Top Ten Best Flying Insects

Butterflies are insects from the order Lepidoptera.

Butterflies are known for their beautiful colors and patterns. Their colors vary from plain, boring brown to a brilliant mix of colors. Unfortunately, some of the most beautiful ones are endangered. They're important to the environment as they're flower pollinators. Currently, there are about 17,500 known species of butterflies, which is few compared to their close relatives, the moths.

Fun fact: Butterflies taste with their feet. Their taste sensors are located there.

Bees are insects in the order Hymenoptera, suborder Apocrita.

Bees are social animals, living in colonies in hives with a queen. They feed on nectar and pollen, using nectar as an energy source and pollen for protein and other nutrients. These adorable little guys are known for being flower pollinators. The most well-known species, the European honeybee, produces honey and beeswax. Beekeeping has been going on for millennia, since at least the Ancient Egyptian and Ancient Greek periods. Bees have many uses for us and the environment. Not only do they pollinate flowers, but they also produce honey and beeswax, and bees themselves are edible (the Javanese dish botok tawon is made of bee larvae and coconut).

Bees are often confused with their close relatives, wasps. Bees are more round-shaped than wasps, and wasps are often more aggressive than bees (though that doesn't mean bees aren't aggressive. Check out the Africanized honey bee).

Fun fact: A male bee dies after mating because his genitals rip off during the massive ejaculation. Ooh, that's got to be really painful!

Moths are insects from the order Lepidoptera.

These insects are quite overshadowed. Butterflies aren't the only beautiful insects! Currently, there are about 160,000 known species of moths (most insects from the order Lepidoptera are moths!). Moths are nocturnal animals, but some species can be crepuscular (active at dusk) and diurnal (active both day and night). They, like butterflies, pollinate flowers.

Moths are often confused with their close relatives, butterflies. A moth's antennae are bushier than a butterfly's, and a moth's body is thicker than a butterfly's. Moths are often duller in color than butterflies, but there are quite a lot of colorful and beautiful moths too (heck, I think some moth species are more beautiful than butterflies themselves).

Fun fact: Some moth species don't have mouths in their adult stage, making them unable to eat and causing them to die of starvation about a week later.

Mantises are insects from the order Mantodea.

There are currently over 2,400 known species of mantis. The largest mantis family is the Mantidae. Mantises have triangular heads and large, bulging eyes. Every mantis has greatly enlarged forelegs. They're often referred to as "praying mantis" because of their resting position. Mantises are predators and feed on smaller insects. They use their enlarged forelegs to catch and grip their prey. Female mantises sometimes practice sexual cannibalism (a female mantis might eat the male after mating). Mantises are among the insects most commonly kept as pets.

Only certain mantis species can fly. Those mantis species that are able to fly have wings large enough to be used for flight, but other species have small wings or even no wings at all.

Fun fact: Mantises can turn their heads 180 degrees because the joint that connects a mantis's head with its prothorax is very flexible.

Dragonflies are insects from the order Odonata, suborder Anisoptera.

Dragonflies are fast fliers. They're carnivores and feed on other smaller insects. They have two pairs of strong wings and two large eyes.

Dragonflies are closely related to damselflies and are often confused with them. Damselflies are smaller and weaker than dragonflies. Dragonflies rest with their wings held flat, while most damselflies fold their wings.

Fun fact: Dragonflies are fierce predators from birth! Dragonfly nymphs eat tadpoles, small fish, mosquitoes, other insect larvae, and even each other!

Wasp is a term used for any insect from the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is not a bee nor an ant.

Wasps can be either eusocial or solitary. The most well-known wasps, such as yellow jackets and hornets, are eusocial, but most wasps are solitary. They are insects everyone seems to hate, often seen as insects who do nothing but sting. But that's actually quite false. Wasps do have uses. Some species pollinate flowers while others control pests. Wasps are fascinating if you explore deeper. Some wasps have incredible abilities (like voodoo wasps), and some are just beautiful (like cuckoo wasps).

Fun fact: The tarantula hawk has an extremely painful sting, but good news: getting stung is unlikely, and the pain only lasts for about 5 minutes. Speaking of the tarantula hawk, it feeds on tarantulas, so if you hate tarantulas, better thank this guy for controlling their population.

Also known as lightning bugs, fireflies are insects from the order Coleoptera, family Lampyridae.

Fireflies are magnificent insects with one of the most beautiful abilities an organism could have: bioluminescence. Bioluminescence is an organism's ability to produce light. During twilight, they use their bioluminescence ability to attract mates. Their larvae, known as glow worms in Eurasia (in America, "glow worm" also refers to their relatives Phengodidae), are bioluminescent as well. In some species, the females lack wings. There are currently about 2,000 known species, and each firefly species has its own unique pattern of light-flashing. Their bioluminescence varies too. It can be yellow, green, or orange.

Despite the name, they're not flies. They're beetles.

Fun fact: Firefly larvae are carnivorous, feeding on snails, but adult fireflies feed on pollen and nectar. Although, some adult fireflies can be carnivorous and feed on other fireflies.

Also known as ladybirds, ladybugs are small beetles (not exactly bugs) from the family Coccinellidae.

The most notable feature of these beetles is their spotted wing covers. The colors of their wing covers vary. Some species, like Vibidia duodecimguttata, have white spots and a brown background. Currently, there are over 6,000 known species of ladybugs. Ladybugs are considered useful animals. Some species feed on agricultural pests such as aphids and scale bugs. Some also lay their eggs on the colonies of pests so the larvae will have an immediate food source. However, some ladybug species are herbivorous, which means they are pests.

Fun fact: The "lady" part of the name refers to the Virgin Mary. Legend says that long ago, crops in Europe were plagued with pests, so the farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary. Then, they started seeing ladybugs on their farms, saving their crops from the pests, so they started calling the beetles "lady beetles."

Grasshoppers are insects from the order Orthoptera, suborder Caelifera.

Grasshoppers are ground-dwelling insects. They have powerful hind legs, which make it possible for them to leap great distances, up to 20 times their own body length! Some grasshoppers can change colors and behaviors and form swarms (known as "locusts" under these circumstances). Grasshoppers are beautiful insects, but they're serious pests, especially if they swarm in millions as locusts.

Grasshoppers rely on camouflage to escape predators, but if they're detected, they will attempt to startle the predator with a brilliantly colored wing-flash while jumping and launching themselves into the air, then fly for a short distance. Some grasshopper species are colorful, but those colors warn predators that they are either poisonous or distasteful.

Grasshoppers are sometimes referred to as short-horned grasshoppers to distinguish them from katydids.

Fun fact: A grasshopper's auditory organs are located on their abdomen.