List of insects of the Indiana Dunes

Many insects are considered pests by humans. Those insects regarded as pests include those that are parasitic (mosquitoes, lice, bed bugs), transmit diseases (mosquitoes, flies), damage structures (termites), or destroy agricultural goods (locusts, weevils). Many more insects are beneficial to the environment and to humans. Some insects, like wasps, bees, butterflies, and ants, pollinate flowering plants.

Orthoptera

Grasshoppers, Roaches, and their kin. Medium to larger insects that live on land. They have a leathery forewing and hind wings that fold like fans or no hind wing. They have mouth parts to chew their food.

Dermaptera

Earwigs. Medium sized insect with pincer-like tails. They usually have two pairs of short wings and segmented antenna.

Isoptera

Termites. These are ant like creatures with small, soft-bodies. They live in colonies and have castes assigned to specific chores. Some individuals have four wings.

Anoplura

Lice. Tiny insects, without wings. They have piercing and sucking parts to their mouths. Their flat body and legs with claws allow them to cling to warm-blooded animals.

Auchenorrhyncha

Leafhoppers, planthoppers, and Cicadas. These are small to medium insects with two pairs of wings.

Heteroptera

True Bugs. With a ranges of sizes from small to large, each has two pairs of wings. The forewing is partly thickened.

Odonata

Dragonfiles and Damselfiles. Large to medium insects with two pairs of equal-sized wings. Their bodies are long and slender, like their wings. They have a short antenna. Immature stages are acqutic.

Ephemerida & Plecoptera

Mayflies and Stone flies. Both groups have two pairs of transparent wings with veins. In mayflies, the hind wing is the smaller, while in the stoneflies, the forewing is smaller. Mayflies have long tails. Both groups are aquatic when immature.

Neuroptera

Nerve-Winged Insects. These are large insects with two pairs of wings of equal size. The wings hare netted by veins. They have chewing mouth parts and long antennae.

Mecoptera

Scorpionflies. Medium insects with two pairs of potted, slender wings. They have long legs and long antennae. They have a beak-like mouth with chewing parts. Larvae lives in the soil.

Trichoptera

Caddisflies. Small to medium insects. Larvae are fresh water habitats. Adults have two pairs of wings with long, silky hairs. They have long antenna.

Lepidoptera

Moths and Butterflies. They can be small to large in size. They have two pairs of scaly wings. Their antennae canb e knob-like or feathery. Mouth-parts are sometimes reduced.

Diptera

Flies and their kin. The insects can be tiny to small with two wings. They have sucking parts for their mouths. The antennae are small and their face is dominated by their eyes. A second pair of wings is generally reduced.

Coleoptera

Beetles. This group has modified wings. The Forewings have hardened as covers and the hindwings a thin and fold. They variety from tiny to large in size. Their antennae are usually short and they have chewing mouth-parts. Some are aquatic, others are land based.

Hymenoptera

Bees, Wasps, and Ants. There is a wide range of sizes from tiny too large. They are a social animal living in colonies. Individuals have two pairs of thin, transparent wings. The hindwing is smaller. Mouth parts are either designed for chewing or for sucking. Some have ‘stingers’, the only insects to have such.

See also

• Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore
• Indiana Dunes State Park