A Slow Motion Flight Comparison of 23 Different Insects

Adrian Smith of Ant Lab and a scientist at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences captured slow motion video of 23 species of insects across seven different orders to compare how each species takes flight.

I’ve been filming a lot of insects! In this video I compare flight sequences, captured by filming at thousands of frames per second, from 23 species across 7 different insect orders.

The orders include beetles, stoneflies, flies, butterflies and moths, true bugs (Hemiptera), and cockroaches.

Green June beetle – Cotinis nitida

Asian lady beetle – Harmonia axyridis

Common Stonefly – Family Perlidae Subfamily Perlinae

Rolled-winged Stonefly – Family Leuctridae Leuctra sp. (probably) Hover fly – Family Syrphidae Snipe fly – Rhagio sp.

Black soldier fly – Hermetia illucens

Bristle fly – Cholomyia inaequipes

Thick-headed fly – Physocephala tibialis

Mydas fly – Mydas clavatus

Forest tent caterpillar moth – Malacosoma disstria

Monarch – Danaus Plexippus

Tufted Thyatirine – Pseudothyatira cymatophoroides

Tiger leafwing – Consul fabius

Green owlet – Leuconycta diphteroides

Cracker butterfly – Hamadryas sp.

Barred Speranza – Macaria subcessaria

Hemlock Angle – Macaria fissinotata

Zebra longwing – Heliconius charithonia

Assassin bug – Ctenotrachelus shermani

Azalea plant bug – Rhinocapsus vanduzeei

Plant bug – Family Miridae Paraxenetus guttulatus (probably)

Cuban cockroach – Panchlora nivea

Flight Comparison Insects
Lori Dorn
Lori Dorn

Lori is a Laughing Squid Contributing Editor based in New York City who has been writing blog posts for over a decade. She also enjoys making jewelry, playing guitar, taking photos and mixing craft cocktails.

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