Bugs on Outside of home
Location: Central PA
December 4, 2011 12:36 pm
Hello, I have these little bugs all over the outside of my house. I am not sure what they are. There are a lot of them and I didn’t know if I should get them taken care of the issue or not. Thanks for your time.
Signature: Ryan Lucas

Small Winter Stonefly

Dear Ryan,
This is a Small Winter Stonefly in the family Capniidae and this past January, a submission from Pennsylvania was our featured Bug of the Month.  Small Winter Stoneflies, which are sometimes called Snowflies, will not harm your family nor your home.  They are harmless creatures that need fresh unpolluted water to survive, so their presence in large numbers is an indication that you have unpolluted running water nearby. 

Thank you for the quick response!!
It is good to know that these are safe bugs and that the stream nearby is not polluted.  It’s a great site you have and is very helpful.
Thanks again!!
Ryan Lucas

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No idea what this thing is..
Location: Southern Minnesota
June 20, 2011 1:51 pm
I was pounding a steel post in for my garden fence when I noticed this little friend on the post. It was about 2.5 to 3 inches long and maybe a half inch wide. When I told my sister about, she said she had found the same bug in a tub in the shed a couple days before and let it go in the yard. I left it alone and it eventually was gone. Any idea what it is?
Signature: JWB

Giant Stonefly

Dear JWB,
This marvelous insect is a Giant Stonefly in the genus Pteronarcys.

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Big orange neuropteran(?) Seattle
Location: Seattle (Woodinville)
April 26, 2011 12:27 am
The kids spotted this
”Squee! Can it hurt us?”
”I don’t think so: no sting, and it looks like chewing mandibles”
”Ooo, it can FLY”
”Pretty”

Giant Stonefly

”I wanna hold it”
”Mee too”
”Me”
”Me!”
”Me!”
Well, it was outside, on an unusually non-rainy and warm spring day (4/24/11) here in a rural suburb of Seattle, at our new house, where there are a lot of creeks and swampy ground. We found our first-ever salamander the same day. The critter likes syrup, can fly, and is unusually …charismatic… for the area. Since there are all sorts of worries about invasives here like Asian Longhorn Beetle and Emerald Ash Borer, I thought it best to ask before letting it go. Unfortunately, I had no film for the camera with the macro lens, so I took these with a cheap little cameera while holding a magnifier in front of it.
I know you’re on vacation, but I hope you can take a look when you get back….
Signature: George

Giant Stonefly

Hi George,
What a marvelous story.  This beauty is a Giant Stonefly or Salmonfly.  See BugGuide for more information.

Giant Stonefly

Daniel,
Yep: Just after I posted the picture on my facebook, my college daughter (who had been with me and her sisters when we found it) popped-in with:
“Hey I searched online! it looks like a skwala stonefly, also known as the american springfly. the nymphs are aquatic, and they make good fishing bait apparently. and only the females have wings. http://flyfishingtraditions.blogspot.com/2010/01/bugs-yuba-skwala-stone.html
“I figured there weren’t that many large insects in washington with wings and orange bits. google images for the species, then searched that for an informative website. haha
So it’s apparently Skwala americana, and she’s quite a genius.
Actually, we’ve always been a critter family: One of the attractions of this new place was the peculiar superabundance of garter snakes for the kids to play with (makes for smelly laundary though). I regularly make mud for the daubers when it’s dry, and keep Polistes as pets (ask me about it sometime); the girls like to feed them, and bumbles, beetles, butterflies and whatever else will take it, with sugar-on-the-finger. Makes for good memories and pictures. I was surprized the stonefly so avidly took sugar syrup; I always thought the adults of such things were ephemeral, non-feeding.
I have quite a few pictures, and many more stories, about my childhood, adulthood, and THEIR childhood adventures with insects and other wildlife; I should write a book.
BTW, I appreciate your site: it’s a useful service, of more value than you realize. Scientists everywhere (and you do indeed qualify) need to do public outreach. Here is a discussion on the topic by a prominent and controversial scientist, famous for his obstreperousness: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2011/04/my_cunning_plan_has_worked.php#comments
Much Thanks,
George

Thanks for the followup and kind compliment George.

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type of bug
Location: Boston
April 1, 2011 4:58 pm
Hi,
Can you tell me what kind of bug these are? They are many of them on the side of my house.
Signature: Ronni

Stoneflies

Hi Ronni,
These are harmless Stoneflies.  They have aquatic larvae that live in freshwater streams, and they cannot tolerate polluted conditions.  In your case, they indicated that there is probably a nearby stream that has not been contaminated by pollutants.

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