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| Honey bee. © Beatriz Moisset |
Did you know that most states have an official insect?
Probably not. You may have heard of state birds and state flowers, or even
state butterflies. But, who would have thought of state insects! Actually most
states have an official insect, or, at least an official butterfly. Some even
have both. Just for fun, try to imagine which insect you would select to
represent your state. Take a few minutes before reading further or checking
this
complete list.
Think harder; are you drawing a blank? I will tell you later my choice for the
state of Pennsylvania.
If you picked the honey bee, you are in the majority.
Seventeen states made the same decision, not a very imaginative one. That is
almost half of all states with an official insect.
Tennessee, not satisfied with two state
insects, the firefly and the ladybug, added the honey bee as its official
agricultural insect. Kentucky did the same.
The notion that the honey bee could represent a state surprises
me because it isn't a native insect. Europeans introduced it to this continent
in the 1600s. It is an agricultural species, not a member of the local wildlife.
Tennessee
and Kentucky seem to be the only ones that got it right when making it their official
agricultural insect. It shouldn't be so hard to find a useful native insect to
represent each state considering that there are thousands of them.
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| Monarch butterfly © Beatriz Moisset |
Seven states have chosen the monarch butterfly; not surprising
considering that the monarch is so well known and loved. Actually three of
those states (Minnesota, Vermont
and West Virginia)
picked the monarch as their state butterfly, in addition to their official
insect. I wonder which is truly well known: the butterfly itself or just its
iconic image. Most people can't tell a monarch from one of its look-alikes, the
queen, the soldier, or the viceroy butterflies. In fact, many see a fritillary
and think it is a monarch despite clear differences in pattern and size. Kudos
to
Kentucky
whose official butterfly is the Viceroy! They really know their insects.
Where this list of official state insects gets amusing is
when the "insect" in question refers to dozens or even hundreds of
related species. The ladybug has been selected by six states ignoring the fact
that ladybugs, better called lady beetles, include around 500 species, not all
charming or beneficial. Did you know that a few species eat plants, rather than
insect pests? They are pests themselves, like the Mexican bean beetle and the
alfalfa beetle. Also, did you know that a couple of dozens were introduced from
other lands?
North Dakota
deserves congratulations for choosing the convergent lady beetle. They, too,
know their insects.
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| Convergent lady beetle © Beatriz Moisset |
In addition to North Dakota
and Kentucky, a few other states show their knowledge of insects, for instance,
Maryland
with the Baltimore Checkerspot Butterfly (
Euphydryas
phaeton). This handsome creature well deserves its name because of its
checkerboard pattern.
South Carolina chose the
Carolina
mantis, another brilliant choice.
I promised to tell you my preference for the state of Pennsylvania. The state
insect is the firefly, not bad; but with 150 species of fireflies, later on it was narrowed down to the species
Pennsylvania Photuris (Photuris pensylvanica). Did you know that some fireflies are diurnal
and have no light?
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Ellychnia corrusca, winter firefly, diurnal or active during the day. © Beatriz Moisset
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I would choose a beautiful little metallic green bee. It is
small and goes easily unnoticed to the point that it doesn't even have a common
name. Its scientific name,
Augochlora pura, means "magnificent pure green bee." The public may not know
about this little beauty, but it can be quite common. Mountain mint flowers can
act as magnets for this hard-working pollen gatherer. Recently I saw as many as
a hundred bees on each bush of mountain mint in a garden with more than a dozen
such plants.
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| The magnificent pure green bee. © Beatriz Moisset |
Would you have any suggestions for the official insect of
your own state?
List of articles
© Beatriz Moisset. 2013
