Pests to know in Kansas
Pests documented in Kansas
Many public records (501)
- Achemon Sphinx
- Acorn Weevils
- Acrobat Ants
- Admirable grasshopper
- Agave Snout Weevil
- Ailanthus Webworm
- Alfalfa caterpillar (orange sulphur)
- Alfalfa weevil
- Amber snails
- Ambush Bugs
- American bumble bee
- American burying beetle
- American carrion beetle
- American crow
- American Dagger Moth
- American Dog Tick
- American Lady
- American Snout
- Anchor stink bug
- Annual Cicadas (dog-day cicadas)
- Antlions
- Apple curculio
- Artichoke Plume Moth
- Ash and privet borer
- Ash Plant Bug
- Asiatic Oak Weevil
- Asparagus Beetles
- Assassin Bugs
- Auplopus spider wasps
- Bagworm
- Banded ash borer
- Banded Garden Spider
- Banded Woolly Bear
- Bats (big brown bat and little brown bat)
- Bean Leaf Beetle
- Beaver (American beaver)
- Bed Bug
- Bee Flies
- Big Poplar Sphinx (Modest Sphinx)
- Big-eyed toad bug
- Billbugs
- Black and Yellow Mud Dauber
- Black carpenter ant
- Black Flies
- Black Soldier Fly
- Black Stem Borer
- Black stink bug
- Black Turfgrass Ataenius
- Black-and-gold bumble bee
- Black-and-Yellow Lichen Moth
- Black-tailed prairie dog
- Blister Beetles
- Blue-legged grasshopper
- Blue-Winged Wasp
- Bold Jumping Spider
- Boxelder Bug
- Braconid Wasps
- Broad-Faced Sac Spider
- Bronzed Cutworm
- Brown Lacewings
- Brown Recluse
- Brown snakes (DeKay's brownsnake)
- Brown Stink Bug
- Brown-belted bumble bee
- Brownbanded Cockroach
- Bumble Flower Beetle
- Burying beetles
- Cabbage Looper
- Camel Cricket
- Canada Goose
- Canada thistle stem weevil
- Cankerworms (fall cankerworm)
- Cannabis aphid
- Carolina Grasshopper
- Carolina Wolf Spider
- Carpenterworm
- Carrot beetle
- Catalpa Sphinx
- Cecropia Moth
- Celery Looper
- Chalcoela Moths
- Checkered White
- Cherry leafhopper
- Chimney swift
- Chrysanthemum lace bug
- Citronella Ants
- Citrus Flatid Planthopper
- Clay-colored leaf beetle
- Click Beetles
- Cliff swallow
- Cloudless Sulphur
- Clover leaf weevil
- Clover root curculio
- Clover seed weevil
- Cluster Fly
- Codling Moth
- Colorado Potato Beetle
- Common blue mud dauber
- Common Buckeye
- Common Gluphisia
- Common Gray
- Common House Spider
- Common Malaria Mosquito
- Common Pillbug
- Common Stalk Borer
- Common True Katydid
- Common Watersnake
- Conoderus wireworms
- Convergent Lady Beetle
- Copperhead
- Corn Earworm (Tomato Fruitworm)
- Corn leafhopper
- Corn rootworms
- Cottonwood borer
- Cottonwood Leaf Beetle
- Cowpea Curculio
- Crab Spiders (e.g., goldenrod crab spider)
- Cross-Striped Cabbageworm
- Cuckoo wasps
- Cudweed grasshopper
- Culex erraticus
- Cypress and cedar bark beetles
- Damsel Bugs
- Dark Flower Scarab
- Dark ricefield mosquito
- Daylily leafminer
- Dectes stem borer
- Deer Fly
- Deer Mouse
- Delta Flower Scarab
- Diamondback Moth
- Dingy Cutworm
- Dogbane leaf beetle
- Dogwood clubgall midge
- Dogwood twig borer
- Dragonflies
- Dried Fruit Beetle
- Drugstore Beetle
- Dung beetles
- Dusky grasshopper
- Dusky sap beetle
- Dustywings
- Eastern Black Swallowtail
- Eastern Carpenter Bee
- Eastern Cicada Killer
- Eastern Comma
- Eastern Dobsonfly
- Eastern saltmarsh mosquito
- Eastern Subterranean Termite
- Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
- Eastern Yellowjacket
- Ebony bugs
- Ebony grasshopper
- Elderberry borer
- Elephant Mosquito
- Elm Bark Beetles
- Elm Borer
- Elm cockscomb gall aphid
- Elm Lace Bug
- Elm Leaf Beetle
- Entypus spider wasps
- European Paper Wasp
- European starling
- Face Fly
- Fall Armyworm
- Fall Webworm
- Field Crickets
- Fireflies
- Five-banded thynnid wasp
- Foreign Grain Beetle
- Forked fungus beetle
- Four-spotted grasshopper
- Fruit-tree pinhole borer
- Gallinipper
- Garden Fleahopper
- Garden Webworm
- Garter snakes
- German Cockroach
- Giant Bark Aphid
- Giant desert centipede (giant redheaded centipede)
- Giant Ichneumon Wasps
- Giant Resin Bee
- Giant Swallowtail
- Goatweed Leafwing
- Golden Tortoise Beetle
- Goldeneyed lacewing
- Granulate Ambrosia Beetle
- Grape colaspis
- Grape Flea Beetle
- Grape leafhoppers
- Grape Root Borer
- Grapeleaf Skeletonizer
- Grapevine Beetle
- Grapevine Epimenis
- Grass Spiders (Funnel Weavers)
- Grass-Carrying Wasps
- Grasshoppers
- Great Black Wasp
- Great Blue Heron
- Great Golden Digger Wasp
- Great-tailed grackle
- Greater Angle-Winged Katydid
- Green Cloverworm
- Green June Beetle
- Green Lacewings
- Green Stink Bugs
- Green-striped grasshopper
- Ground Beetles
- Ground crickets
- Gulf Coast Tick
- Hackberry Emperor
- Hackberry Psyllids
- Hairy chinch bug
- Hairy Fungus Beetle
- Harlequin Bug
- Harvestmen (Daddy Longlegs)
- Hawaiian Beet Webworm
- Hayden grasshopper
- Hickory Gall Midges
- High Plains grasshopper
- Hispid cotton rat
- Hognose snakes
- Hollyhock Weevil
- Horntails (Wood Wasps)
- Horse Flies
- House Fly
- House Mouse
- House sparrow (English sparrow)
- Hover Flies (Flower Flies, Syrphid Flies)
- Human Flea
- Hummingbird Moths
- Ichneumon wasps
- Imported Longhorned Weevil
- Indianmeal Moth
- Ivory-Marked Borer
- Japanese Beetle
- Japanese maple leafhopper
- Juniper Geometer
- Katydids
- Keeled treehopper
- Keeler grasshopper
- Kingsnakes
- Kiowa grasshopper
- Knapweed root weevil
- Lakin grasshopper
- Larder Beetle
- Large Milkweed Bug
- Largeheaded grasshopper
- Leafhoppers
- Lichen grasshopper
- Lone Star Tick
- Luna Moth
- Mantidflies
- Maple bladdergall mite
- Margined leatherwing
- Masked Chafers
- May and June Beetles
- Meal Moth
- Melon aphid (cotton aphid)
- Migratory grasshopper
- Mildew-Eating Lady Beetles
- Miller Moth (Army Cutworm Moth)
- Mimosa Webworm
- Mining Bees
- Minute oak bark beetle
- Minute Pirate Bugs
- Moles
- Monarch Butterfly
- Morning-glory Prominent
- Mottled sand grasshopper
- Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle
- Musk thistle crown weevil
- Muskrat
- Mydas Flies
- Narrow-winged sand grasshopper
- Nine-banded armadillo
- Nomad bees
- Non-Biting Midges
- North American Racer
- Northern Black Widow
- Northern flatid planthopper
- Northern grasshopper
- Nursery Web Spider
- Oak Lace Bug
- Oak Leafroller
- Oak timberworm
- Obliquebanded Leafroller
- Oblong-Winged Katydid
- Obscure bird grasshopper
- Obscure grasshopper
- Oil beetles
- Oil-collecting bees (loosestrife bees)
- Oleander Aphid
- Orange assassin bug
- Orange Wing
- Orange-legged grasshopper
- Orb Weaver Spiders (yellow garden spider)
- Organ pipe mud dauber
- Oriental Cockroach
- Outdoor centipedes (stone, soil and bark centipedes)
- Owlflies
- Packard grasshopper
- Painted hickory borer
- Painted Lady
- Painted Lichen Moth
- Pale Green Assassin Bug
- Pales Weevil
- Pandorus Sphinx
- Parson Spider
- Pasture grasshopper
- Peanut burrower bug
- Pecan Weevil
- Pennsylvania dingy ground beetle
- Persimmon Psyllid
- Pigeon (feral rock pigeon)
- Pigeon tremex
- Pine Bark Beetles
- Pine tree spur-throat grasshopper
- Pink Spotted Lady Beetle
- Plains floodwater mosquito
- Plains lubber grasshopper
- Plaster Beetles
- Pleasing Fungus Beetles
- Plum Curculio
- Plume Moths
- Pocket gophers
- Poecilopompilus spider wasps
- Pole borer
- Polished lady beetle
- Polyphemus Moth
- Poplar borer
- Potter Wasps
- Powderpost Beetles
- Praying Mantids
- Predaceous diving beetles
- Pseudoscorpions
- Punctured Tiger Beetle
- Pygmy grasshoppers
- Question Mark
- Rabbits (cottontails; eastern cottontail shown)
- Raccoon
- Rainbow Scarab
- Raspberry Cane Borer
- Rat snakes
- Rattlesnakes (western diamondback shown)
- Red Admiral
- Red Fox
- Red Milkweed Beetle
- Red oak borer
- Red-Legged Grasshopper
- Red-shanked grasshopper
- Red-shouldered bostrichid
- Red-shouldered bug (Jadera bug)
- Red-spotted Purple
- Red-winged grasshopper
- Redbanded Leafhopper
- Redbanded Leafroller
- Redheaded Ash Borer
- Redheaded Flea Beetle
- Redlegged Ham Beetle
- Rednecked Cane Borer
- Rhubarb curculio
- Rice stink bug
- Rice water weevil
- Ring-billed Gull
- Robber Flies
- Rodent and rabbit bot flies
- Rose Chafer
- Rose Curculio
- Rose Slugs (Rose Sawflies)
- Rough Stink Bugs
- Rough strawberry root weevil
- Rove Beetles
- Russian thistle grasshopper
- Russian wheat aphid
- Saddleback Looper
- Saltmarsh Caterpillar
- Sap Beetles (Picnic Beetles)
- Sawtoothed Grain Beetle
- Scoliid wasps
- Secondary screwworm
- Sevenspotted Lady Beetle
- Shrews (northern short-tailed shrew)
- Silver-spotted Skipper
- Six-spotted tiger beetle
- Slant-faced pasture grasshopper
- Small Hive Beetle
- Small Milkweed Bug
- Snakeweed grasshopper
- Soldier Beetles
- Solitary Oak Leafminer
- Southern Black Widow
- Southern plains bumble bee
- Soybean Looper
- Sparganothis Fruitworm
- Speckle-winged grasshopper
- Spider Mite Destroyer
- Spider Wasps
- Spined Micrathena
- Spined Soldier Bug
- Spined Stilt Bug
- Spotted bird grasshopper
- Spotted Cucumber Beetle
- Spotted Orbweaver
- Spotted-winged grasshopper
- Spring Rose Beetle
- Squash Bug
- Squash Vine Borer
- Stable Fly
- Stag Beetles
- Strawberry Clipper
- Strawberry Leafroller
- Strawberry sap beetle
- Striped Cucumber Beetle
- Striped grasshopper
- Striped Lynx Spider
- Striped sand grasshopper
- Striped skunk
- Sugarcane Beetle
- Sumac flea beetle
- Sunflower Bud Moth
- Sunflower headclipping weevil
- Sunflower seed weevils
- Sunflower stem weevil
- Swamp milkweed leaf beetle
- Sweat Bees
- Sweetpotato Hornworm (Pink-spotted Hawkmoth)
- Sycamore Lace Bug
- Sycamore Plant Bug
- Tachinid Flies
- Tarantulas
- Tarnished Plant Bug
- Tawny Emperor
- Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel
- Thistle seedhead weevil
- Thread-waisted sand wasps
- Three-banded grasshopper
- Threelined Potato Beetle
- Tobacco Budworm
- Tomato Hornworm
- Tree squirrels (eastern gray and fox squirrels)
- Treehoppers
- Twicestabbed Lady Beetle
- Twig Girdler
- Twig Pruner
- Two-spotted bumble bee
- Two-striped mermiria
- Twobanded Japanese Weevil
- Twolined Chestnut Borer
- Twolined Spittlebug
- Twospotted Stink Bug
- Twostriped Grasshopper
- Unbanded saltmarsh mosquito
- Varied Carpet Beetle
- Variegated Cutworm
- Variegated Fritillary
- Variegated Leafroller
- Velvet Ants (eastern velvet ant, "cow killer")
- Velvet-striped grasshopper
- Versute sharpshooter
- Viceroy
- Virginia Creeper Sphinx
- Virginia opossum
- Voles (meadow mice)
- Walnut Caterpillar
- Walnut Husk Fly
- Walnut Lace Bug
- Walnut Sphinx
- Water boatmen
- Waterlily Leafcutter
- Waved Sphinx
- Wavy-lined Emerald
- Weasels (long-tailed weasel and relatives)
- Western ash bark beetle
- Western bean cutworm
- Western Black Widow
- Western Encephalitis Mosquito
- Western harvester ant
- Western Raspberry Fruitworm
- Wheat Head Armyworm
- Wheel Bug
- Whirligig beetles
- White-Banded Elm Leafhopper
- White-crossed grasshopper
- White-margined burrower bug
- Whitefringed Beetles
- Whitelined Sphinx
- Whitewhiskered grasshopper
- Wild turkey
- Willow Sawfly
- Wood Cockroaches
- Woodland pool mosquito
- Woodlouse Spider
- Woodpeckers
- Woodrats
- Yellow Mealworm
- Yellow Woollybear
- Yellow-collared Scape Moth
- Yellowstriped Armyworm
- Yucca Plant Bug
- Zebra Swallowtail
Fewer public records (225)
- Alfalfa plant bug
- American Cockroach
- American Grasshopper
- American Mink
- Annual bluegrass weevil
- Arid-land subterranean termite
- Ashy Gray Lady Beetle
- Asian Tiger Mosquito
- Backswimmers
- Banded longhorn beetle
- Banded Sunflower Moth
- Barklice
- Barn Funnel Weaver
- Bat Bugs
- Bean Weevil
- Beet Armyworm
- Beewolf
- Bermudagrass stem maggot
- Bigeyed Bugs
- Bigheaded grasshopper
- Black Witch
- Black-tailed Jackrabbit
- Black-waved Flannel Moth
- Blacklegged Tick
- Blinded Sphinx
- Blue-black spider wasps
- Bobcat
- Bordered Plant Bug (Largus Bug)
- Broad-headed sharpshooter
- Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
- Brown-spotted grasshopper
- Buffalo Treehopper
- Cactus bug
- Carpenter Ants
- Cat Flea
- Cattail Mosquito
- Cellophane Bees
- Cherry Fruitworm
- Chimney bee (miner bee)
- Chinese Mystery Snail
- Cochineal Scale
- Common Eastern Bumble Bee
- Common Green Bottle Fly
- Common Long-Horned Bee
- Copper Underwing
- Cornfield Ant
- Cotton fleahopper
- Cottony Maple Scale
- Coyote
- Crane Flies
- Crenulate-winged grasshopper
- Cutworms
- Darkling Beetles (Stink Beetles)
- Deer (white-tailed deer shown; mule deer similar)
- Digger bees
- Dogwood Borer
- Drain Fly (Moth Fly)
- Drone Fly and Rat-Tailed Maggot
- Eastern Bloodsucking Conenose
- Eastern chipmunk
- Eastern Tent Caterpillar
- Eastern Treehole Mosquito
- Eggplant flea beetle
- Eggplant lace bug
- Eight-spotted Forester
- Elm Sawfly
- Elm Spanworm
- Emerald Ash Borer
- European Elm Scale
- European Wool Carder Bee
- False Widow Spiders
- Fiery Skipper
- Filbertworm
- Fishflies
- Fishing Spiders
- Flea Beetles
- Florida Fern Caterpillar
- Fourlined Plant Bug
- Fungus-gardening ant
- Gall and Bud Mites
- Garden Tortrix
- Genista Broom Moth
- Giant Water Bugs
- Giant Woolly Bear
- Gold-striped Leaftier Moth
- Goldenrod Gall Fly
- Grape leaffolder
- Grape Phylloxera
- Grape rootworm
- Green cone-headed planthopper
- Greenhouse Millipede
- Groundhog (woodchuck)
- Groundhog tick
- Half-wing Moth
- Hardwood stump borer
- Hawthorn Lace Bug
- Hibiscus Scentless Plant Bug
- Hickory Gall Phylloxera
- Hickory shuckworm
- Hog louse
- Honeylocust Borer
- Honeylocust Podgall Midge
- Hop Looper
- Horned Passalus
- House Centipede
- Imperial Moth
- Imported Cabbageworm
- Imported currantworm
- Inland Floodwater Mosquito
- Io Moth Caterpillar
- Iris Borer
- Jerusalem Crickets
- Large Yellow Underwing
- Leaf-Rolling Weevils
- Leafcutter Bees
- Lesser Cornstalk Borer
- Lesser Maple Spanworm
- Locust Borer
- Locust Leafminer
- Long-horned bees
- Longbodied Cellar Spider
- Longlegged Flies
- Magnolia Scale
- Maple Shoot Borer
- Marbled Orbweaver
- Mason Bees
- Mayflies
- Meadow grasshopper
- Meadow plant bug
- Melonworm
- Mosquito
- Nessus Sphinx
- Oak Gall Wasps
- Oblique Streaktail
- Odd Beetle
- Odorous House Ant
- Orchard Orbweaver
- Oystershell Scale
- Pallid-winged grasshopper
- Parenthesis lady beetle
- Pavement Ant
- Peach Bark Beetle
- Peachtree Borer
- Pepper Maggot
- Periodical Cicadas
- Phorid Fly
- Pine Sawflies
- Pipevine Swallowtail
- Pleasing antlion
- Porcupine (North American porcupine)
- Potato flea beetle
- Potato Tuberworm
- Prionus Root Borers
- Pure Gold-Green Sweat Bee
- Red Harvester Ant
- Red Wasp
- Red-Banded Hairstreak
- Red-fringed Emerald
- Rice Weevil
- Ringlegged Earwig
- River otter (North American river otter)
- Rough harvester ant
- Saddled Prominent
- Sagebrush grasshopper
- Sandhill Crane
- Scorpions
- Silverfish
- Skiff Moth
- Small Carpenter Bees
- Smoky-winged beetle bandit
- Snipe Flies
- Snowbush Spanworm
- Snowy Tree Cricket
- Sod Webworms
- Southern flying squirrel
- Southern Purple Mint Moth
- Southern Yellowjacket
- Southwestern corn borer
- Spider Beetles
- Spiny Elm Caterpillar (Mourning Cloak)
- Spitting Spider
- Spotted-Wing Drosophila
- Springtail
- Squash Beetle
- Striped earwig
- Sumac Leaftier Moth
- Sunflower beetle
- Sunflower Maggot
- Sunflower moth
- Swallow Bug
- Tarantula Hawks
- Thief Ant
- Tiger Bee Fly
- Tile-horned prionus
- Toothed big-headed ant
- Trapdoor Spiders (cork-lid trapdoor spiders)
- True Armyworm
- Tufted Apple Bud Moth
- Tussock Moth Caterpillars (whitemarked tussock moth)
- Underwing Moths
- Variable Oakleaf Caterpillar
- Vegetable Weevil
- Velvet Mites
- Velvetbean Caterpillar
- Walkingsticks
- Water scorpions
- Water striders
- Wax Moths
- Western Conifer Seed Bug
- Western Honey Bee
- Western Yellowjacket
- Wheat stem sawfly
- White-dotted mosquito
- White-Footed Woods Mosquito
- Winter Ant
- Winter grain mite
- Woodland malaria mosquito
- Woolly Elm Aphid
- Woolly Hackberry Aphid
- Yellow pecan aphids
- Yellow Sac Spider
- Yellow-faced bees
- Yellow-shouldered Slug Moth
- Zebra Caterpillar
- Zebra Jumping Spider
Range named by extension sources (4)
Termites in Kansas
Subterranean termites in the genus Reticulitermes are the most common termites in Kansas.[2]
Invasive species reported here
Emerald ash borer was officially confirmed in Kansas on August 29, 2012.[5]
Pests local experts flag
- The German cockroach is the most prevalent household cockroach in Kansas.[2]
- K-State notes brown recluse spiders hide in dark, undisturbed areas such as under boxes, piles of papers and furniture.[3]
- Ticks found in Kansas include the lone star tick, American dog tick, winter tick, blacklegged tick and brown dog tick.[4]
- The two primary mosquito groups in Kansas are Aedes and Culex species.[6]
Hiring a licensed company
Kansas's pesticide regulatory agency is the Kansas Department of Agriculture (Pesticide & Fertilizer Program).[1]
Free local help
K-State Entomology's insect diagnostic service identifies submitted specimens and also helps identify spiders, ticks, mites and centipedes.[7]
Local guides in Kansas
Through the year
Sources
- National Pesticide Information Center, “State Pesticide Regulatory Agencies.” npic.orst.edu/reg/state_agencies.html (accessed 2026-10-06)
- Kansas State University Research and Extension, “Household Pests of Kansas (MF3291).” bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/household-pests-of-kansas_MF3291.pdf (accessed 2026-10-06)
- Kansas State University Research and Extension, “Brown Recluse Spiders (MF3133).” bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF3133.pdf (accessed 2026-10-06)
- Kansas State University Research and Extension, “Ticks in Kansas (MF2653).” bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF2653.pdf (accessed 2026-10-06)
- Kansas State University Research and Extension, “Emerald Ash Borer (MF3168).” bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF3168.pdf (accessed 2026-10-06)
- Kansas State University Research and Extension, “Mosquitoes in Kansas (MF3668).” bookstore.ksre.ksu.edu/pubs/MF3668.pdf (accessed 2026-10-06)
- Kansas State University Department of Entomology, “Diagnostician.” entomology.k-state.edu/outreach-and-services/diagnostician/index.html (accessed 2026-10-06)