Which Insect Names Start With the Letter “t”?
Insect names that start with the letter “t” include tsetse fly, tarantula hawk, tent caterpillar, tobacco hornworm and tumbling flower beetle. The tsetse fly, of the genus Glossina, is a bloodsucking insect that transmits human African trypanosomiasis, or sleeping sickness.
The tsetse fly is about one-third to a little over one-half an inch long. It looks like a common housefly. However, it has a habit of folding one wing completely over the other when at rest, and it has a long proboscis.
The tarantula hawk is a wasp that, as its name implies, hunts spiders. There are different species of tarantula hawks, but they are usually fairly large wasps, up to two inches long, with robust black bodies and wings that range from orange to blue-black.
Tarantula hawks actually eat nectar. They use the spiders as hosts for their young. The females hunt for spiders, often the tarantulas that live in the deserts of the southwest. When a tarantula hawk finds a tarantula’s burrow, she drags it out and paralyzes it with her sting. She then drags it back into its own burrow and lays an egg on it, and then seals the spider in its own chamber. When the larva hatches, it uses the spider for food.
Tent caterpillars are made up of various species. They live together in colonies, protected by tents woven out of silk.
