Where the bugs live
Florida Habitats
A habitat is an animal's home neighborhood: it has the right food, water and shelter. Florida has some of the most amazing insect habitats in America — and one of them is your own backyard.
Backyard & Garden
The easiest habitat to explore — no trip required! Flowers feed butterflies and bees, lawns hide ants and grasshoppers, and porch lights attract nighttime flyers. Planting native Florida flowers like milkweed turns any yard into an insect hotel.
The Everglades & Wetlands
Florida's world-famous "river of grass" — a huge, slow, shallow river full of sawgrass, alligators and clouds of insects. Wetlands like these are dragonfly paradise and the nursery for millions of water-born insects.
Pine Flatwoods
Open forests of tall pines with palmetto plants below — Florida's most common natural land. Fallen logs and pine bark are apartment buildings for beetles and carpenter ants, and summer here buzzes with cicadas.
Hardwood Hammocks
Shady islands of oaks and other leafy trees, often draped in Spanish moss. Cool and dark, hammocks shelter butterflies on hot days, and their leaf-covered floors are full of beetles and hunting spiders.
Ponds & Lakes
Florida has more than 7,000 lakes, and every one is an insect airport. Dragonflies patrol the shore, baby dragonflies (nymphs) hunt underwater, and water striders literally walk on the surface.
Beaches & Dunes
Even the sandy edge of Florida has insect life! Dune wildflowers feed butterflies and bees, sand-colored grasshoppers hide in sea oats, and tiger beetles sprint across the sand like tiny cheetahs.
Explorer's challenge: How many habitats can you visit this month? Keep a notebook and write down every insect you spot in each one — that's exactly how real entomologists work.