In the vast world of insects, there are countless hidden gems that often go unnoticed. While butterflies and ladybirds often steal the spotlight, many other species rival them in beauty but remain relatively unknown.
These lesser-known insects boast vibrant colours, intricate patterns, and delicate wings that look as though they’ve been crafted by nature’s finest artisans.
Prettiest insects in the world
Picasso bug
Though you could argue that they are more Kandinsky than Picasso, there’s little doubt that these patterns are a work of art. A native of tropical Africa, the Picasso bug belongs to a family of plant bugs that bear an extension to their thorax that protects their wings and abdomen.
This ‘scutellum’ gives the bugs a remarkably beetle-like appearance (though unlike the wingcases of beetles, it is composed of a single piece, not divided down the middle). The patterns adorning this canvas probably serve as a toxicity warning to predators. Indeed the bug’s nymphs feed on the flowers of a plant called bitter leaf, which is sought out by sick chimpanzees to rid themselves of parasitic infections.
Spun glass caterpillar
It may resemble a cross between some sort of bizarre alien plant and a funky Christmas decoration, but this is neither.
This is a spun glass caterpillar, a North American member of the slug moth family – a name that clearly flatters terrestrial pulmonates. The adults are rather unremarkable little brown jobs, but the larvae… oh, the larvae!
Many of the family’s 1,700-odd species are adorned with all manner of extravagant, intricate spines, bristles and protuberances. What they do have in common with shell-less molluscs is that they glide rather than crawl.
Their fleshy walking legs have been all but lost and they lubricate their passage over the vegetation with a slippery trail – not of slime, heaven forbid, but liquid silk.
Lanternflies
Sap-sucking bugs aren’t generally the showiest of insects. But lanternflies – relatives of aphids and spittle bugs – are as big and beautiful as butterflies.
The 500-odd species are named after their outrageous headgear, erroneously thought to glow in the dark. The lantern is so grotesquely swollen in some species that the head resembles a mis-shapen potato.
Its function is mysterious – possibilities include sexual signalling, camouflage, mimicry or sound amplification. Lanternflies must drink a lot of sap to get enough protein. That means ingesting excess sugar, which they squirt from their rear ends in a continual stream of droplets. Certain moths specialise in intercepting these treats before they hit the ground.
Trilobite beetle
It looks like it’s crawled straight out of the Cambrian era, but this is a trilobite only by name, one of many species of trilobite beetle that can be found in South-east Asian forests. The winged males are unremarkably coleopteran (beetle-like). The same couldn’t be said of the females, which develop neotenously – ie, missing out the pupal phase of development entirely to become sexually mature as larvae.
That doesn’t stop them growing, though. They can reach 7cm long, dwarfing the centimetre-long males. It’s not known what they eat to fuel that growth. Nor is much else, for that matter – biologists are still working out which species of male belongs with which female
Planthopper nymphs
Either someone has cheered the place up a bit with some fibre-optic mood-lighting or something is proudly displaying an array of multicoloured quills sprouting from its bottom.
Many planthopper nymphs extrude ornate waxy structures from their rear ends for the purposes of concealment, defence, shelter or mimicry. In some species, these look like fluffy clouds, in others they resemble fungi, vegetation or dreadlocks. They may also be wielded to enlist the services of ants, which browse on the nutritious wax while protecting their providers from danger. SB
Blue-banded bee
Australian animals are famous for being different. Even the bees refuse to conform to the rules. In almost every respect, this fine specimen looks like a normal honeybee. Except that its stripes are not yellow, but blue – hence the name blue-banded bee.
Another quirk is the characteristically intense, shrill buzz it makes in flight. The sound has a practical purpose: the bees perform what is called ‘buzz pollination’, in which they vibrate their wings vigorously to loosen pollen for collection from flowers. For some reason, the bee seems to have a preference for blue flowers. Its nests are parasitised by another species, the neon cuckoo bee (also blue) whose larvae feed on their hosts’ stores of pollen and nectar.
- Weirdest spiders in the world – arachnophobes look away, these freakish (but fascinating) arachnids could give you nightmares
- This metallic blue tarantula is the most beautiful spider in the world – and it's also one of the world's rarest
- Are nudibranchs the most beautiful animals on the planet? One of them might also be as deadly as it's beautiful...