Animals · Curated list
Silkworm, Western honey bee, Housefly and 27 more, ranked by how much of the world has written about each one.
Most written-about first. Each description summarises the insect's Wikipedia article, which its name links to.
1
Moth mainly used in the production of silk
Bombyx mori, the domestic silk moth: a domesticated moth of the family Bombycidae, whose nearest relative is the wild silk moth, Bombyx mandarina.
Wikidata · Photo: Oakenking at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.5
%20Apis%20mellifera%20(female)%20-%20on%20viburnum%20tinus%20flowers.jpg?width=800)
2
Species of honey bee
The commonest of the world's 7–12 species of honey bee. In its scientific name, Apis means 'bee' in Latin, and mellifera means 'honey-bearing' or 'honey-carrying', after the honey the species makes.
Wikidata · Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0
3
Species of insect
A fly of the suborder Cyclorrhapha. Living alongside humans, it has spread across the world from where it began, possibly the Middle East.
Wikidata · Photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim, GFDL 1.2
4
Species of true bug
The common bedbug, a species of the family Cimicidae. It is an ectoparasite, living mainly on humans.
Wikidata · Photo: Content Providers(s): CDC/ Harvard University, Dr. Gary Alpert; Dr. Harold Harlan; Richard Pollack. Photo Credit: Piotr…, Public domain
5
Species of beetle
A beetle notorious as a major pest of potato crops. About 10 mm long, it has a bright yellow/orange body, with five bold brown stripes running down each wing.
Wikidata · Photo: Scott Bauer, USDA ARS, Public domain
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6
Species of butterfly
Pieris brassicae, the large white, also known as the cabbage butterfly or cabbage white, wrongly as the cabbage moth, and in India as the large cabbage white. It belongs to the family Pieridae, and its close relatives include Pieris rapae, the small white.
Wikidata · Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0
7
Species of butterfly
Vanessa atalanta, the red admiral, formerly called the red admirable: a well-characterised butterfly of medium size, its wings black with red bands and white spots, about 2 inches (5 cm) across.
Wikidata · Photo: Toni Wöhrl, CC BY-SA 4.0
8
Species of insect
Papilio machaon, a butterfly of the family Papilionidae. Other names for it are simply the swallowtail and the common yellow swallowtail.
Wikidata · Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0
9
Small land insect in the order Zygentoma
A small, primitive insect without wings, of the order Zygentoma. It is named for its light silvery-grey colour and for the way it moves, like a fish.
Wikidata · Photo: Sebastian Stabinger, CC BY 3.0
10
Species of fruit fly
Drosophila melanogaster, a fly of the family Drosophilidae. It is often called the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, and less often the "banana fly", "pomace fly" or "vinegar fly".
Wikidata · Photo: DataBase Center for Life Science (DBCLS), CC BY 4.0
11
Species of praying mantis
A large insect of the family Mantidae, the biggest family in the order Mantodea (the mantises), which develops by incomplete metamorphosis. Its common name, praying mantis, comes from the way it holds its front legs at rest, in a pose that looks like prayer.
Wikidata · Photo: Alvesgaspar, CC BY-SA 3.0
12
Species of beetle
Coccinella septempunctata, often shortened to C-7, a carnivorous beetle native to North Africa, most of Asia and Europe, living in many regions of temperate climate.
13
Species of wasp
Europe's largest native eusocial wasp. It is also North America's one true hornet, brought from Europe to Canada and the United States as early as 1840.
Wikidata · Photo: Accipiter (R. Altenkamp, Berlin), CC BY 3.0
14
Milkweed butterfly in the family Nymphalidae
Also called just the monarch, a milkweed butterfly of the family Nymphalidae. In different regions it is also called the black-veined brown, the wanderer, the common tiger or the milkweed.
Wikidata · Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 3.0
15
16
Species of scarab beetle
Also called the Maybug, the Maybeetle or the doodlebug, among many other names, a scarab beetle of the genus Melolontha, native to Europe. It is one of several close relatives in the genus, similar in form, known as cockchafers; Melolontha hippocastani is another, sharing its sexual dimorphism, mating habits and key physical traits such as the number of lamellae.
17
Species of mosquito
Aedes aegypti, a mosquito known by several names, among them the yellow fever mosquito, the dengue mosquito and the Egyptian mosquito. It spreads chikungunya, yellow fever, dengue fever and other diseases, and can be told by the lyre-shaped marking on the top of its thorax and the black and white markings on its legs.
Wikidata · Photo: James Gathany, Public domain
18
Species of butterfly
Known too as the mountain Apollo, this butterfly belongs to Papilionidae.
Wikidata · Photo: Joan Carles Hinojosa Galisteo, CC BY-SA 3.0
19
Species of beetle
Lucanus cervus, the European or greater stag beetle, one of the best-known stag beetles of Western Europe and the species after which the genus is named. The IUCN Red List rates it Near Threatened.
Wikidata · Photo: No machine-readable author provided. Esv assumed (based on copyright claims)., Public domain
20
Species of mosquito
A mosquito of the family Culicidae, also called the (Asian) tiger mosquito or the forest mosquito, native to tropical and subtropical Southeast Asia. Over the last few centuries international travel and the shipping of goods have carried it to many countries.
Wikidata · Photo: James Gathany/CDC, Public domain
21
Species of insect
Also called the pubic louse, an insect that can live only as a parasite on the outside of humans, feeding only on blood. It is usually found in pubic hair.
Wikidata · Photo: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Public domain
22
Species of butterfly
Anthocharis cardamines, a butterfly of the family Pieridae, a family of about 1,100 species. It lives mostly across Europe and temperate Asia (the Palearctic).
23
Species of butterfly in the family Nymphalidae
A colourful butterfly of Eurasia, in the family Nymphalidae. The adults drink nectar and may hibernate through the winter; where the climate is warmer they may raise two broods in a season.
24
Species of butterfly
Vanessa cardui, the most widespread butterfly of all, usually called the painted lady and once known in North America as the cosmopolitan butterfly.
Wikidata · Photo: Sayan Sanyal, CC BY-SA 4.0
25
Species of butterfly
Pieris rapae, a small to medium-sized butterfly of Pieridae, the family of whites and yellows. Europe calls it the small white, North America and the United Kingdom the cabbage white or cabbage butterfly, several continents the small cabbage white, and New Zealand the white butterfly.
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26
Species of butterfly
Aporia crataegi, a large butterfly of the family Pieridae, common and found over a wide range.
Wikidata · Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0
27
Species of butterfly
A butterfly of the family Papilionidae, also called the pear-tree swallowtail or sail swallowtail.
Wikidata · Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0
%20Gonepteryx%20rhamni%20-%20Foret%20de%20Bouconne%20France%20-%20female.jpg?width=800)
28
Species of butterfly
Gonepteryx rhamni, a member of Pieridae, the family of whites and yellows. It is found across the whole Palearctic zone, and is common in North Africa, Asia and Europe.
Wikidata · Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0
29
Species of moth
The African death's-head hawkmoth, best known of the three species of the genus Acherontia. It is usually recognised by the roughly skull-like pattern on its thorax, which gives it both its common and its scientific names.
Wikidata · Photo: Didier Descouens, CC BY-SA 4.0
30
Species of beetle
Cetonia aurata, also called the green rose chafer: a beetle 20 millimetres long, metallic green from the structure of its surface, with a distinctive V-shaped scutellum. The scutellum, the small V-shaped patch between the wing cases, may carry several small, irregular white lines and marks.
Every Wikidata item that is a species of insect, and that has its own English Wikipedia article, ranked by the number of Wikimedia sites with a page about it — Wikipedia's language editions, mostly, and sister projects such as Wikiquote. That counts how many communities independently thought it worth describing, and nobody can buy a place on it. The top 30 are shown.
Fetched from Wikidata on 2026-09-25. Each description is this site's summary of the entry's Wikipedia article, which its name links to: the wording is ours, the facts are Wikipedia's, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. To correct an entry, correct it there; the next refresh carries the change.
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