Subject: Insect/Bug, Sitka Alaska
Location: Sitka, Alaska
March 18, 2013 9:15 pm
I actually found this bug inside our home. I thought it was a piece of plastic that came off of our grocery’s that we brought home. It looked shiny. I thought it was a sliver of plastic until I scooped it up and it moved in my closed hand. I kinda screamed and dropped it fast. Mind you I am a 50 year old Tlingit woman who was born and raised in Alaska. My husband calls me an ”urban indian.”
After I washed my hands in both the kitchen and bathroom sink, I composed myself and decided to rescue the insect by trapping it with a mason jar and piece of paper. It crawled on the paper and I put the mason jar over it and took it outside. I placed it on the wood deck and watched it for a long time. It only crawled around and stood still for most of the time.
It is about 2 inches long.
It has black beady eyes.
Long antennae’s.
Long skinny shiny brown and white spotted wings that hug its body at the side.
I’ve seen the wing colors in all various shades of brown and even orange. Like fish egg orange.
Sometimes spotted and not. Their wings look shiny too.
I’ve seen them with their legs and wings tucked in, so they look ultra skinny, hard to spot.
I think they like to hang around the Alaskan wet woods.
I’ve occasionally seen them and wondered what kind of bug is it.
My twin sister in Juneau said they never see that kind there.
Thank you very much!
Signature: Scared of insects, but fascinated with them

Snow Sedge

Dear Scared of insects, but fascinated with them,
We hope our response will prompt additional curiosity and not fear and loathing.  This is a Northern Caddisfly and previous research unearthed the common name Snow Sedge.  Please see our previous posting on the Snow Sedge for more information and links to our research.  Caddisflies cannot survive in polluted waters, so their presence is an indication of the purity of your local streams and ponds.

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Subject: Seattle Mystery Bug
Location: Seattle WA
February 1, 2013 7:55 am
I was wondering if you could tell me what this brown flying insect is, as seen in a Pacific Northwest living room on 01/31/2013. I’ve never seen one of these before, and now this is the second one I’ve found inside a house in two days. It may be very common, but is new to me. It’s brown and about 1 1/2” long. The pattern on the wings makes it look like it is made of wood. I thought it was a moth when it first flew by, but it is sort of slow moving, a clumsy flier, and heavier. Any thoughts?
Signature: A

Caddisfly

Dear A.,
You have had an encounter with a Caddisfly in the order Trichoptera, and as we learned from BugGuide, there are:  “1,350 spp. in ~150 genera of 22 families in NA [North America]“ and we cannot say for certain how to classify it more specifically, though it does closely resemble several photos from the genus Psychoglypha that can be found on BugGuide.  Like you own observations, BugGuide notes that “Adults resemble moths, but wings are hairy instead of scaly.”  Larval Caddisflies are aquatic and they construct shelters, so they are commonly called Caseworms.  Interestingly, each species of Caddisfly Larva builds a different shelter, some of sticks, some of stones, some of shells and others from other materials.  According to bugGuide:  “Most species live in a mobile case constructed from plant material, algae, grains of sand, pieces of snail shells, or entirely of silk. The case is held together with strands of silk secreted by the larva. In some species the case is attached to a rock, log, or other underwater surface; a few species have no case and are free-living.  The case’s particular shape and construction material is distinctive of the family and/or genus, and can be used in identification. Example: Helicopyschidae larvae use sand grains to build spiral cases that resemble small snail shells.”

You are amazing! Thanks so much for the response. Mystery solved.

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Subject: Pond Insect
Location: Oak Harbor (Whidbey Island), WA
June 15, 2012 2:26 pm
We started seeing these ”thatched cocoon” things floating in our pond in May. At first I thought they were worms but as they emerged their legs became visible. I’ve never seen anything like it! Any ideas?
Signature: Cyaxtin

Caddisfly Naiad

Dear Cyaxtin,
Though it is commonly called a Caseworm, your observations that this Caddisfly Larva is not a true worm is correct.  Aquatic larvae are usually called Naiads.  This Caseworm will metamorphose into a winged Caddisfly, a mothlike insect.  This is an awesome photo.  Each species of Caddisfly makes a distinctive looking case because of both the form and the materials used.  The case serves as a shelter during its larval stage.

Thank you soooo much!! Fascinating little creatures! I very much appreciate your time!
Krystal

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October moth?
Location: Port Coquitlam, BC, Ca
January 19, 2012 11:40 pm
This (moth?) sat unmoving for several hours on the key guard of a near-by door. I really wanted a look at the abdomen, but thought it unfriendly to poke at it. Total legnth of about 5 cm, including antennae. Photos taken on October 5/11.
thank you!
Storm Vos-Browning
Signature: Storm

Caddisfly

Hi Storm,
Though it is mothlike, this insect is actually a Caddisfly in the order Trichoptera.  Caddisflies have aquatic larvae that carry cases about with them earning them the common name of Caseworm.

Hi Daniel,
For a small team with a backlog, you sure answered my question FAST! Thak you. The forward pointing antennae looked wrong for a moth, as did the mouth parts, but I’m not very good at identifying insects. Love watching them, though – I’ve spent hours watching caddisfly larvae in local waterways, but didn’t know what the adults looked like.
As with the stink bug nymph you ID’ed for me back in August, I’ll post a link to What’s That Bug? when I post the photo on my blog.
best wishes,
Storm

Thanks for the positive comments Storm.  So, you raise Killies?  The African Aphyosemion species are really spectacular fish.  We have our own Angelfish aquaria going.  We are sticking to Amazon species for now.

Wow, Daniel, you actually checked out the link? No one ever does that!
“Amazon species” is a huge category – you’ll never run out of cool species. I’m personaly captivated by the small, nocturnal driftwood cats, the corydoras and farlowellas.
The unidentified critter Lori asks about at the bottom of the page looks to be a seed shrimp (Ostracod) but the photo is indistinct. I don’t know how you manage to ID bugs from photos!
you run an awesome site!
cheers, Storm

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WTB
Location: juneau alaska
November 16, 2011 10:07 am
This bug was found in juneau, Alaska yesterday. Never seen one arround here before let alone we dont see many bugs in the winter!
Signature: Gary

Snow Sedge

Hi Gary,
This is a Caddisfly in the order Trichoptera.  Caddisflies are mothlike creatures that have aquatic larvae that build cases for themselves.  According to BugGuide:  “Most species live in a mobile case constructed from plant material, algae, grains of sand, pieces of snail shells, or entirely of silk. The case is held together with strands of silk secreted by the larva. In some species the case is attached to a rock, log, or other underwater surface; a few species have no case and are free-living.  The case’s particular shape and construction material is distinctive of the family and/or genus, and can be used in identification. Example: Helicopyschidae larvae use sand grains to build spiral cases that resemble small snail shells.”  The light markings on the wings of your individual seemed distinctive, so we made an attempt at a more specific identification.  We believe your Caddisfly is in the genus Psychoglypha, and it looks similar to this image posted to BugGuide that contains the comment from Dave Ruiter:  “The scalloped wing, color pattern and venation are characteristic of several, but not all of the species in this genus.”  Somewhere as we were clicking around, we thought we read a name Snow Sedge, so we did a web search of that term and found the TroutNut website that attributes the name to the genus and provides this information:  “These caddisflies may be important to the winter angler because they are one of the only insects around. Gary LaFontaine relays an interesting correspondence about this genus in Caddisflies:  Dr. George Roemhild explained to me how he finds these winter caddisflies in February and March: ‘They crawl up on the snowbanks, but when the sun hits their dark wings they melt down out of sight. That’s how I collect them, by walking along looking for holes in the snow.’”  To back check where we found the name Snow Sedge, we searched again, adding BugGuide as a keyword and found this posting on BugGuide.  The presence of Caddisflies is an indication of clean, unpolluted water.  Here is one final photo from the Natural History of Southeast Alaska website.  

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