Identify Butterflies and other Insects in North Central Florida
Butterfly and Insect Identification for Marion, Putnam and, Alachua Counties, Florida
While far from an exhaustive list, this list is growing and specific to the region and I hope provides a strong start in helping you identify butterflies and other bugs in the region near Ocala National Forest. Hiking Florida, I found myself taking picture of butterflies I could not identify. I depended on google and other searches to identify them, using very basic terminology of coloration. I have provided those very basic descriptions thinking others may search similarly. After arriving here to discover the name of the butterfly or other insect in question, with insect name in hand, I hope I have made searching for further information much easier!
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Butterfly Identification
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (male) is a large Florida butterfly, yellow body, and yellow and black wings with little blue spots
Eastern Tiger Swallowtail (female) is a large Florida butterfly with yellow and black striped wings and more blue on the wings than the male
Palamedes Swallowtail butterfly, dark brown or black wings with orange, blue, and white spots
Gulf Fritallary butterfly in Florida with orange body, and orange wings with black stripes and spots
Eastern Black Swallowtail – a butterfly with darks wings, black and blue with white spots on edge of wings
Zebra Longwing Butterfly – large black and yellow striped butterfly with light yellow spots on its wings and body
Buckeye Butterfly is mostly brown but stands out due to its orange and blue faux eyes on the wings
Monarch Butterfly – large orange and black butterfly with white spots on the wings with dark edges in Florida
Horace’s Duskywing – tiny brown butterfly with white spots and black spots on its wings and body in Central Florida
Pearl Crescent – tiny butterfly, only the size of a quarter with orange and black wings and a gray edge in North Florida
Pipevine Swallowtail is a dark butterfly with gray or black forewings and darky dusky blue hindwings with white spots
White Peacock Anartia-jatrophae is a small, dusty white butterfly with orange fringe appearing in autumn
Zebra Swallowtail – Protographium marcellus is a black and white striped butterfly with some red dashes on the underwings
Identify Dragonflies, Spiders, and Other Insects and Bugs in North Central Florida
Blue Dasher Dragonfly – blue dragonfly in Florida with long wings, and its face or head may be bright green
Needham’s Skimmer Dragonfly near water in Florida is a dragonfly with orange wings, orange abdomen, and a brown thorax
Eastern Pondhawk is a green dragonfly on the head and thorax a black and white striped abdomen
Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly (female) has a dark blue body and midnight blue or black wings with a white spot at the tip
Ebony Jewelwing Damselfly (male) has a dark blue body and midnight blue or black wings but no white spot as the female has
Carolina Saddlebags – Tramea carolina – brown with yellow or orange dragonfly having dark, patterned patches on hind wings
Zipper Orb Weaver – a black and white spider in Florida with long legs and a web that looks like a zipper
Arrowhead Orb Weaver is a tiny brown spider with a yellow triangle on its abdomen, shaped like an arrowhead
Golden Silk Orb Weaver spider (top male vs female bottom) has a patterned, gold-yellow abdomen and long, spindly legs in Florida
Spiny Orb Weaver spider has a white and black or yellow and black body with red spiny points around its abdomen
Florida Scrub Millipede is a fat, shiny brown slow-moving millipede about 4-6 inches long with black antennae
Elephant Beetle or ox beetle is a black, lumbering beetle with three horns, two short horns and a long middle horn
Wheel Bug is a large, gray assassin bug with a spiny wheel on its back. This one landed on me, but do not handle – they serve a strong bite!
Eyed Click Beetle is a black beetle with two white circles on its head that look like eyes found on forest floors in Florida
Red Io Moth has wings brown to reddish in hue, with a fuzzy head and an eyespot is visible on each hindwing when open
