Top 10 Most Beautiful Insects
We probably don’t immediately associate insects with beauty. Insects are more often than not annoying little critters that bite us, get in our food and otherwise disturb our pristine existence.
But when we look at them up close, one at a time, they can display some of the most dazzling colors and amazing shapes. They can in fact be most beautiful creatures.
10. Stick Insect
Sometimes beauty is not measured in gorgeous colours and wonderful shapes, sometimes you find it in the design and such is the case here. The stick insect is almost impossible to see and its predators just can’t find it when it wants to hide away. A lovely piece of evolutionary engineering.
9. Christmas Beetle
The Christmas Beetle doesn’t have the classical beauty of some of our leading contenders. It’s definitely the ugly duckling of the group. However it does have a unique dark, hard, shimmering shell that in the right light can reflect the colours of the rainbow. This beetle is a bit gormless but all the more likeable because of that.
8. Honey Bee
The honey bee lacks the vivid colours, size and graceful profiles of some of the other top 10 insects, but there’s something quite lovely about its furry body and tiger-striped thorax. We love the bee for pollenating all our plants and long may it do so.
7. Signature Spider
Spiders were banned from this list because they are simply not beautiful. But when the Signature Spider showed up we just had to put it in. Lovely colours, un-spider like stance and bonus decorative web got this little beauty a spot on the list.
6. Grasshopper
Grasshoppers are most often green or brown and quite plain to look at in this guise. But there are many species that use the full colour palate to decorate themselves. The best of these insects are strikingly beautiful and if you happen to catch a group of them you will be in for a visual feast.
5. Caterpillars
There are many types of beautiful caterpillar. Multi-coloured, invariably with stunning markings that accentuate their modular bodies, these are most beautiful insects. Perhaps made even more beautiful because of their delicate nature. Small, but take the time to investigate the next one you find.
4. Ladybird Beetle
The ladybird comes in vivid red, orange or yellow. Although it can be quite small, when you do see the distinctive half sphere body you are immediately enticed to look closer and spend some time watching this beautiful little critter slowly make its way around the garden. If you catch it unfurling its wings in readiness for flight you are in for a bonus.
3. Dragonfly
These little beauties can be difficult to see properly as they flit around the garden at speed. You can generally see iridescent blues and greens on their wispy wings and long, thin body. If you do get a chance to see them at rest their full glory will be revealed. A good size, balanced profile and bright colouring make them a real treat.
2. Praying Mantis
Beautiful may not be the word some people would use for this angular, aggressive creature, but there is no denying it can be visually spectacular when seen in the right light. Colourful, unusual and strangely beautiful.
1. Ulysses Butterfly
There are arguably more spectacular insects when you have the benefit of a magnifying glass, but the Ulysses Butterfly shares its beauty with the unaided eye and it’s a pleasure to watch it dance across your field of vision. The spectacular, iridescent blue contrasts wonderfully with the inky black wings and body. Tear drop hind wings complete the classic butterfly profile.
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