Is this a tick?
March 7, 2010
I found this on the front sidewalk. It moves slow and you can hardly see its legs. It is the color of dirty khaki. It looks like a tick, but is nearly as big as a dime. The usual ticks we see here in Colorado are much smaller and darker in color. The pictures with a small piece of bark are of the belly and the other of its back.
Nancy
Boulder CO
Tick
Hi Nancy,
You are correct. This is a Tick and it appears to be engorged with blood. According to BugGuide: “Hard ticks have three distinct life stages. Larvae emerge from the egg having six legs. After obtaining a blood meal from a vertebrate host, they molt to the nymphal stage and acquire eight legs. Nymphs feed and molt to the next and final stage (the adult), which also has eight legs. After feeding once more, the adult female hard tick lays one batch of thousands of eggs and then dies. Only one blood meal is taken during each of the three life stages. The time to completion of the entire life cycle may vary from less than a year in tropical regions to over three years in cold climates, where certain stages may enter diapause until hosts are again available. Many hard ticks can go for several months without feeding if not unduly duressed by environmental conditions.“
¶ Posted 10 March 2010 § Ticks ‡ ° worm or snake
March 7, 2010
Hey found this “thing” in my house, on my carpet. Any idea what it is? Has two black eyes, behaved defensive when we tried to touch it. After placing it in the restroom sink to better observe, it died withing a minute. I have small children, is this something we should be worried about?
Thanks, Roxy
ranch in south texas
Blind Snake
Hi Roxy,
We believe this is a harmless Legless Lizard, though we would defer to any reptile experts that care to comment.
Hi,
I saw that you posted a picture of what you thought was a legless lizard. I’m pretty sure it is actually a blind snake, possibly Leptotyphlops humilis, the western blind snake. According to the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, they live throughout the southwestern U.S., including Texas. It could also be Leptotyphlops dulcis, the Texas slender blind snake, which lives throughout Kansas, Oklahoma, and central Texas. Although I’m not an expert, I have been around reptiles all my life. I actually found one of these little guys several years ago and that is why I immediately recognized it as a blind snake.
Josh Kouri
bee or fly
March 8, 2010
Hello,
I am writing to you from an American military base in Kuwait. I am in pest management and would like to calm the fears of my fellow military members. Recently we have had a large number of flying insects that appear to be bees but i believe they are flies. They have been hanging out on shaded walls to stay out of the heat. They do not behave like bees they only look similar to bees. They range in size from 1/4″ to 1/2″.
Leslie B
Kuwait
Flower Fly
Hi Leslie,
We mean no disrespect in writing this, but we believe that there are far greater threats to our brave military men and women in Kuwait than either bees or flies, and we hope that there is a strong support system for calming their fears regarding bombs, missiles and bullets. This is a fly, and we believe it is a harmless Hover Fly or Flower Fly in the family Syrphidae, a group that has numerous members that mimic stinging insects. For the record, in the scheme of things worldwide, Flies would generally be a cause of greater concern than bees whose stings are temporarily painful, but cause no lasting harm except in the case of severe allergies. On the other hand, Flies, which include Mosquitoes, often bite and they can be serious disease vectors, especially in warmer climates. Malaria, yellow fever, dengue fever and sleeping sickness are all spread by the bites of mosquitoes and flies, and diseases like typhoid fever, anthrax, leprosy, cholera, conjunctivitis, tuberculosis, dysentery and diarrhea can be spread through contact with the Common House Fly. Your Flower Fly, we are pleased to report, is benign and no cause for alarm.
Daniel,
Thank you so much for your quick response and your honest words. Thankfully not many bombs, missiles, or bullets flying in Kuwait but yes we have support and preparation to face the human threat if it presents itself. It is odd but true that some fear the insects so fiercely.
After spending some time researching on your website I was able to form an educated guess that it was from the Syrphidae family, and indeed mimicking a bee. I appreciate your email confirming my suspicions.
I appreciate you stressing the medical importance of the fly as I have spent the majority of my time over the last 3 months battling the common fly and hope the upcoming 100 degree plus weather will greatly assist me in the matter of controlling the pest. I may be the only one on base praying for higher temperatures.
Thank you again for your assistance and no disrespect was taken.
Mystery creature in creek
March 9, 2010
Hi there,
I was enjoying the lovely weather yesterday and took the opportunity to wade through our creek–after flipping some rocks over, I found this guy on the underside. It was probably 4 or 5 mm long. I’ve never seen anything like it, and was hoping you could shed some light on the mystery.
Thanks in advance! I just love the site.
Dakota
Black Mountain, North Carolina
Stonefly Naiad
Hi Dakota,
You have discovered the aquatic larva of a Stonefly, known as a naiad. We are linking to an image on BugGuide that was identified as being in the genus Acroneuria, but we are not certain if that is the same genus as your specimen. According to BugGuide: “nymphs are often found under large stones in streams and rivers” and “nymphs prey mainly on small aquatic invertebrates such as larvae of chironomids, mayflies, and caddisflies; detritus and algae are also eaten.”
Correction courtesy of Karl
Hi Daniel: This naiad appears to have three tails (cerci) not two, which would make it a mayfly. It looks lake a “clinger” mayfly (Ephemeroptera: Heptageniidae), possibly in the genus Maccaffertium. You could also check out Stenonema which look very similar, but most of the species in this genus have recently been moved to Maccaffertium or Stenacron. The Heptageniidae are well known to fly fishers and include the popular March Brown (Maccaffertium [=Stenonema] vicarium) and Cahills. Regards. K
Thanks for watching our back on this one Karl. We were in a rush this morning.
Minuscule Rove Beetles(?) in Oklahoma!!!
March 5, 2010
Hi,
Today I found these tiny beetles in my pool (in central Ok.). I think that they were rove beetles, but I’m not sure. They were both about 2mm in length, with long, thin abdomens. One had a head that definitely looked like a rove beetles, but the other had a more rounded head with smaller eyes. Their elytra did not cover their abdomens and they would both periodically retract their wings. One was black and the other was dark brown. Since I found them in my pool I don’t know what kind of habitat they would normally be living in. Thanks for any help you can provide in identifying these little guys.
Josh Kouri
Rove Beetles
Update
March 8, 2010
Hi,
Several days ago I sent you some pictures of rove beetles that I found. After I sent you the pictures I decided to check BugGuide and I think I might have Identified them myself. I think that the black one with the more rove beetle-like head is a species of water skater. The other one looks like a crab-like rove beetle, possibly /Byroporus rufescens. /I’m not sure that those I.D.s are correct, but they are my best guess. Thanks,
Josh
Water Skater Rove Beetle
Hi Josh,
Sorry we did not respond to your original letter, but we have been very busy, and the quantity of mail and identification requests is beginning to increase with the approach of spring. Thank you for taking the time to research the identities on your own. We know that searching through the incredibly well organized archives of BugGuide can be a daunting task. We agree that based on images posted to BugGuide, one of your Rove Beetles is a Water Skater. The images on BugGuide of the Crablike Rove Beetle Byroporus rufescens also resembles your photograph. We concur with the identifications you have made, at least to the family level.
Crablike Rove Beetle
Caterpillar like larvae
March 9, 2010
Recently we submitted a photo which was identified as a moth fly. Thank you for the prompt reply!
The same customer has submitted another photo which looks like some type of larvae. (perhaps the moth fly?)
Cathy’s Crawly Composters
Worm Bin
Moth Fly Larvae
Hi again Cathy,
Based on images we found on the Integrated Pest Management Resources website and on BugGuide, we believe these larvae are immature Moth Flies.
More Polyphemus Love
March 9, 2010
Last week we found a large cocoon on ground, brought it inside, and hung it in a jar. Last night we saw a large moth struggling in the bottom of the jar. We took it outside to a ficus tree on the patio, where it climbed up a few feet and stopped. As you can see in the first picture, the wings didn’t expand properly. But apparently male moths don’t care so much about pretty wings, because she found a mate in a matter of hours.
Matt in Houston
Houston, TX
Mating Polyphemus Moths
Hi Matt,
Thank you for your wonderful written account and your stunning photograph of mating Polyphemus Moths.
You’re welcome. I appreciate the site where I could find out exactly what it was quickly!
Wow, the life of a moth is short. Out of her cocoon barely a day, it appears she is already dead, or nearly so. But there are several eggs along the limbs, so the cycle continues.
SAGEBRUSH GALL
March 9, 2010
FOUND THIS INTERESTING GALL ON SAGEBRUSH (ARTEMESIA TRIDENTATA) IS THIS THE WOOL SOWER CALLIRHYTIS SEMINATOR OR RHOPALOMYIA?
ERNIE
OKANOGAN, WASH.
Unknown Gall on Sage
Hi Ernie,
Galls, unusual growths on plants, are often caused by insects, but there might be other reasons that the plant tissue becomes distorted and produces the odd growths. There is a nice online piece on Gall Making Insects by John A. Byers that has good information. This is neither a Wool Sower Gall and we are not certain if this growth on sage is caused by a Midge in the genus Rhopalomyia without doing additional research. We did find a paper online that was published by the Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society that mentions, but doesn’t picture, a Fruit Fly, Eutreta diana, that is called a Sage Stem Galling Fly. We found the fly pictured on the Diptera Site, but again, a photo of the actual Gall produced by the fly has eluded us.
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