small scorpion looking bug
Location: wisconsin usa
December 25, 2010 9:58 pm
found this bug on the wall in my infant childs room. is there any danger? thanks
Signature: josh kwiatkowski
Pseudoscorpion
Hi Josh,
The harmless Pseudoscorpion if often found in the home where it will prey upon small insects and other arthropods. Since the Pseudoscorpion lacks venom, it is perfectly harmless and you have no cause for alarm.
AZ ant
Location: Tortilla Creek, Superstition Mtns, AZ
December 26, 2010 1:06 am
I photographed this ant on 12-25-2010 in the Superstition Mtns (~2,500’). I could not identify it in the Kaufman insect guide, so I bow in your general direction if you can make an identification.
Signature: Pat Livecchi
Major Worker Carpenter Ant
Hi Pat,
Your ant looks very much like several images of Carpenter Ants posted to BugGuide, including this image of Camponotus nearcticus from Texas, however, we are reluctant to try to provide an actual species or even subgenus identification. According to BugGuide, Ants in the genus Camponotus “are often called ‘carpenter ants’ because many species nest in dry or moist rotten wood, and some may nest in wooden houses, sheds, etc. However, in the East, C. americanus and C. castaneus nest in soil, and in the West, perhaps the majority of species (but usually not those in the subgenera Camponotus and Myrmentoma) nest in soil.“ These large headed individuals belong to the caste of major workers according to a comment posted on BugGuide. The University of Missouri Extension website has a nice diagram of the various castes of Carpenter Ants.
Bed bug?
Location: Cincinnati, OH
December 20, 2010 11:52 pm
Hi BugMan,
I’m sort of freaking out here. My boyfriend went to crawl into bed and found this crawling under the pillow. He swears to me it’s a bedbug but I guess I just don’t want to believe it. This is the only one I’ve found ever, and I just throughly cleaned our bedroom and house yesterday. We tore the mattress and sheets apart and searched under the bed with a flashlight (the cover under the box spring is still on the bed) no signs of feces or blood spots, eggs or other bugs. We searched the base boards, and all the cracks and crevices by our bed and have come up with nothing. We have also never had any bites or anything that looks like a bite or itchiness. We have 2 dogs and maybe one of them brought something in tonight? But I want to know definitely if this is a bedbug. It’s not quite as fat as some I’ve seen online and it seems fairly big for a bed bug probably the size of a dime or so… and flat like a bedbug.
Please help. I won’t sleep tonight, but I just wanna know. 
Thanks!
Signature: Stephanie
Possibly a Bed Bug
Dear Stephanie,
Most of the images we receive of suspected Bed Bugs are actually Carpet Beetle Larvae, Stink Bugs or Pantry Beetles, and your image is far to blurry to make a conclusive identification, however, this creature does actually resemble a Bed Bug. Keep vigilant and continue to search for possible Bed Bugs until you are certain that you do not have any of the nocturnal, blood sucking creatures that have been getting so much media attention in recent years.
PLEASE IDENTIFY THIS BUG
Location: Lat/Lon: 27.6° S 48.6° W
December 25, 2010 8:02 am
I COULD NOT IDENTIFY THIS BUG.
FOUND AT HOME, SPRING 2010, CITY: FLORIANOPOLIS, STATE: SANTA CATARINA, BRAZIL.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY CATHERINE MOURA
Signature: ANDRÉ LEAL
Harlequin Beetle
Dear André,
This magnificent beetle is known as the Harlequin Beetle, Acrocinus longimanus, and it ranges from Mexico to South America and is also found on the islands in the Caribbean. Encyclopedia Britannica Online has some interesting information on this species.
Harlequin Beetle
Dear Daniel,
Thank you so much for your answer. On Xmas day!!!!!
Congratulations for your wonderful website.
Have you ever heard about Fritz Muller? He was a extraordinary researcher during the 19th century , who lived about 80 miles from my hometown. An early Darwin’s theories supporter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_M%C3%BCller
Thanks very much and happy new year.
Regards
André Leal
Harlequin Beetle
Hi again André,
Thanks for your kind compliments. Though we were aware of Mullerian Mimicry, we were not aware of the details of the research of Fritz Muller that resulted in the term. Thanks for the link.
Huntsman Spider?
Location: Okinawa, Japan
December 24, 2010 8:50 am
We have a lot of spiders like this in Okinawa, Japan. I believe it is a Huntsman, (family sparassidae), but I’m not sure. The spinnerets can be seen well, as can the eyes. What do you think?
Signature: Hooray for bugs!
Huntsman Spider
Your suspicion that this is a Huntsman Spider is correct. It is probably Heteropoda venatoria, a species that has spread to many port towns because of the importation of bananas. Natural Japan has a nice entry on this species.
Huntsman Spider
Cold Honey Bee
Location: Missouri
December 24, 2010 1:34 am
I haven’t submitted anything in awhile…too busy and then it was too cold. I went looking for bugs this evening and found this Honey Bee holding on to our deck. I carefully moved it inside to a temporary studio I set up. I figured I’d try to get some really close shots and thought it was dead. As it warmed, it started to come back around and even stood up for the shot here. I promptly took a few images for a stack (5 in this image) and moved it back outside. Do you know if they hibernate or anything in the cold or does this guy face an inevitable doom in the near future?
Signature: Nathanael Siders
Honey Bee
Hi Nathanael,
We will try to answer you questions to the best of our ability. During inclement weather, Honey Bees do not leave the hive. During winter months in colder climates, Honey Bees will not leave the hive. Your email did not indicate if there was snow on the ground, but on warm winter days, scouts might venture out to see if there is any food to be found. We are not certain if staying in the hive through the winter constitutes hibernation. Bees Online has this information: “What do Honey Bees Do In The Cold Winter ?
Here in the Northeast of the United States it gets pretty cold in the winter. Honey Bees stop flying when the temperature drops down into the 50s (F). They stay inside their hive in what is called a winter cluster which means they get into a big huddle. There is no point to flying outside of the hive as there are no flowers in bloom, hence no pollen or nectar is available. The colder the temperature the more compact the cluster becomes.
The object of this clustering is to keep themselves warm, so warm that the temperature in the center of this cluster, where the Queen Bee stays, is kept at about 80 (F). The outer edge of the cluster is about 46 – 48 (F).
The worker bees create heat by shivering and they also move back and forth between the inner part of the cluster and the outer part. In this way no bee will freeze.
On nice sunny winter days you can see honey bees flying a short distance out of the hive and then quickly returning. Sometimes if they go too far out or stay out too long they can get chilled and will not be able to fly back into the hive. The object of these short flights is to eliminate body waste.”
Strange Bug
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
December 24, 2010 5:59 am
We find a lot of these dead bugs in my entrance hall every morning. The only one that was still alive was battling to walk, flopping over, before it died. They look like an overgrown flee or a type of prawn. We live on the side of a high hill.
Signature: Maurae Wooding
Lawn Shrimp
Hi Maurae,
This is a Lawn Shrimp or House Hopper, a terrestrial Amphipod that is native to Australia, but which has been introduced to other regions including South Africa, New Zealand, Florida and California. They can become quite plentiful in cultivated gardens where they go unnoticed, but after a heavy rain, they seek dry shelter, often indoors, where they promptly die and come to the attention of the human residents. Though they are a nuisance when they enter the home, they are basically a benign species.
Hi Daniel
Thank you so much, that really explains exactly what we are seeing.
We have been having a lot of rain lately especially at night and have had a lot of millipedes, centipedes and earth worms coming in due to the wet but those are all still alive so we can rescue them and return them to a drier spot in the garden, I could not understand why the Lawn scrimps were all dead or dying.
Thank you for a wonderful website and your quick and helpful response.
kind regards
Maurae Wooding
What’s this bug?
Location: Sydney, Australia
December 23, 2010 10:20 am
Hi there,
I live in Sydney, Australia. We’ve been getting these bugs under our sofa but have never seen a live one. Usually notice them on the tiles in the morning. They’re about 5-10mm in length.
Any ideas?
Signature: Laura
Lawn Shrimp
Hi Laura,
This is a Lawn Shrimp or House Hopper, a terrestrial Amphipod that often enters homes after a heavy rain. Your letter is of especial interest to us as Australia is the native habitat of the Lawn Shrimp. The species has been introduced to other regions including southern California and in the past week, because of the heavy rains in the area, we have been inundated with identification requests from California where the species is considered to be an introduced annoyance.
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