Skip to content

Category Archives: Beetles   rss

What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

Last summer bore beetles…

Hello,
Last summer bore beetles wiped out half the pines in my yard. (1 acre.).Since the Florida drought is over and steady rains are back, and the pines are not as stressed as last year, will my remaining loblolly pines fight off the bore beetles naturally or do I have to spray with something. And if I spray is it true the beetles are only on the trunk of the tree. Last but not least, what do I spray with? Thanks from Central Florida, Roger

Like many living forms, insects reach a peak population, do major damage, and then suddenly die back to a small population which takes seasons to grow large again. The stress on the trees due to the drought combined with the population explosion of the beetles contributed to the tree loss. That population was increasing, doing hidden damage for years. The best control is to rid the area of tainted wood from the dead trees which is harboring the pest. Chec
k with local exterminators regarding a pesticide control.

Posted 18 May 2003 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Iron Cross Blister Beetle

Hi. Recently my son found this beautiful bug near our house in Glendale, AZ. I’m attaching a picture. It has a bright red head, and it’s back is yellow with a black pattern dividing it into 4 parts. It’s the first and only time we’ve seen one.
Any idea?
Thanks–
Wes

Ironcross Blister Beetle

Ironcross Blister Beetle

Dear Wes,
I contacted our sources at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, and he provided the following information.

Thanks for sending the beetle photo. It is in the Blister Beetle family: Meloidae. You can probably look it up on the internet…try under the genus name Lytta. Some of these beetles exude a toxic liquid which can cause blisters on the skin. I’m not sure this one does that.
Hope this helps you!
Take care. Brian Harris
Entomology Section
Natural History Museum LA Co.

A web search did not turn up a more exact identification, but there is this site which has a photo of a close relative Lytta magister http://www.solpugid.com/gallery/Gallery3.htm which also has a red head and legs. I do have some interesting background information on the genus however. A blue-green colored European relative Lytta vesicatoria, is known by the common name Spanish fly: Perhaps the most famous `aphrodisiac’ of folk lore is `Spanish Fly’ made from the dried beetle _Cantharis_ (Lytta) _vesicatoria_, which is widely found in areas of southern Europe. The active ingredient of the prepared insect is cantharidin, and the powdered product contains around 0.6 percent of the substance. Sometimes a tincture of cantharidin is made, and the fatal dose is usually reckoned at 1.5 to 3 grams of the powder, or about 200 millilitres of the tincture. I have not given up entirely on the identification. I will be making a trip to the insect museum in Riverside in the near future. Thanks again for the awesome photo which is currently on my desktop at work.
Have a great day.
Daniel

Editor’s Note: Continued research has identified this little beauty as a member of the Blister Beetle Family known as Soldier Beetles, Tegrodera erosa Lec. or Tegrodera latecincta Horn. “They are 17-30 mm. long; the head red; the prothorax dusky red; the antennae, legs, and remainder of the body shining black; and the elytra golden yellow, reticulated, and with black margins, a black median belt, and black apices. In the former specioes the black markings of the elytra are very obscure, while on the latter they are strongly pronounced. The beetles ordinarily feed upon the native sage brush, artemisia, and other plants, but frequently invade alfalfa fields and do much damage.” according to Essig in Insects and Mites of Western North America.

Update: (11/09/2008)
After doing our site migration and checking that everything migrated, we found this posting that was never correctly identified as an Iron Cross Blister Beetle

Another Iron Cross Blister Beetle
We have Hundreds maybe Thousands on the ground and
all over our house. Please help us as my 6 and 4 year olds are scared and me too!
aceman

Iron Cross Blister Beetle

Iron Cross Blister Beetle

We were unable to anwer this reader who should be somewhat afraid of Blister Beetles which can cause a skin reaction.

Posted 16 May 2003 § Blister Beetles ‡ Comments (0) °

Recently my son found this…

Hi. Recently my son found this beautiful bug near our house in Glendale, AZ. I’m attaching a picture. It has a bright red head, and it’s back is yellow with a black pattern dividing it into 4 parts. It’s the first and only time we’ve seen one.
Any idea?
Thanks–
Wes

Dear Wes,
I contacted our sources at the Natural History Museum in Los Angeles, and he provided the following information.

Thanks for sending the beetle photo. It is in the Blister Beetle family: Meloidae. You can probably look it up on the internet…try under the genus name Lytta. Some of these beetles exude a toxic liquid which can cause blisters on the skin. I’m not sure this one does that.
Hope this helps you!
Take care. Brian Harris Entomology Section
Natural History Museum LA Co.

A web search did not turn up a more exact identification, but there is this site which has a photo of a close relative Lytta magister http://www.solpugid.com/gallery/Gallery3.htm which also has a red head and legs. I do have some interesting background information on the genus however. A blue-green colored European relative Lytta vesicatoria, is known by the common name Spanish fly: Perhaps the most famous `aphrodisiac’ of folk lore is `Spanish Fly’ made from the dried beetle _Cantharis_ (Lytta) _vesicatoria_, which is widely found in areas of southern Europe. The active ingredient of the prepared insect is cantharidin, and the powdered product contains around 0.6 percent of the substance. Sometimes a tincture of cantharidin is made, and the fatal d
ose is usually reckoned at 1.5 to 3 grams of the powder, or about 200 millilitres of the tincture. I have not given up entirely on the identification. I will be making a trip to the insect museum in Riverside in the near future. Thanks again for the awesome photo which is currently on my desktop at work.
Have a great day.
Daniel

Editor’s Note: Continued research has identified this little beauty as a member of the Blister Beetle Family known as Soldier Beetles, Tegrodera erosa Lec. or Tegrodera latecincta Horn. "They are 17-30 mm. long; the head red; the prothorax dusky red; the antennae, legs, and remainder of the body shining black; and the elytra golden yellow, reticulated, and with black margi
ns, a black median belt, and black apices. In the former specioes the black markings of the elytra are very obscure, while on the latter they are strongly pronounced. The beetles ordinarily feed upon the native sage brush, artemisia, and other plants, but frequently invade alfalfa fields and do much damage." according to Essig in Insects and Mites of Western North America.

Posted 15 May 2003 § ‡ Comments (0) °
What's That Bug? does not endorse extermination

pantry weevils

I have a recurring problem with pantry weevils. Each summer I throw out any affected rice, grain etc and clean out the cupboards but the problem will not go away. What else can I do?

thanks
Kay, London

Dear Kay,
The problem with pantry weevils is that they are small, and also capable of flight, so that each time to eradicate the infestation, new weevils can arrive and begin the life cycle anew. According to Hogue "The appearance of these pests in a tightly sealed package of dried food is a source of wonder to housekeepers. Entry is commonly by way of minute imperfections in the seal, but some species may bore through paper and cardboard containers to get at the contents. In other cases, infestations occur when the foods are stored in bulk in railroad cars, warehouses, and at other stops along the processing line." You will greatly minimize the ravages of the weevil by continuing to dispose of old grains which will prevent a self-perpetuating population explosion within your pantry, but the problem will not go away permanently unless the weevils go away permanently by becoming extinct.

And a word from MOM:
Sorry to say, I heard that those peskiy little critters often come in as teensy undetectable eggs inside your bag of flour or dry pet food (generally in packages that do not have sealed plastic inner bags) and hatch in your
warm cabinets. So tell Kay to store her flour in the refrigerator or freezer until she needs it. Apparently, you can cook it at 130 degrees for half an hour to kill anything that might be in there, but personally, although I can live with eggs I can’t see, I can’t see baking with dead bugs that may have already hatched. I
started putting my flour in the refrigerator over 25 years ago and haven’t had a bug since.

Great advice, Mom! I must have learned it from you long ago, since I have a fridge full of flour. But why bother killing the bugs in the flour before you bake? Won’t the crawling critters die anyhow once they hit that hot oven? And how could anyone refuse a little extra protein in their chocolate chip cookies??

Posted 26 August 2002 § Weevils ‡ Comments (0) °

Watermelon Bug

Hello Mr. Bug Guy!
Never seen anything like it before and we have no idea how it got into the house and onto the second floor landing. That’s as far from any open window as it gets in our place and not close to the ground, either. (Although we do have two cats and a kitten.) It was casually walking, slowly, along the carpet. Actually, it looked kinda sick. It wasn’t moving particularly fast or anything. We scooped it into a jar and within hours, there was barely a flicker of movement left. (Still Flickering, though, as I write this.) It’s not quite 3 cm from nose to tail. It’s coloring was much like a watermelon, the kind with a lot of contrast between the stripes. It had these two, strange paddles out front, looking a lot like shoehorns. Any idea what this bug might be? Is it local or some kind of import? I’m in San Jose, CA, at the southern tip of San Francisco Bay.
Thanks!
John

While cleaning out the old email account, we discovered these amazing photos sent in by John of a Ten Lined June Beetle, Polyphylla decemlineata. They are native and the adults eat pine needles while the grubs are considered pests of peach trees.

Posted 05 August 2002 § Scarab Beetles ‡ Comments (0) °

Watermelon Bug

Hello Mr. Bug Guy!
Never seen anything like it before and we have no idea how it got into the house and onto the second floor landing. That’s as far from any open window as it gets in our place and not close to the ground, either. (Although we do have two cats and a kitten.) It was casually walking, slowly, along the carpet. Actually, it looked kinda sick. It wasn’t moving particularly fast or anything. We scooped it into a jar and within hours, there was barely a flicker of movement left. (Still Flickering, though, as I write this.) It’s not quite 3 cm from nose to tail. It’s coloring was much like a watermelon, the kind with a lot of contrast between the stripes. It had these two, strange paddles out front, looking a lot like shoehorns. Any idea what this bug might be? Is it local or some kind of import? I’m in San Jose, CA, at the southern tip of San Francisco Bay.
Thanks!
John


While cleaning out the old email account, we discovered these amazing photos sent in by John of a Ten Lined June Beetle, Polyphylla decemlineata. They are native and the adults eat pine needles while the grubs are considered pests of peach trees.

Posted 04 August 2002 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Weevils

I live in a bi-level home, and have been there for 7 years now. All of a sudden this year I have a new bug aprox 3/16 long with 6 legs and 2 antenna, 1 on each side of what looks like an anteater’s snout. I have a coal stove in my finished basement so it is warm there. These bugs seem to be mostly on one of two white throw rugs in the middle of the floor, or can be found on the concrete floor next to any white dry wall. They appear to have a short life span, crawl only, no jumping, and so far have not been found upstairs. What are they and how do I get rid of them? Oh yeah. they are brown in color.
thank you
Bob Whitford

Dear Bob,
Based on your description, I suspect you may have a weevil infestation. Weevils are the world’s largest family of animals, numbering in excess of 35,000 members worldwide, so exact identification based on a verbal description is nearly impossible. They are small beetles with the front part of the head elongated into a snout or proboscis. Members of the family include pantry beetles which find their way into grain products, munching happily and unnoticed, and reproducing in vast quantities. Here is the frightening part. Hogue states that "several species act as intermediate hosts and vectors of the human tapeworms Hymenopepis nana and H. diminuta. People acquire infections by ingesting beetles containing the larval (or cysticercoid) stages of the tapeworm, which will often remain viable in infested corn meal and wheat flour that is undercooked."

Robert responds:
You are correct, I was just visited today by our local exterminator. In the fall I put a bag of scratch grain that was given to me in my
basement so I could feed the spring turkeys. Well, looks like I get to see more than just turkeys around my house. His solution is to remove the grain & clean the area. This should stop the bug problem. Do you agree?

To which "What’s That Bug?" replies:
Congratulations Robert.
Cleaning out the grain in the basement is a good start. Hopefully, the pantry beetles did not get as far as the kitchen. They can foul even the best homemaker’s flour and other grain products. I have even found weevils in the dry mushrooms.
Have a nice day.

Posted 02 April 2002 § Weevils ‡ Comments (0) °

Lady Bug

Daniel,
We just bought an old house and in the basement and on the lower outside walls of the house we have an infestation (I mean millions) of black bugs with thin, neatly drawn orange lines outlining their backs/wings. Thee bugs have narrow bodies, are about 3/4 of an inch long, and have long antennae. They fly occasionally, but mostly just crawl around, and they sit in large clusters–they pile right on top of each other. Strangely, we also have lots of lady bugs mixing in with them. I live in southern York county, PA (on the PA/MD line) and we have had an unusually warm winter.
Any idea what the black bugs are, why they and the lady
bugs are here, whether they are doing damage and what I can
do to get rid of them and prevent them from returning?
Many, many thanks.
Tricia


Does this look familiar?

Dear Tricia,
Ladybugs are famous for communal hibernation, generally in mountainous areas. In recent years though, throughout the Eastern states, they have begun to invade homes. My internet search turned up this quote from the site http://www.uky.edu :

"People first started reporting large aggregations of lady beetles (ladybugs) on homes and buildings in Kentucky during the fall of 1993. Ladybugs are normally considered beneficial insects because they feed outdoors on aphids and other harmful plant pests. However, these beetles are congregating on the sides of buildings, and if given the opportunity, moving
inside. Lady beetles do not sting or carry diseases, nor do they infest food, clothing, or wood. Nonetheless, this particular species (Harmonia axyridis) can become a nuisance when large numbers begin crawling on windows, walls, light fixtures, and other indoor surfaces. When disturbed, they also secrete a foul-smelling orange-colored fluid that can spot and stain walls, carpeting, and other surfaces….
Because the Asian lady beetle is a tree-dwelling insect, homes and buildings in forested areas are especially prone to infestation. Suburban and landscaped industrial settings adjacent to wooded areas have also had large lady beetle aggregations. Once the beetles land on the sunny side of the
building, they attempt to locate cracks and other dark openings for hibernation sites. These locations may ultimately be on any side of the structure. Common overwintering sites include cracks and crevices around window and door frames, porches, garages and outbuildings, beneath exterior siding and roof shingles, and within wall voids, attics, and soffits. Structures in poor repair or with many cracks and openings are especially vulnerable to problems."

The site goes on to recomment removing the ladybugs with a vacuum cleaner. Your other insect is most probably a box elder bug (Leptocoris trivittatus).
On http://www.pma.edmonton.ab.ca it says, "When present in large enough numbers Box Elder Bugs can do damage to Manitoba Maple trees. Most people call us in the fall because they are curious about the large numbers on the walls of their houses or concerned about the numbers that are getting in the houses. Washing them off the walls of the house with a blast of cold water from a hose may help. The only way to ensure that they do not get inside the house is to fill in all
cracks where they could be getting in, a rather daunting and expensive task."
Though each of these insects is known to form communes, I have never heard of them bedding down together, but they’re not the strangest bedfellows I’ve encountered by far.


daniel, you are my hero. Many thanks for your help. We’re promptly getting out the hose and starting to fill in cracks–and I’m sleeping much better knowing that neither bug is eating my house into sawdust. What a valuable service you perform for those of us who are bug-clueless!
Many thanks again.
tricia

Posted 07 March 2002 § Lady Bug ‡ Comments (0) °

Pantry

Dear What’s that Bug,
I live in Chicago in a two-flat. My husband and I are moving in two weeks and I’m worried because we have noticed some new bugs appearing in our bathroom. We have lived here for a year and have never seen these bugs prior to last week. Now they are showing up every other night in our bathtub, five at a time. They are little tiny black bugs (about 1/4") and they don’t move. I thought they were dead, but upon further inspection I realized that they were just still & when prodded they moved their legs a little. They didn’t look like roaches, but I can’t help but panic. The only other bugs we’ve ever seen here are silverfish. Could they be baby silverfish?? So far I’ve found about 20 of them over the past week, mostly in the bathtub, though one was in the sink, five on the floor and one made it to the kitchen floor (near the sink). Any words of advice? Anything we can do to keep them from coming with us when we move in 2 weeks?
Thanks, C&J

Dear C&J,
Sounds like pantry beetles which seem to be very plentiful everywhere right now. clean out the pantry.

Posted 01 January 2000 § Pantry Beetles, Grain Weevils, Spider Beetles, Meal Worms and Carpet Beetles ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged:

Beetles

Amazing. I have searched the web for a few days, identify a bug sites, all kinds of crazy stuff. Nothing. No where. I email you and you instantly know what it is. I attached the pictures of the one specimin I photographed closely. I googled up a bunch of photos. But the photos I have seen of live ones and what not, if there are no very close relatives, that is it.
You said they are European imports. So they are already across the United States? They are in Salt Lake City anyway. A little more reading on them, they say they raise up like a scorpion when scared, release a stinky smell from their abdomen (true) does not sting but can give a painful bite. We are not gardeners, we live in brand new apartments, and we are finding them in our house. Should something be done? Or should we just scoop them up and let them outside? Thanks again on identifying it, with such a vague description really. Best site :-)
google.com search identify a font.
The site, identifies fonts, asks one question at a time, and identifies the font, to 2 or three fonts out of like 10,000 fonts. A bug site like that, would be amazing. I’m not much of a bug expert, but if you wanted any design help for such a site, let me know.

Posted 01 January 2000 § ‡ Comments (0) °

What’s this beetle??!!

Hello: What’s this beetle??!! It was found in western Colorado near Grand
Junction. It’s about 45 mm long, dark brown, long antenna, see
pictures….. Thank you!

They are beautiful photographs of a California Prionus. See following letter for more details.

Posted 01 January 2000 § ‡ Comments (0) °

I work at Colorado River State Park…

Mr. Bugman,
I work at Colorado River State Park. This cute little guy was found over here last evening. We are currently lacking a decent insect field guide, and were hoping that you could help us out. He’s obviously from Order Coleoptera, and makes a distinct screaming noise when threatened.
Thank you much,
Ranger DeBerard

Dear Ranger,
You have a California Prionus beetle, Prionus californicus, a member of the borer beetl group. They are among the largest beetles in the Western US. Though I couldn’t find any information on their noise making habits, I do know for a fact that other borers, including the red and black Milkweed Borer, Tetraopes tetraophthalmus, are capable of squeeking when handled. Here is some information I downloaded from another site: Range: California: coastal and inland valleys, foothills, and mountains to middle elevations. > Alaska, south to Baja
California, and east, into the Rocky Mountains. Hosts: Prevalent in oak, madrone, poplar and apple; also attacks cherry, walnut, chestnut, willow, serviceberry, eucalyptus, pear, almond, peach, plum, quince, alder, hop, some conifers, brambles and certain shrubs. Biology: Adults fly June to September; females may lay up to 600 eggs; lifecycle takes 3-5 years. Importance: Larvae bore into bark at plant bases, and penetrate roots; leaves yellow, then defoliate; bark on larger branches dries and cracks. Plants often die the following season. Serious pest of apples in New Mexico.

Posted 01 January 2000 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Page 133 of 134« First...100110120«130131132133134»