(Polistes dominulus)
Description:
Habitat: Dry meadow, fields, backyards.
Length: 25 mm
Adults: June - October
Common Arthropods of Toronto
- Bees and Wasps
- European Paper Wasp(Polistes dominulus)
- German Yellowjacket
(Vespula germanica)
Description:
Habitat: Fields, gardens.
Length: 14 mm
Wingspan: 30 mm
Adults: June - October
- Paper Wasp
(Polistes sp.)
Description:
Habitat: Fields, meadows, gardens.
Length: 20 mm
Adults: June - October
- Bald-faced Hornet
(Vespula maculata)
Description:
Habitat: Fields, gardens.
Length: 20 mm
Adults: June - October
- Large Carpenter Bee
(Xylocopa virginica)
Description:
Habitat: Fields, woodland edge.
Length: 25 mm
Adults: May - October
- Green Metallic Bee
(Agapostemon virescens)
Description:
Habitat: Fields, meadows.
Length: 12 mm
Adults: May - October
- European Paper Wasp
- Beetles
- Pennsylvania Leather-wing
(Chauliognathus pennsylvanicus)
Description:
Habitat: Goldenrod flowers in fields and meadows.
Length: 25 mm
Adults: June - October
- Short-horned Grasshopper
(Melanoplus sp.)
Description:
Habitat: Fields.
Length: 20 mm
Adults: June - October
- Milkweed Beetle
(Tetraopes tetrophthalmus)
Description:
Habitat: Common Milkweed plants in fields and meadows.
Length: 15 mm
Adults: June - October
- Locust Borer
(Megacyllene robiniae)
Description:
Habitat: Goldenrod plants in meadows and fields.
Length: 20 mm
Adults: June - October
- Pennsylvania Leather-wing
- Grasshoppers, Crickets and Cicadas
- Carolina Grasshopper
(Dissosteira carolina)
Description:
Habitat: Quite common in fields, dry meadows, and best seen when flushed off dirt trails.
Length: 30 mm
Adults: June - October
- Snowy Tree Cricket
(Oecanthus fultoni)
Habitat: Usually encountered in vegetation, such as trees, shrubs and tall wildflowers.
Length: 15 mm
Adults: July - October
- Field Cricket
(Gryllus pennsylvanicus)
Description:
Habitat: Common in dry meadows, fields, roadsides.
Length: 20 mm
Adults: July - October
- Dogday Cicada
(Tibicen canicularis)
Description:
Habitat: Fields, woodland edges.
Length: 30 mm
Adults: July - October
- Carolina Grasshopper
- True Bugs
- Small Eastern Milkweed Bug
(Lygaeus kalmii)
Description:
Habitat: Common Milkweed plants in fields and meadows.
Length: 12 mm
Adults: June - October
- Scarlet-and-green Leafhopper
(Graphocephala coccinea)
Description:
Habitat: Found on wildflowers in meadows and gardens.
Length: 9 mm
Adults: June - October
- Meadow Spittlebug
(Philaenus spumarius)
Description:
Habitat: Found on goldenrod, clovers and brassicas in meadows and gardens.
Length: 9 mm
Adults: June - October
- Green Stink Bug
(Acrosternum hilare)
Habitat: Found in leaf litter in early spring.
Length: 15 mm
Adults: April - August
- Small Eastern Milkweed Bug
- Flies
- Green Bottle Fly
(Phaenicia spp.)
Habitat: Fields, gardens.
Length: 8 mm
Adults: June - October
- Drone Fly
(Eristalis tenax)
Habitat: Fields, meadows.
Length: 16 mm
Adults: June - October
- Green Bottle Fly
- Butterflies
- Red Admiral
(Vanessa atalanta)
Description:
Habitat: Woodland, gardens.
Wingspan: 60 mm
Length: 50 mm
Adults: April - October
- White Admiral
(Limenitis arthemis)
Description:
Habitat: Fields, meadows.
Wingspan: 75 mm
Adults: June - October
- Orange Sulphur
(Colias eurytheme)
Description:
Habitat: Fields, meadows, roadsides.
Wingspan: 60 mm
Adults: June - October
- Common Sulphur
Description:
Habitat: Fields, meadows.
Wingspan: 50 mm
Adults: June - October
- Cabbage White
(Pieris rapae)
Description:
Habitat: Fields, meadows, gardens.
Wingspan: 50 mm
Adults: May - October
- Eastern Tailed-Blue
(Everes comyntas)
Habitat: Fields, meadows.
Wingspan: 30 mm
Adults: June - October
- Acadian Hairstreak
(Satyrium acadica)
Description:
Habitat: Meadows
Wingspan: 30 mm
Adults: June - October
- Red Admiral
- Dragonflies and Damselflies
- Variable Dancer
(Argia fumipennis)
Description:
Male are purple, including head. Females are brown but with some purple. Often perch on the ground or a rock. Common and widespread. Habitat: Prefers small lakes and ponds.
Length: 30 mm
Wingspan: 40 mm
Adults: July - October
- Ebony Jewelwing
(Calopteryx maculata)
Description:
Black with blue-green sheen. Wings appear brownish. Female has white spot ("stigmata")at tip of wing. Common and well-studied species. Habitat: Prefers slow-moving streams, but will stray into urban areas.
Length: 50 mm
Wingspan: 80 mm
Adults: July - October
- Eastern Forktail
(Ischnura verticalis)
Description:
Sexually dimorphic. Habitat: Ponds.
Length: 30 mm
Wingspan: 40 mm
Adults: July - October
- Spreadwing
(Lestes sp.)
Description:
These large damselflies hold their wings partially open when at rest. Habitat: Ponds, bogs, swamps and slow streams.
Length: 50 mm
Wingspan: 75 mm
Adults: July - September
- Ruby Meadowhawk
Description:
Male has red abdomen with black triangles (not present in Yellow-legged Meadowhawk). Female has yellow abdomen. Ruby, Yellow-legged, and Cherry-faced Meadowhawks are tricky to distinguish in the field, especially the females. Habitat: Fields, meadows, gardens.
Length: 30 mm
Wingspan: 70 mm
Adults: July - October
- Meadowhawk sp.
Description:
Male of either Cherry-faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum internum), Ruby Meadowhawk (Sympetrum rubicundulum) or White-faced Meadowhawk (Sympetrum obtrusum). Habitat: Fields, meadows, gardens.
Length: 40 mm
Wingspan: 70 mm
Adults: July - October
- Band-winged Meadowfly
Description:
Small, bright red (males) or orange (females) dragonflies. Males have distinctive wing colouring. The bottom one-third of the wings is a light orange. This species is "late-flying" and more common in late summer when it can be found perched on dead flowerheads along the edges of meadows and marshes. Habitat: Meadows, marshes.
Length: 30 mm
Wingspan: 70 mm
Adults: July - October
- Blue Dasher
(Pachydiplax longipennis)
Description:
Males and females look quite different. Abdomen is blue in males, whereas it is golden-brown in females. Females have a shorter abdomen than males. Thorax is pale green with dark stripes. When perched often lets the wings droop down. Common, widespread and well-studied species. Habitat: Ponds, lakes, slow-moving streams.
Length: 40 mm
Wingspan: 80 mm
Adults: June - October
- Common Baskettail
Description:
Wings transparent but for the large brown patch at the base of the hindwings. Large, territorial species. Prefer ponds and swamps where they can be quite common. Fly early. Females lay eggs in flight, dipping the ovipositor under the water surface to deposit clusters of eggs on submerged plants and sticks. The male will guard the female during egg-laying, flying above her. Habitat: Ponds.
Length: 40 mm
Wingspan: 60 mm
Adults: July - September
- Common Green Darner
(Anax junius)
Description:
Common. Common, especially in late summer when adults feed over fields. Thorax is green. Adult males have a bright blue abdomen; females and immature males have a brown abdomen. Up close the face has a distinctive bull's eye pattern. Feeds on wasps, butterflies and mosquitoes. Migratory. Habitat: Ponds, slow-moving streams.
Wingspan: 100 mm
Adults: April - October
- Calico Pennant
(Celithemis elisa)
Description:
Bright red abdomen. Wings have brown spot on each wing tip, and a larger brown patch at base of hind wings. Face yellow. Likes to perch on top of grass stalks. Common. Habitat: Found in meadows and open areas close to water.
Length: 30 mm
Wingspan: 60 mm
Adults: July - October
- Common Whitetail
(Libellula lydia)
Description:
Seen flying over ponds and meadows. Sexually dimorphic. Males have distinctive pale abdomen. Females have a brown-patterned abdomen, but the wing pattern is similar to males. Habitat: Ponds.
Length: 70 mm
Wingspan: 80 mm
Adults: July - October
- Twelve-spotted Skimmer
(Libellula pulchella)
Description:
Slender, with unmistakeable wing pattern of black and white patches. Abdomen is blue-brown with a pale yellow stripe down each side. Strongly territorial. Likes to perch on slender stick or grass overhanging water. Habitat: Prefers sunny, open shoreline of ponds and lakes.
Length: 60 mm
Wingspan: 100 mm
Adults: July - October
- Eastern Pondhawk
(Erythemis simplicicollis)
Description:
This beautiful dragonfly is a young male which still resembles the female and has not yet attained the bright blue markings of an adult male. A hunter, the Pondhawk pursues smaller insects such as mosquitoes and flies, then seizes them with its spiny front legs. Habitat: Ponds, meadows
Length: 60 mm
Wingspan: 70 mm
Adults: July - October
- Variable Dancer
- Spiders
- Garden Spider
(Araneus diadematus)
Habitat: Woodland edge, gardens, fields.
Length: 13-19 mm
Adults: June - October
- Three-spotted Jumping Spider
(Phidippus audax)
Description:
Habitat: Woods, houses.
Length: 15 mm
Adults: June - October
- Zebra Spider
(Salticus scenicus)
Habitat: Gardens.
Length: 15 mm
Adults: June - October
- Black-footed Spider
(Cheiracanthium mildei)
Habitat: Gardens, houses.
Length: 10 mm
Adults: June - October
- Garden Spider