Please identify tiny bugs in my carpet
January 20, 2010
I just returned from vacation to find several dozen little bugs in my bedroom carpet. They are dark brown, oblong, with six legs and what appears to be a proboscis between their antennae. They measure approximately 3 mm. No wings that I can see. Many are dead, the others seem to be wandering aimlessly on the floor. I’ve looked up carpet beetles but these don’t resemble the pictures of those I found. Any ideas?
Bugs in NYC
New York, NY
Granary Weevil
This is a Weevil, and there are several species that infest stored food products. Perhaps one of our readers will be able to provide us with a more specific identification.
Eric Eaton provides information
The tiny weevil is indeed a “granary” weevil in the genus Sitophilus. Great image, too! They often infest birdseed, so that might be the source.
Eric
Small Brown bug with white/yellow stripe
January 21, 2010
We have been finding these bugs in our kitchen and family room area. The bugs look like a beetle type, they are small dark brown almost black, with a white or yellow band on their backs. We normally find them in the morning laying on their backs on the hardwood floor. I want to spray for these and I am fearful that they are wood eaters. We live in a timber frame home from the early 1970s.
Jeffrey Feiler
South Central Pennsylvania
Larder Beetles
Dear Jeffrey,
Your wooden house is safe, but you are sharing your food. It is time to clean out the pantry and search for the source of your Larder Beetle, Dermestes lardarius, infestation. According to BugGuide, this cosmopolitan species will eat food stuff and museum specimens. You may also need to check your trophy stag heads hanging above the fireplace or the bearskin rug on the floor in the den. Generally, you need to find the source of the infestation to rid yourself of pantry beetles and general extermination is just a waste of money as it cannot target the source, especially if the Larder Beetles are in edible foods. You should also check that bargain bag of dog food.
Daniel,
Thank you so much for the help. I thought they didn’t look like wood eaters, but we just moved down to PA from NH. Up there you had just mosquitoes and black flies (which ate my flesh and blood alot). Nothing else survived the winters for the most part. Southern PA has a zillion bugs, especially the annoying STINK BUG which I am convinced will survive nuclear holocaust, those things are more hearty then roaches.
Thanks Again,
Jeffrey Feiler
1
French’s Longicorns
January 21, 2010
I just discovered your site today – being a keen bug fiend, I cant believe that I had not come across it before!
I searched through your site to find more information on French’s Longicorn beetle (Batocera frenchi) – but couldnt find any!
We came across these beautiful, large longicorns on a hike through the Wooroonooran National Park in North Queensland in November – They were in a recently broken hollowed tree (probably had something to do with it breaking!!) and appear to be in the midst of a courtship. This is the first time I have seen these amazing beetles – even though they are described as having a geographical area from Mid New South Wales to North Queensland.
Hopefully someone will be able to let me know if they are rare? In which case, I am completely and utterly chuffed to have met them personally 
The Dreaded Bug Queen
Wooroonooran NP -Palmerston, North Queensland, Australia
Mating French's Longicorns
Dear Dreaded Bug Queen,
Though we are based in Los Angeles, we here at What’s That Bug? have had a long history of posting letters of Australian insects, most notably during your summer because our readership does not submit as many identification requests during our winter months. We have posted several letters from locations including India and Israel containing images of the related Mango Stem Borer, Batocera rufomaculata, and once we even posted a letter of a Chinese species we believe to be Batocera rubus, but your wonderful image of mating French’s Longicorns is a first for Batocerus frenchi for us. An image of a French’s Longicorn is posted on the Csiro website, but there is not much information. We have been unable to find out much information on your beetle, though a specimen of French’s Longicorn is listed as rare and is currently for sale on the Insects & More website is listed at 52 Euros, which is approximately $75 US, a hefty price indeed. A female on the same website is selling for 65 Euros. Another website lists it as very rare. We believe your sighting is significant and we are thankful you sent us your marvelous image. Just prior to posting, we decided to search by the common name French’s Longicorn rather than the scientific name. We found a wonderful website of Shell Picture Card series on Cerambycidae that contains this information: “Card no. 339 – French’s Longicorn Beetle, Batocera frenchi (Van de Poll) [as Batocera frenchi Blkb.] Card data: ‘This is one of the finest Longicorn Beetles in Australia. It is found in the rain forests from northern New South Wales to north Queensland. It measures 2” or more in length and is found in certain native fig trees, in the branches and trunks of which its grubs feed. This beetle is a common species of the family Cerambycidae.’ Comments: The biology and host plants of Batocera boisduvali (Hope)(often regarded by entomologists as the same species as B. frenchi) have been reviewed by Hawkeswood (1987a) & Hawkeswood & Dauber (1990, 1993).“
bug identification
January 19, 2010
Hello! I found this bug on my patio on July 30, 2009 in Swiftwater, PA. I haven’t found anyone who can help me identify it yet. Do you know what it is? He’s pretty cool looking! He was about an inch and a half long (body, that is).
Susan
Swiftwater, PA
Purplescent Longhorn Beetle
Hi Susan,
This is sure a handsome beetle. It is a Purplescent Longhorn in the genus Purpuricenus, which is well represented on BugGuide. Our choice for the species is Purpuricenus humeralis, which is found in the Eastern states according to BugGuide.
what’s that bug? is it benefitial?
January 19, 2010
I was sawing a bush that is called here (in Hawaii) Holy Coa. suddenly these bugs apeared out of nowhere. Here are 2 photos of them.
v.
Kauai Hawaii USA
Kiawe Round Headed Borer
Dear v.,
We thought your beetle bore an uncanny resemblance to the Mesquite Borer, Placosternus difficilis, a species BugGuide reports from Texas and the “Southern tier of U.S. states, south to Honduras; Cuba, Bahamas.“ We then did a web search to see if the Mesquite Borer was introduced to Hawaii, and we were immediately led to another BugGuide page of an insect found in Hawaii and placed in the same genus, but with the disclaimer: “Placosternus crinicornis (Chevrolat) has been recorded from Hawaii but not P. difficilis.“ We followed that thread and were led to the Insects of Hawaii page on Placosternus crinicornis, the Kiawe or Prosopis Round Headed Borer which is listed as non-native. It may also be found on an Invasive Species website. According to Wikipedia, Kiawe or Prosopis limensis is a species of mesquite native to South America. Since neither the insect nor its host are native to Hawaii, it is fair to say that neither are beneficial to helping to maintain the indigenous biodiversity of Kauai.
Mating Kiawe Round Headed Borers
Bugs coming from firewood?
January 17, 2010
I’m finding these bugs in our house and they seem to be coming from our firewood. We do keep some wood in the house for use and have a couple of racks outside our house.
Bill
Eastern Pennsylvania
Longhorned Borer Beetle
Hi Bill,
Our eyes are crossed from clicking through all the pages of BugGuide’s Cerambycidae section to no avail. We had hoped to identify the species, but the best we can do is the family Cerambycidae, the Longhorned Borer Beetles. We will see if Eric Eaton can provide a species identification. Firewood brought indoors often causes dormant wood boring insects to emerge due to the warmth indoors.
Longhorned Borer Beetle
Eric Eaton provides an identification
Hi, Daniel:
The actual beetle specimens are longhorned woodborers, Phymatoes varius in all likelihood. There are no images of this species on Bugguide currently, so we would welcome the person to submit them there. We also have some top-notch cerambycid experts who could confirm or correct my own ID.
Eric
Hi Daniel & Eric,
I’d be happy to post the images, however I don’t know how. If you would like to post them, feel free to do so. Is there any problem with finding these insects in our home? I wanted to make sure they weren’t termites, which may be a problem.
Thanks for your help,
Bill
The adult insects are not interested in wood as that is the larval food. Borers do not infest milled lumber, though there is occasionally a possibility of the larvae surviving the milling process and then emerging from furniture or structural beams many years later. That is a rare occurrence.
Bug ID from burrowing pattern
January 16, 2010
I was walking through a wetland forest near Brockville, Ontario when I happened upon an interesting dead tree. The pattern left behind after the bark had fallen off was quite impressive. There were no clues as to what insect made this pattern. Is there anyway to determine the identity of the bug that makes this type of pattern without having to catch it first?
Claire B
Brockville, Ontario Canada
Engraver Beetle Galleries
Hi Claire,
These are most probably the galleries of a Wood Boring Beetle, though we are uncertain if they are from the family Cerambycidae or Buprestidae. A species identification is nearly impossible. We will see if Eric Eaton has an opinion on this.
Engraver Beetle Galleries
Eric Eaton provides some information
Hi, Daniel:
The galleries etched in the trunk of the dead tree are the work of “engraver” beetles of some kind, family Curculionidae, subfamily Scolytidae. The central, vertical passage is the “egg gallery” bored by the female as she laid eggs along each side. The perpendicular tunnels are the result of the larvae boring through the wood before pupating at the end of each tunnel and emerging through the bark at the end of their life cycle. Knowing the host tree would be helpful in determining which species of beetle this represents.
Eric
Firewood bug
January 17, 2010
Hello. We received some firewood that was loaded with insect tracks, lots of bore holes and trails through the wood. Some bugs were found IN the tracks. Worried that these may be a bug that could harm the house, if we don’t burn the wood!
Thanks in advance for any help you can provide! Courtney
Central Indiana (NE of Indianapolis)
Longhorned Borer Pupa
Hi Courtney,
Your photo is of very low resolution, and when we enlarged it, the quality was further reduced. We believe this is a pupa of a Longhorned Borer Beetle in the family Cerambycidae. The family is often abbreviated as the Bycids. Without knowing the host tree, it would be difficult to pin down a species, and some trees are host to numerous species of Borers. A much clearer photo of a Cerambycid Pupa is posted to BugGuide.
Thanks very much for your work. I wish our camera was better, but alas, ’tis all we have.
Sincerely,
Courtney
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