Insect World

An interactive 3D cabinet of 78 insects. Not one of them is a scan: each is generated from code, segment by segment, following its real morphology — rotate it, tap the annotated parts, watch it beat its wings and change shape. The full list follows.

Beetles (Coleoptera)

• Japanese Rhinoceros Beetle Trypoxylus dichotomus — A gladiator raised in leaf litter
• Seven-spot Ladybird Coccinella septempunctata — An aphid hunter in warning red
• Mountain Firefly Pyrocoelia pectoralis — A night messenger that signals in flashes of light
• Citrus Longhorned Beetle Anoplophora chinensis — A long-whiskered guest that turns tree trunks into cradles
• Chinese Tiger Beetle Cicindela chinensis — The sprint champion of the forest trail
• Chinese Stag Beetle Dorcus hopei — A wrestler competing for a sip of sap
• Japanese Jewel Beetle Chrysochroa fulgidissima — Iridescent armor that has not faded in a thousand years
• Dung Beetle Catharsius molossus — A craftsman who rolls dung into a cradle
• Bamboo Weevil Cyrtotrachelus buquetii — A shoot-borer with antennae mounted on its snout
• Click Beetle Agrypnus binodulus — A spring-loaded mechanism hidden on its underside
• Japanese Diving Beetle Cybister chinensis — An oarsman that dives carrying a bubble of air
• Rove Beetle Paederus fuscipes — A rice-paddy guardian in warning colors
• White-spotted Flower Chafer Protaetia brevitarsis — A flower-visitor that takes flight without lifting its wing cases
• Japanese Burying Beetle Nicrophorus japonicus — A black-clad pair that digs a shared grave to raise their brood
• Sweet Potato Tortoise Beetle Cassida circumdata — Wing cases flared into a see-through tortoise shell
• Hercules Beetle Dynastes hercules — A twin-horned giant that rules the rainforest by sheer size
• Whirligig Beetle Gyrinus sp. — A split-eyed spinner that traces spirals across the water
• Chinese Golden Ground Beetle Carabus sp. — A night-hunting predator with gold stars set into its elytra
• Chinese Bean Blister Beetle Epicauta chinensis — A black-coated wanderer armed with toxic blood
• Hister Beetle Hister sp. — A black-armored soldier that holds its breath and plays dead in the rot
• Goliath Beetle Goliathus goliatus — A rainforest giant bearing an engraved shield
• Bombardier Beetle Pheropsophus jessoensis — A ground-level sniper armed with scalding spray
• Gansu Darkling Beetle Anatolica sp. — A black beetle that locks in moisture across the desert
• Net-winged Beetle Lycostomus sp. — A red-cloaked messenger with net-patterned wings
• Elm Leaf Beetle Pyrrhalta aenescens — A small bronze beetle that strips elm crowns bare
• Giant Black Water Scavenger Beetle Hydrophilus acuminatus — An underwater scavenger with its own air tank
• Chinese Checkered Beetle Trichodes sinae — A flower hunter raised inside a bee's nest
• Copper-Green Chafer Anomala corpulenta — A night wanderer clad in copper-green armor

Butterflies & Moths (Lepidoptera)

• Monarch Butterfly Danaus plexippus — The orange migrant that always finds its way
• Common Mormon Papilio polytes — Painting a poisonous butterfly’s pattern onto its own wings
• Chinese Oak Silkmoth Antheraea pernyi — The silent one behind two thousand years of silk
• Dead Leaf Butterfly Kallima inachus — Flip it over and it's a dead leaf
• Hummingbird Hawk-moth Macroglossum stellatarum — A faux hummingbird hovering for nectar by day
• Luna Moth Actias luna — A pale-green moth trailing long tails
• Woolly Bear Caterpillar Pyrrharctia isabella — The banded larva that freezes solid and lives

Bees, Wasps & Ants (Hymenoptera)

• Western Honey Bee Apis mellifera — The architect who draws maps in dance
• Japanese Carpenter Ant Camponotus japonicus — The lifelong porter of an underground city
• Asian Giant Hornet Vespa mandarinia — The heaviest shadow over a beehive
• Giant Ichneumon Wasp Megarhyssa sp. — A parasitic visitor that threads a needle through solid bark
• Bumblebee Bombus lucorum — A pollinator that shivers to warm itself up
• Killer Bee Apis mellifera scutellata — An aggressive bee that attacks en masse
• European Paper Wasp Polistes dominula — A slender wasp that builds its nest from paper
• Weaver Ant Oecophylla smaragdina — A tailor ant that sews leaves with larval silk
• Army Ant Eciton burchellii — A nomadic swarm nesting in its own bodies

Dragonflies & Damselflies (Odonata)

• Lesser Emperor Dragonfly Anax parthenope — An amphibious hunter of the skies
• Damselfly Ischnura sp. — A slender-waisted needle-threader by the water's edge

Mantises (Mantodea)

• Chinese Mantis Tenodera sinensis — An ambush blade disguised as a green leaf
• Orchid Mantis Hymenopus coronatus — A masquerader that fools bees better than a real flower
• Ghost Mantis Phyllocrania paradoxa — A mantis dressed as a dead leaf
• Rainforest Mantis Hierodula majuscula — A large green hunter of the rainforest

True Bugs (Hemiptera)

• Large Black Cicada Cryptotympana atrata — A summer singer that spends years hidden underground
• Water Strider Aquarius elongatus — A hunter that glides on the water’s surface tension
• Treehopper Centrotus sp. — A tiny visitor helmeted and armored to look like a thorn
• Assassin Bug Sycanus croceovittatus — An assassin who carries its own syringe
• Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Halyomorpha halys — A marbled shield that smells when bothered

Grasshoppers & Crickets (Orthoptera)

• Migratory Locust Locusta migratoria — A traveler transformed by crowding
• Chinese Katydid Gampsocleis gratiosa — A singer that hears with its front legs and finds its way with long whiskers
• Oriental Mole Cricket Gryllotalpa orientalis — A tunneling engineer deep underground
• Chinese Fighting Cricket Velarifictorus micado — A singing gladiator of the autumn night arena

Stick & Leaf Insects (Phasmatodea)

• Asian Stick Insect Ramulus sp. — Living its whole life as a twig

Flies (Diptera)

• Hoverfly Episyrphus balteatus — A stingless mimic in bee-striped disguise
• Robber Fly Promachus yesonicus — An aerial bandit bold enough to rob a dragonfly
• Crane Fly Tipula sp. — A long-legged recluse mistaken for a giant mosquito
• House Fly Musca domestica — The uninvited guest that walks the ceiling upside down
• Northern House Mosquito Culex pipiens pallens — The night raider whining at your ear

Lacewings (Neuroptera)

• Green Lacewing Chrysoperla nipponensis — A green-clad stalker that carries its prey’s remains on its back
• Mantidfly Mantispa sp. — A lacewing relative with a mantis's arms

Earwigs (Dermaptera)

• Earwig Labidura riparia — A forceps-wielding sentinel in coastal rock crevices

Dobsonflies & Alderflies (Megaloptera)

• Chinese Dobsonfly Acanthacorydalis sp. — A nighttime stream-dweller with jaws like dead twigs

Cockroaches & Termites (Blattodea)

• Black-winged Termite (Soldier) Odontotermes formosanus — A gatekeeper born blind, armed with pincers
• German Cockroach Blattella germanica — The nocturnal lodger in the kitchen crack

Caddisflies (Trichoptera)

• Caddisfly Limnephilus sp. — An underwater mason who builds with grains of sand

Spiders (Araneae)

• Black Widow Spider Latrodectus mactans — The famous venomous spider with a red hourglass
• Trap-door Spider Bothriocyrtum californicum — It fits its burrow with a hinged door
• Chilean Rose Tarantula Grammostola rosea — A calm burrower that flings hairs instead of silk

Scorpions (Scorpiones)

• Asian Forest Scorpion Heterometrus spinifer — A nocturnal hunter with an upraised stinger and stout pincers

Centipedes (Chilopoda)

• Red-headed Centipede Scolopendra subspinipes — A fast, venomous many-legged predator

Harvestmen (Opiliones)

• Harvestman Leiobunum rotundum — Not a spider — one oval body on stilts