Pests to know in Missouri
Pests documented in Missouri
Many public records (592)
- Achemon Sphinx
- Acorn Weevils
- Acrobat Ants
- Admirable grasshopper
- African Fig Fly
- Ailanthus Webworm
- Alfalfa caterpillar (orange sulphur)
- Ambush Bugs
- American bumble bee
- American burying beetle
- American carrion beetle
- American crow
- American Dagger Moth
- American Dog Tick
- American Grasshopper
- American Lady
- American Mink
- American Plum Borer
- American Sand Wasp
- American Snout
- Anchor stink bug
- Annual Cicadas (dog-day cicadas)
- Antlions
- Apple curculio
- Artichoke Plume Moth
- Ash and privet borer
- Ash/Lilac Borer
- Asiatic Oak Weevil
- Asparagus Beetles
- Assassin Bugs
- Aster Leafhopper
- Auplopus spider wasps
- Azalea Caterpillar
- Bagworm
- Bald-faced Hornet
- Banded ash borer
- Banded Garden Spider
- Banded longhorn beetle
- Banded Tussock Moth
- Banded Woolly Bear
- Barklice
- Barn Funnel Weaver
- Bats (big brown bat and little brown bat)
- Bean Leaf Beetle
- Beaver (American beaver)
- Bed Bug
- Bee Flies
- Beewolf
- Big Poplar Sphinx (Modest Sphinx)
- Big-eyed toad bug
- Billbugs
- Black and Yellow Mud Dauber
- Black carpenter ant
- Black Onion Fly
- Black Soldier Fly
- Black stink bug
- Black Turpentine Beetle
- Black-and-gold bumble bee
- Black-and-Yellow Lichen Moth
- Black-waved Flannel Moth
- Blinded Sphinx
- Blister Beetles
- Blue-black spider wasps
- Blue-Winged Wasp
- Blueberry Leaftier Moth
- Bold Jumping Spider
- Bordered Plant Bug (Largus Bug)
- Boxelder Bug
- Braconid Wasps
- Broad-Faced Sac Spider
- Broad-headed sharpshooter
- Bronzed Cutworm
- Brown Lacewings
- Brown Marmorated Stink Bug
- Brown Recluse
- Brown snakes (DeKay's brownsnake)
- Brown Stink Bug
- Brown-belted bumble bee
- Buffalo Treehopper
- Bumble Flower Beetle
- Burying beetles
- Cabbage Looper
- Cactus bug
- Camel Cricket
- Camphor Shoot Borer
- Canada Goose
- Carolina Grasshopper
- Carolina Wolf Spider
- Carpenter Ants
- Carpenterworm
- Catalpa Sphinx
- Cecropia Moth
- Celery Looper
- Cereal leaf beetle
- Chalcoela Moths
- Checkered White
- Cherry leafhopper
- Chimney bee (miner bee)
- Chimney swift
- Citronella Ants
- Citrus Flatid Planthopper
- Clay-colored leaf beetle
- Click Beetles
- Cliff swallow
- Cloudless Sulphur
- Clover leaf weevil
- Clover root curculio
- Cluster Fly
- Colorado Potato Beetle
- Common blue mud dauber
- Common Buckeye
- Common Eastern Bumble Bee
- Common Gluphisia
- Common Gray
- Common House Spider
- Common Pillbug
- Common Stalk Borer
- Common True Katydid
- Common Watersnake
- Conoderus wireworms
- Copper Underwing
- Copperhead
- Corn Earworm (Tomato Fruitworm)
- Corn leafhopper
- Cornfield Ant
- Cottonmouth
- Cottonwood borer
- Cottonwood Leaf Beetle
- Cowpea Curculio
- Coyote
- Crab Spiders (e.g., goldenrod crab spider)
- Crane Flies
- Cross-Striped Cabbageworm
- Crowned Slug Caterpillar
- Cuckoo wasps
- Curved-toothed Geometer Moth
- Cutworms
- Cypress Twig Gall Midge
- Damsel Bugs
- Dark Flower Scarab
- Dectes stem borer
- Deer (white-tailed deer shown; mule deer similar)
- Delta Flower Scarab
- Diamondback Moth
- Dingy Cutworm
- Dogbane leaf beetle
- Dogwood Borer
- Dogwood clubgall midge
- Dogwood twig borer
- Dragonflies
- Drain Fly (Moth Fly)
- Dung beetles
- Dustywings
- Eastern Black Swallowtail
- Eastern Bloodsucking Conenose
- Eastern Carpenter Bee
- Eastern chipmunk
- Eastern Cicada Killer
- Eastern Comma
- Eastern Dobsonfly
- Eastern flower thrips
- Eastern Hercules Beetle
- Eastern Pine Looper
- Eastern Subterranean Termite
- Eastern Tent Caterpillar
- Eastern Tiger Swallowtail
- Eastern Yellowjacket
- Ebony bugs
- Eggplant flea beetle
- Eight-spotted Forester
- Elderberry borer
- Elephant Mosquito
- Elm Borer
- Elm cockscomb gall aphid
- Elm Leaf Beetle
- Elm Sawfly
- Emerald Ash Borer
- English grain aphid
- Entypus spider wasps
- Euonymus Scale
- European corn borer
- European Hornet
- European Paper Wasp
- European starling
- European Wool Carder Bee
- Face Fly
- Fall Armyworm
- Fall Webworm
- False potato beetle
- False Widow Spiders
- Field Crickets
- Fiery Skipper
- Filbertworm
- Fireflies
- Fishflies
- Fishing Spiders
- Five-banded thynnid wasp
- Florida Fern Caterpillar
- Forked fungus beetle
- Fourlined Plant Bug
- Fruittree leafroller
- Gall and Bud Mites
- Garden Fleahopper
- Garden Tortrix
- Garden Webworm
- Garter snakes
- German Cockroach
- German Yellowjacket
- Giant Bark Aphid
- Giant Ichneumon Wasps
- Giant Resin Bee
- Giant Swallowtail
- Giant walkingstick
- Giant Woolly Bear
- Goatweed Leafwing
- Gold-striped Leaftier Moth
- Golden Tortoise Beetle
- Goldeneyed lacewing
- Goldenrod Bunch Gall Midge
- Goldenrod Gall Fly
- Gouty Oak Gall Wasp
- Gouty vein gall midge
- Grape colaspis
- Grape leaffolder
- Grape leafhoppers
- Grape Phylloxera
- 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
- Greater Angle-Winged Katydid
- Green Cloverworm
- Green cone-headed planthopper
- Green Fruitworms
- Green June Beetle
- Green Lacewings
- Green Stink Bugs
- Green-striped grasshopper
- Greenhouse Millipede
- Ground Beetles
- Ground crickets
- Groundhog (woodchuck)
- Gulf Coast Tick
- Hackberry Emperor
- Hackberry Psyllids
- Hag Moth Caterpillar
- Hairy Fungus Beetle
- Harlequin Bug
- Harvestmen (Daddy Longlegs)
- Hawaiian Beet Webworm
- Hibiscus Scentless Plant Bug
- Hickory Gall Midges
- Hickory Horned Devil
- Hognose snakes
- Honeylocust Borer
- Hop Looper
- Horned Passalus
- Horntails (Wood Wasps)
- Horse Flies
- Horsehair Worms
- House Centipede
- House Cricket
- House Fly
- House Mouse
- House sparrow (English sparrow)
- Hover Flies (Flower Flies, Syrphid Flies)
- Hummingbird Moths
- Hydrangea Leaftier Moth
- Ichneumon wasps
- Imperial Moth
- Imported Cabbageworm
- Imported Longhorned Weevil
- Indianmeal Moth
- Io Moth Caterpillar
- Ivory-Marked Borer
- Jack Pine Budworm
- Japanese Beetle
- Japanese maple leafhopper
- Juniper Geometer
- Katydids
- Keeled treehopper
- Keeler grasshopper
- Kingsnakes
- Kiowa grasshopper
- Larder Beetle
- Large Milkweed Bug
- Largeheaded grasshopper
- Leaf-Rolling Weevils
- Leafcutter Bees
- Leafhoppers
- Lichen grasshopper
- Linden Looper
- Locust Borer
- Lone Star Tick
- Long-horned bees
- Longbodied Cellar Spider
- Longlegged Flies
- Luna Moth
- Magnolia Leaf-Footed Bug
- Magnolia Scale
- Mantidflies
- Maple bladdergall mite
- Maple eyespot gall midge
- Maple Shoot Borer
- Marbled Orbweaver
- Margined leatherwing
- Masked Chafers
- Meadow plant bug
- Meal Moth
- Mealybug Destroyer
- Mediterranean Flour Moth
- Melon aphid (cotton aphid)
- Melonworm
- Mildew-Eating Lady Beetles
- Mimosa Webworm
- Minute oak bark beetle
- Minute Pirate Bugs
- Moles
- Monarch Butterfly
- Morning-glory Prominent
- Mottled sand grasshopper
- Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle
- Muskrat
- Mydas Flies
- Nessus Sphinx
- Nine-banded armadillo
- Ninebark Calligrapha
- North American Racer
- Northern Black Widow
- Northern flatid planthopper
- Northern Two-Striped Walkingstick
- Nursery Web Spider
- Oak Gall Wasps
- Oak Lace Bug
- Oak Leafroller
- Oak Leafshredder
- Oak timberworm
- Oak Treehopper
- Oak Vein Pocket Gall Midge
- Oblique Streaktail
- Obliquebanded Leafroller
- Oblong-Winged Katydid
- Obscure bird grasshopper
- Odorous House Ant
- Oil beetles
- Oleander Aphid
- Orange assassin bug
- Orange Wing
- Orange-legged grasshopper
- Orb Weaver Spiders (yellow garden spider)
- Orchard Orbweaver
- Organ pipe mud dauber
- Oriental Cockroach
- Owlflies
- Painted hickory borer
- Painted Lady
- Painted Lichen Moth
- Pale Green Assassin Bug
- Palmerworm
- Pandorus Sphinx
- Parallel-banded Leafroller Moth
- Parson Spider
- Pawpaw Sphinx
- Pea Aphid
- Peachtree Borer
- Peanut burrower bug
- Pecan spittlebug
- Pecan Weevil
- Pennsylvania dingy ground beetle
- Periodical Cicadas
- Persimmon Psyllid
- Phlox plant bug
- Pigeon (feral rock pigeon)
- Pigeon tremex
- Pine Needleminer Moth
- Pine Tip Moth
- Pine tree spur-throat grasshopper
- Pink Spotted Lady Beetle
- Pipevine Swallowtail
- Pleasing antlion
- Pleasing Fungus Beetles
- Plum Curculio
- Plume Moths
- Pocket gophers
- Poecilopompilus spider wasps
- Pole borer
- Polished lady beetle
- Polyphemus Moth
- Poplar borer
- Poplar petiolegall aphid
- Poplar Tentmaker
- Porcelain Gray
- Potter Wasps
- Praying Mantids
- Promethea Silkmoth
- Psorthaspis spider wasps
- Punctured Tiger Beetle
- Pygmy grasshoppers
- Question Mark
- Rabbits (cottontails; eastern cottontail shown)
- Raccoon
- Rainbow Scarab
- Rat snakes
- Red Admiral
- Red Fox
- Red Milkweed Beetle
- Red oak borer
- Red Oak Clearwing Moth
- Red Wasp
- Red-Banded Hairstreak
- Red-fringed Emerald
- Red-Legged Grasshopper
- Red-shouldered bostrichid
- Red-shouldered bug (Jadera bug)
- Red-spotted Purple
- Redbanded Leafhopper
- Redbanded Leafroller
- Redheaded Ash Borer
- Redheaded Flea Beetle
- Redheaded Pine Sawfly
- Redhumped Caterpillar
- Redlegged Ham Beetle
- Rednecked Cane Borer
- Rhubarb curculio
- Rice stink bug
- Ring-billed Gull
- River otter (North American river otter)
- Robber Flies
- Rodent and rabbit bot flies
- Rose Chafer
- Rose Curculio
- Rose gall wasps
- Rosy Maple Moth
- Rough Stink Bugs
- Roundheaded Appletree Borer
- Rove Beetles
- Saddleback Caterpillar
- Saddleback Looper
- Saddled Prominent
- Saltmarsh Caterpillar
- Sap Beetles (Picnic Beetles)
- Scoliid wasps
- Scorpions
- Secondary screwworm
- Sevenspotted Lady Beetle
- Silver-spotted Skipper
- Six-spotted tiger beetle
- Skiff Moth
- Slant-faced pasture grasshopper
- Small Hive Beetle
- Small Milkweed Bug
- Smoky-winged beetle bandit
- Snipe Flies
- Sod Webworms
- Soldier Beetles
- Solitary Oak Leafminer
- Southern Black Widow
- Southern flying squirrel
- Southern plains bumble bee
- Southern Yellowjacket
- Soybean aphid
- Soybean Looper
- Sparganothis Fruitworm
- Spicebush Swallowtail
- Spider Mites
- Spider Wasps
- Spined Micrathena
- Spined Soldier Bug
- Spiny Elm Caterpillar (Mourning Cloak)
- Spiny Oak-Slug
- Spiny Oakworm Moth
- Spitting Spider
- Spotted alfalfa aphid
- Spotted Cucumber Beetle
- Spotted Orbweaver
- Spotted-Wing Drosophila
- Spring Rose Beetle
- Springtail
- Squash Bees
- Squash Beetle
- Squash Bug
- Squash Vine Borer
- Stable Fly
- Stag Beetles
- Stinging Rose Caterpillar
- Striped Cucumber Beetle
- Striped Lynx Spider
- Striped skunk
- Sugar Maple Borer
- Sugarcane Beetle
- Sumac flea beetle
- Sumac Leaftier Moth
- Sunflower headclipping weevil
- Swamp milkweed leaf beetle
- Sweat Bees
- Sweetpotato Hornworm (Pink-spotted Hawkmoth)
- Sycamore Lace Bug
- Tachinid Flies
- Tarantula Hawks
- Tarantulas
- Tarnished Plant Bug
- Tawny Emperor
- Thief Ant
- Thirteen-lined Ground Squirrel
- Thread-waisted sand wasps
- Three-banded grasshopper
- Tiger Bee Fly
- Tile-horned prionus
- Tobacco Budworm
- Tomato Hornworm
- Trapdoor Spiders (cork-lid trapdoor spiders)
- Tree squirrels (eastern gray and fox squirrels)
- Treehoppers
- Trichogramma Wasps
- Trissolcus Wasps
- True Armyworm
- Tufted Apple Bud Moth
- Tulip-tree Beauty
- Tuliptree Aphid
- Tuliptree Scale
- Tussock Moth Caterpillars (whitemarked tussock moth)
- Twicestabbed Lady Beetle
- Twig Girdler
- Twig Pruner
- Two-spotted bumble bee
- Twobanded Japanese Weevil
- Twolined Chestnut Borer
- Twolined Spittlebug
- Twostriped Grasshopper
- Underwing Moths
- Unicorn Caterpillar
- Variable Oakleaf Caterpillar
- Varied Carpet Beetle
- Variegated Cutworm
- Variegated Fritillary
- Variegated Leafroller
- Varroa Mite
- Vegetable Weevil
- Velvet Ants (eastern velvet ant, "cow killer")
- Velvet Mites
- Velvetbean Caterpillar
- Versute sharpshooter
- Viceroy
- Virginia Creeper Sphinx
- Virginia opossum
- Voles (meadow mice)
- Walkingsticks
- Walnut Caterpillar
- Walnut Husk Fly
- Walnut Lace Bug
- Walnut Sphinx
- Water scorpions
- Water striders
- Waterlily Leafcutter
- Waved Sphinx
- Wavy-lined Emerald
- Wax Moths
- Weasels (long-tailed weasel and relatives)
- Western Honey Bee
- Western Raspberry Fruitworm
- Western Yellowjacket
- Wharf Borer
- Wheat Head Armyworm
- Wheel Bug
- Whirligig beetles
- White-margined burrower bug
- Whitefringed Beetles
- Whitelined Sphinx
- Wild turkey
- Willow Sawfly
- Winter Ant
- Winter grain mite
- Wood Cockroaches
- Woodlouse Spider
- Woodpeckers
- Woolly Hackberry Aphid
- Yellow Mealworm
- Yellow Woollybear
- Yellow-collared Scape Moth
- Yellow-faced bees
- Yellow-shouldered Slug Moth
- Yellownecked Caterpillar
- Yellowstriped Armyworm
- Yucca Plant Bug
- Zebra Caterpillar
- Zebra Swallowtail
Fewer public records (170)
- Alfalfa plant bug
- Alfalfa weevil
- Amber snails
- American Cockroach
- Aphid Flies (Silver Flies)
- Apple Maggot
- Ash flower gall mite
- Asian Longhorned Tick
- Asian Tiger Mosquito
- Australian Cockroach
- Backswimmers
- Banded Sunflower Moth
- Bat Bugs
- Bean Weevil
- Bermudagrass stem maggot
- Bigeyed Bugs
- Biting Midges
- Black Witch
- Blacklegged Tick
- Bobcat
- Booklice
- Boxwood psyllid
- Broad-tipped conehead
- Brownheaded Ash Sawfly
- Bulb Flies
- Cadelle
- Cankerworms (fall cankerworm)
- Carrot beetle
- Cellophane Bees
- Cherry Scallop Shell Moth
- Chestnut weevils
- Chinese Mystery Snail
- Chrysanthemum lace bug
- Codling Moth
- Columbine Sawfly
- Common Green Bottle Fly
- Convergent Lady Beetle
- Corn leaf aphid
- Corn rootworms
- Cotton fleahopper
- Cowpea aphid
- Cypress and cedar bark beetles
- Deer Fly
- Deer Mouse
- Digger bees
- Drone Fly and Rat-Tailed Maggot
- Dusky grasshopper
- Eastern Treehole Mosquito
- Elm Spanworm
- Field Ants
- Filament Bearer (Horned Spanworm)
- Filbert Leafroller
- Flatheaded Appletree Borer
- Forest Tent Caterpillar
- Fungus Gnat
- Fungus-gardening ant
- Gallinipper
- Genista Broom Moth
- Ghost Ant
- Giant desert centipede (giant redheaded centipede)
- Giant Water Bugs
- Granulate Ambrosia Beetle
- Granulate Cutworm
- Grape Berry Moth
- Grape Flea Beetle
- Grape rootworm
- Great-tailed grackle
- Guinea Paper Wasp
- Half-wing Moth
- Hammerhead Flatworms (Land Planarians)
- Hawthorn Lace Bug
- Hermit Flower Beetle
- Hickory Gall Phylloxera
- Hickory shuckworm
- Hispid cotton rat
- Holly Looper
- Hollyhock Weevil
- House Geckos
- Imported currantworm
- Introduced Pine Sawfly
- Iris Borer
- Japanese Maple Scale
- Javelin Moth
- Knapweed flower weevils
- Kuwana's lady beetle
- Lace Bugs
- Larger canna leafroller (Brazilian skipper)
- Lesser Cornstalk Borer
- Lesser Maple Spanworm
- Little Black Ant
- Longtailed Mealybug
- Masked Hunter
- May and June Beetles
- Mayflies
- Migratory grasshopper
- Mining Bees
- Morrison's Pero
- Mulberry whitefly
- Muscovy Duck
- Narrow-winged sand grasshopper
- Nomad bees
- Norway Rat
- Odd Beetle
- Oriental Beetle
- Oriental Fruit Moth
- Outdoor centipedes (stone, soil and bark centipedes)
- Packard grasshopper
- Pale Beauty
- Pale-winged Gray
- Pales Weevil
- Parenthesis lady beetle
- Pasture grasshopper
- Pavement Ant
- Peach Twig Borer
- Pine Sawflies
- Pine Tube Moth
- Potato Aphid
- Predaceous diving beetles
- Prionus Root Borers
- Pseudoscorpions
- Pure Gold-Green Sweat Bee
- Rattlesnakes (western diamondback shown)
- Red Turpentine Beetle
- Rice root aphid
- Rice Weevil
- Ringlegged Earwig
- Rose Slugs (Rose Sawflies)
- Rough strawberry root weevil
- Rustic Sphinx
- Sandhill Crane
- Shrews (northern short-tailed shrew)
- Small Carpenter Bees
- Small-eyed click beetle
- Snakeweed grasshopper
- Snowbush Spanworm
- Southeastern blueberry bee
- Southern Armyworm
- Southern Purple Mint Moth
- Southwestern corn borer
- Spined Stilt Bug
- Spirea Aphid
- Spittlebugs
- Spotted bird grasshopper
- Strawberry sap beetle
- Striped sand grasshopper
- Sunflower moth
- Tea Scale
- Tersa Sphinx
- Thistle seedhead weevil
- Threecornered alfalfa hopper
- Threelined Potato Beetle
- Toadflax galling weevils
- Toothed big-headed ant
- Tropical Sod Webworm
- Two-striped mermiria
- Twospotted Stink Bug
- Velvet-striped grasshopper
- Vultures (black vulture shown; turkey vulture also covered)
- Water boatmen
- Western Conifer Seed Bug
- White Flannel Moth
- White-Banded Elm Leafhopper
- Wild Pigs (Feral Hogs, Feral Swine)
- Winter firefly
- Woodrats
- Woolly alder aphid
- Yellow pecan aphids
- Yellow Sac Spider
- Yellowmargined Leaf Beetle
- Zebra Jumping Spider
Range named by extension sources (3)
Termites in Missouri
Four termite species are reported to occur naturally in Missouri, and all of the state's native Reticulitermes termites are subterranean.[2]
Invasive species reported here
Emerald ash borer was discovered in southeast Missouri's Wayne County in July 2008, and the Missouri Department of Agriculture's state entomologist takes reports from counties not yet confirmed.[5]
Pests local experts flag
- The brown recluse is one of two poisonous spider species in Missouri, and one study found it in about 70 percent of Missouri homes sampled.[3]
- Many tickborne diseases have been reported in Missouri, including Rocky Mountain spotted fever, ehrlichiosis, tularemia, Heartland virus and Bourbon virus.[4]
Public agencies that handle pests
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services' Communicable Disease Control and Prevention unit runs a tickborne disease page with a Missouri Tickborne Disease Story Map and alpha-gal syndrome information.[4]
Hiring a licensed company
Missouri's pesticide regulatory agency is the Missouri Department of Agriculture (Plant Industries Division, Bureau of Pesticide Control).[1]
Free local help
The University of Missouri Plant Diagnostic Clinic, serving the state since 1965, identifies unknown plants and insects (including spiders and other arachnids) and accepts samples year-round.[6]
Local guides in Missouri
Through the year
- Spring
- Eastern subterranean termites swarm in Missouri during the spring, usually on a warm, sunny day after rain.[2]
Sources
- National Pesticide Information Center, “State Pesticide Regulatory Agencies.” npic.orst.edu/reg/state_agencies.html (accessed 2026-10-06)
- University of Missouri Extension, “Subterranean Termites.” extension.missouri.edu/publications/g7420 (accessed 2026-10-06)
- University of Missouri Extension, “Spiders - Page 3.” extension.missouri.edu/publications/g7386-3 (accessed 2026-10-06)
- Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services, “Tickborne Disease.” health.mo.gov/conditions-diseases/communicable-diseases/tickborne-disease (accessed 2026-10-06)
- Missouri Department of Agriculture, “Emerald Ash Borer.” agriculture.mo.gov/plants/pests/emeraldash.php (accessed 2026-10-06)
- University of Missouri Extension, “Plant Diagnostic Clinic.” extension.missouri.edu/programs/plant-diagnostic-clinic (accessed 2026-10-06)