It may seem funny, but most U.S. states do have official state insects.
Some also have a state butterfly. Alabama’s situation is particularly confusing, its state insect is the monarch butterfly, not the boll weevil, but its state butterfly is the eastern tiger swallowtail.
Most people who have been in the state would agree that the fire ant, mosquito, or chigger might have been the more appropriate choice.
But butterflies seem to be popular among many states, as you can see below. Honeybees are popular, too, but there aren’t any stinkbugs, cockroaches, horseflys, or mosquitoes in the list.
Here are the other state insects:
Alaska—four-spotted skimmer
Arkansas—honeybee
California—California dogface butterfly Colorado—Colorado hairstreak butterfly Connecticut—European praying mantis Delaware—convergent ladybird beetle Florida—zebra longwing butterfly
Georgia—honeybee
Georgia state butterfly—tiger swallowtail Idaho—monarch butterfly
Illinois—monarch butterfly
Kansas—honeybee
Kentucky—viceroy butterfly
Louisiana—honeybee
Maine—honeybee
Maryland—Baltimore checkerspot butterfly Massachusetts—ladybug
Mississippi—honeybee
Mississippi state butterfly—spicebush swallowtail Missouri—honeybee
Nebraska—honeybee
New Hampshire—ladybug
New Hampshire state butterfly—Karner blue butterfly New Jersey—honeybee
New Mexico—tarantula hawk wasp
New York—spotted ladybird beetle
North Carolina—honeybee
Ohio—ladybug
Oklahoma—honeybee
Oklahoma state butterfly—black swallowtail Oregon—Oregon swallowtail butterfly Pennsylvania—firefly
South Carolina—Carolina mantis
South Dakota—honeybee
Tennessee—ladybug and firefly
Tennessee state agricultural insect—honeybee. Tennessee state butterfly—zebra swallowtail Texas—monarch butterfly
Utah—honeybee
Vermont—honeybee
Vermont state butterfly—monarch butterfly Virginia—tiger swallowtail butterfly Washington—green darner dragonfly
West Virginia—monarch butterfly Wisconsin—honeybee
Wyoming—western swallowtail butterfly
