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A paved path meanders through a desert scrubland. Watchman Tower, a 3,000 foot sandstone tower, is pictured in the background, with dark skies looming overhead — Pa'rus Trail facing Watchman Belfry
Zion National Park photo

Zion is abode to many insects and arachnids. There are abundant hiding spaces, food sources, and sunny days to bolster the bug population.

Bugs, Beetles, and Others

Nine small red bugs with dots of black along their body are crawling over a Western Tent Caterpillar cocoon — Box Elderberry Bugs crawling over Western Tent Caterpillar Cocoon
Zion National Park Photo

Box Elderberry Bugs

(Boisea rubrolineatus)

Description: modest blackness and red true bug. Flat, seed shaped torso ~ 1-1.v cm long
Habitat: forested areas of deciduous trees (especially the box elder tree) and buildings when the temperatures drop
Diet: seeds from trees of the maple family unit
Fun Facts: Harmless, though stinky when crushed

Large black beetle crawling over dead leaves on ground — Darkling Protrude (Eleodes obscurus)
Zion National Park photo

Darkling Beetles

(Eleodes obscurus)

Description: large blackness basis-habitation beetle. Sausage-shaped torso ~5 cm long. Dorsum wing covers may have a ridged appearance
Habitat: all over the park, seen commonly along the Pa'rus Trail
Diet: scavenges on dead and dying plant and animal material
Fun Facts: "Darkling Beetle" is the common name for many similar looking beetles in the park. Stand on their front legs with backside in the air to emit foul smelling odor as a defense force confronting predators

Small tan bodied insect crawling along the sandy ground — Jerusalem Cricket
(Stenopelmatus navajo)
Zion National Park Photograph

Jerusalem Cricket

(Stenopelmatus navajo)

Description: Frankenstein-like insect has an pismire shaped head and cricket shaped body. Tan and red in color with striped abdomen up to 6 cm long
Habitat: burrows nether logs or rocks
Diet: decomposing plant and animal affair and other live insects
Fun Facts: Nocturnal insect is sometimes called a potato bug or one-time baldheaded human PAINFUL Seize with teeth

Wasps, Bees, and Ants

Black bodied insect with brown wings obtaining nectar from milkweed plant — Tarantula Hawk (Pepsis formosa)
Zion National Park Photograph

Tarantula Hawk

(Pepsis formosa)
Clarification: large black/blueish wasp with vibrant orangish wings. Slender trunk iii-5 cm long
Habitat: widespread throughout park
Diet: fermented nectar, especially from whorled milkweed
Fun Facts: drinking fermented nectar can crusade erratic flight patterns. Female tarantula hawks will sting and paralyze tarantulas, drag them to a burrow, and lay their eggs inside the tarantula. Wasp larvae will consume their way out of the tarantula.
VERY PAINFUL STING

Small black backed bee deep inside a globe mallow flower. Only the bees back and pollen coated legs are visible in the orange flower — Earth Mallow Bee (Diadasia diminuta)
Vince Tependino, ARS Bee Research Lab

Globe Mallow Bee

(Diadasia diminuta)

Description: Small blackness trunk 7 to 9 millimeters long
Habitat: Specialist bee institute in desert scrubland where globe mallow plant is prevalent. Nests are commonly institute in compacted soils
Diet: Adults assemble nectar for nutrient for themselves, assemble pollen from globe mallow plant for offspring
Fun Fact: Also known as a chimney bee, the Globe Mallow bee creates small-scale towers of clay near its nest

Many red ants crawling around their sandy nest — Harvester Pismire (Pogonomyrmex occidentalis)
Montezuma Castle National Monument Photograph

Western Harvester Ant

(Pogonomyrmex occidentalis)

Description: large red-brown ant ~ane cm long
Habitat: desert and barren grasslands in mounded nests
Diet: seeds, pollen, or newly expressionless insects
Fun Facts: colonies build large nests with little vegetation surrounding the area. A colony's queen tin can live up to 40 years, but workers only alive upwards to half dozen months. STINGS IF BOTHERED

Butterflies, Dragonflies, and Moths

Black and yellow winged butterfly pollinating a red thistle plant — Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio multicaudata)
Zion National Park Photo

Swallowtail Butterfly

(Papilio multicaudata)

Description: large yellow and black striped butterfly with wingspan up to 12 cm. Caterpillars are brown and fleshy.
Habitat: near slow-moving h2o sources especially where milkweed is present
Nutrition: caterpillars will eat leaves of host plants, while adults feed on nectar from thistle, milkweed, lilac, etc.
Fun Facts: At that place are two species of swallowtail butterflies in the park, the 2-tailed swallowtail, and the western tiger swallowtail.

Large black winged butterfly with orange spots on wing tips — Arizona Sister (Adelpha eulalia)
Zion National Park Photo

Arizona Sister

(Adelpha eulalia)

Clarification: by and large black butterfly with orange wing spots and white line on each fly. Wingspan upwardly to 12 cm.
Habitat: Gambel's oak woodlands, riparian canyons
Diet: caterpillars feed on leaves of oak trees while adults swallow rotting fruit, mud, and water
Fun Facts: Looks nearly identical to the California Sister butterfly

Strikingly red dragonfly perched on branch — Flame Skimmer (Libellula saturate)
Zion National Park Photo

Flame Skimmer

(Libellula saturate)

Description: adult is large red-orange dragonfly up to 8 cm long. Larvae are large and greenish aureate
Habitat: adults alive in riparian areas, while larvae live underwater in streams and ponds
Diet: adults eat soft bodied insects, while aquatic larvae eat insects and possibly small fish
Fun Facts: Females will lay eggs in streams and ponds by dipping the tip of their abdomen on the surface of the water

Long, black and green caterpillars crawling over each other in their tent nest

Left image
Southwestern Tent Caterpillar
Credit: Zion National Park Photo

Right image
Southwestern Tent Moth
Credit: Zion National Park Photo

Southwestern Tent Caterpillar/Moth

(Malacosoma incurvum)

Description: caterpillar is generally blue with chocolate-brown and orange markings up to five cm long, and covered with orange hair. Adult is light tan or medium brown small, fuzzy moth with a 2.5-5 cm wingspan.
Habitat:cottonwood trees, and occasionally willow copse
Diet: caterpillars eat significant amounts of cottonwood leaves, unsure of adult moth diet
Fun Facts: Larvae (caterpillars) build large silky tents, where they notice shelter, warmth, and a molting location. They will exit the tents to feed on cottonwood leaves, which can cause meaning defoliation. After growing to their largest larval stage, caterpillars will pupate (build silken cocoons), so emerge as moths later 12-eighteen days.

Spiders

Black Widow

(Lactrodectus hesperus)

Description: female is a pocket-size blackness spider with a red hourglass shape on bottom of spherical abdomen, less than 2 cm in length. Male person is a slender brown spider with cream colored markings on dorsum of abdomen
Habitat: widespread throughout park, ofttimes in or effectually buildings
Diet: insectivorous web-architect
Fun Facts: female person spiders frequently hang upside down in their webs, waiting for food. Males of Northward American black widow species are not ofttimes killed by females while mating, allowing them to make multiple times during their lives. If injured while mating, the female person black widow can feed on the dead or dying male

Tanned, long legged spider is hunched down on a downed tree — Golden Huntsman (Olios fasciculatus)
Zion National Park Photo

Golden Huntsman

(Olios fasciculatus)

Description: slender, tan, hairy legged spider with legs up to 5 inches long
Habitat: stone walls, tree trunks, within buildings
Nutrition: hunts insects, merely not a web-building spider
Fun Facts: has no permanent web or dwelling, but wanders around hunting for food. Females behave egg sacs in jaws and young on their backs

Large, hairy tarantula is walking gingerly on the tips of its legs along the red dirt ground — Desert Tarantula (Aphonopelma iodius)
Zion National Park Photo

Desert Tarantula

(Aphonopelma iodius)

Description: big, thick bodied hairy spider, usually tan to nighttime brown in colour
Habitat: open arid country, oftentimes in underground burrows
Diet: opportunistic omnivores, usually consume insects
Fun Facts: While female tarantulas usually stay very close to their burrows, in the tardily summer male tarantulas go on a migration to find receptive females in their homes

Go to our Desert Tarantula page for more in depth information about Zion's Desert Tarantula

Scorpion

Giant Desert Hairy Scorpion

(Hadrurus arizonensis)

Description: large scorpion with dark gray torso and tan-gold appendages, upwards to 12 cm long, plus tail
Habitat: washes or low peak valleys in burrows
Nutrition: large insects, small reptiles, amphibians, and mammals
Fun Facts: Nocturnal hunter that fluoresces nether UV light. CAN STING IF BOTHERED