New Invasive Exotic Species: Firebug found in Utah!!!

bugman

April 19th, 2010 at 11:14 am

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infestation of red/black bugs in neighborhood
April 17, 2010
for the last two months we have had an infestation of black and red bugs in our lawns on our entire street. i thought they were boxelder, but looking at your pictures, they are different. i can’t find a picture anywhere on the internet like these. they live in the lawn and if you stand and look down at the lawn, it appears the entire lawn is moving they are so plentiful. hitting a stump, thousands immediately ran out. they were covering a part of the garden so thick all you could see is red. they are in every crack in the sidewalk and every square inch of the lawn. they don’t appear to be able to fly. you can see them mating constantly which looks somewhat like the pics of the boxelder bugs mating. please help identify these! ps there do not appear to be ma ny spiders out there this year. are they eating those? will they ruin the lawns?
desperate for help
salt lake city, utah

Firebug

Dear desperate,
This is a European species, Pyrrhocoris apterus, commonly called a Firebug. We have numerous images posted to our site from parts of Europe, but this is the first report we have gotten from North America. Out of curiosity, we checked BugGuide, and several photos of Firebugs were sent in March 2010 from Utah, and considering the details of your letter, the Invasive Exotic Firebug is already established in Salt Lake City. You should probably contact the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) regarding this outbreak. We will copy Stephanie Dubon at npag@aphis.usda.gov regarding this unusual sighting.

thank you so much for your quick reply. you guys are awesome! i notified the aphis like you suggested. sonja

Reply from APHIS
Dear Daniel,
I don’t believe anyone has shared Stephanie’s news with you, so please allow me. Stephanie accepted a new job with the FAO (Food and Agricultural Organization) in Rome, Italy. … All of us here miss her, personally and professionally!
Meanwhile, your emails are still reaching our group through this email (NPAG@aphis.usda.gov), and are much appreciated. I hope that you will continue to think of us when you receive information about new pest species in the US.
Best regards,
Christie Bertone
Entomologist
USDA-APHIS-PPQ-CPHST-PERAL

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Comments 2

birdlover wrote:
We’ve found a massive infestation of these Firebugs here in Huntington Beach, CA. This is in Orange County near the ocean. The description matches everything posted here. What should we do? They’re pretty much everywhere. Thanks!
Posted 18 Jul 2010 at 1:04 am ¶
bugman wrote:
Dear birdlover,
Here is the information we recently received from the USDA: “Right now the best thing for people to do is to try and get the actual specimen and submit it to their state department of agriculture or to contact their county extension agency.”
Posted 18 Jul 2010 at 9:30 am ¶