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Need help indentifying bugs in my basement.
Dear Bugman,
I hope I hear back from you because I have a seemingly significant population of one particular variety of bug in my basement that are getting to be a real pain. I live in Michigan and it is obviously winter here. I have never had an issue with this kind of insect prior this year, noticing them first in the late fall of ’05. The bug in question is predominately black on the back side with narrow orange stripes. It is primarily orange on the underside with black markings. It has six legs and one pair of wings. It flies, but is mostly seen attached to florescent lights in my basement office. Not counting it’s front antenna it is approximately 1/2 to 3/4 inches in length and it’s body (not counting leg span) is approximately 3/8 of an inch in width. While there seems to be steady stream of these bugs, I rarely see more than one or two at a time. If I can identify what this bug is it would go a long way to enable me keep the little beasts out of my basement. To help with your identification I have attached two digital photos. The object at left is a screw on pop bottle top as to lend some scale to the image. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Mark Hatton

Hi Mark,
The Eastern Boxelder Bug, Boisea trivittatus, often seeks shelter indoors to hibernate. This insect also forms large aggregations with hundreds or even thousands of individuals.

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