color is it?

Make note of the color or color patterns of the bug:

Insects come in a variety of colors and color patterns which can help to identify the type of bug you have found.
Patterns of color are useful in identifying different species of insects.

10. What is its method of movement?

Determine how the bug moves around:

For instance, if you have a bug that you know is a flying insect this will eliminate many types of bugs from your list in order to narrow down your prospects.
Some other types of bugs will walk at all times unless threatened and then they will use their wings. This is the case for bugs such as grasshoppers and mantids.

After answering all ten of these questions accurately you can use the information you have gathered to visit bug identification sites like Insect Identification.org to indentify the type of bug you have found. You could also use a book from the library or from the bookstore to look at different pictures and descriptions to determine the type of bug you have found.