Currently viewing the category: "True Bugs"

Immature Conchuela Bug

On · Category: Stink Bugs and Shield Bugs · Add Comment

Subject:  Whats this Beetle?
Geographic location of the bug:  Southern Oregon (Medford)
Date: 07/30/2021
Time: 01:15 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  These Beetle’s have traveled to the SE, SW sides of our building. They are staying around the door jams and brick stem wall.Black with a thin orange line around their body. I search beetles of So Oregon and these were not listed. Thank you for your help, Darrell
How you want your letter signed:  Darrell

Conchuela Stink Bug

Dear Darrell,
You had difficulty with your identification because this is not a Beetle.  This is an immature Conchuela Stink Bug.

Related posts:

Harlequin Bug Nymph Brown Marmorated Stink Bug Stink Bugs hatch in India Immature Stink Bug from Crete

Immature Ambush Bug

On · Category: Ambush Bugs · Add Comment

Subject:  Interesting green bug!
Geographic location of the bug:  99163
Date: 07/25/2021
Time: 03:34 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Hi there! We’ve been scouring all of our resources trying to identify this little fellow and while he looks a bit like a stink bug, his front legs bend more like a praying mantis and he has a ridge to back that gives him a concave appearance. He’s quite tiny, able to perch on my pinky nail with room to spare.
###-###-#### (Ed. Note:  Number redacted for privacy concerns)
How you want your letter signed :  Heath B. & Family

Immature Ambush Bug

Dear Heath B. & Family,
This is an immature insect and immature forms of insects are generally more poorly documented online, which complicates identification attempts.  This is an immature Ambush Bug and it uses its raptorial front legs to capture prey the same way the Preying Mantis does.

Related posts:

Cuckoo Wasp and Ambush Bug from Canada Ambush Bug Ambush Bug Ambush Bug from Canada

Small Milkweed Bug Nymphs

On · Category: Seed Bugs · Add Comment

Subject:  Elder of some sort??
Geographic location of the bug:  Vermont
Date: 07/02/2021
Time: 07:47 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Hi Daniel – thank you so much for your comments on my orchard Spider from June…Need your help again.  Saw these two on milkweed and I think I interrupted a lovefest..My guess is some type of Elder??
I am happy to send you as many images as you would like…Im a professional commercial photographer, but I love wildlife, astro and MACRO photography as my hobby. I take LOTS of bug pics!  Thanks again for your help!  Have a great weekend!
How you want your letter signed:  Caroline Minneci

Small Milkweed Bug Nymph

Dear Caroline,
We are not certain what an elder is, other than a person of greater age.  These are definitely not elders.  They are immature Small Milkweed Bugs, Lygaeus kalmii, which are pictured on BugGuide.  They were also most certainly not mating, though they are a communal species.

Small Milkweed Bug Nymph

Related posts:

Large Milkweed Bugs Nymph from Cyprus: Spilostethus pandurus Large Milkweed Bug Long-Necked Seed Bug

Masked Hunter

On · Category: Assassin Bugs · Add Comment

Subject :  What in the world is this?
Geographic location of the bug:  Murray, Utah
Date: 07/05/2021
Time: 08:32 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  We were moving things in our mother’s unfinished basement preparing for her home to be sold and this frisky fella was hiding in a cardboard box. Scoots around pretty fast and reminded us of a crab with how it walked. It looks “dusty” and at first we thought it was some sort of spider, but only has six legs, not 8 and has antennas. Is this something to be worried about in her home? Are they poisonous, do they bite, what attracts them?? So far we only found one but he’s a really cool looking fella!
How you want your letter signed:  Stacy the nervous bug

Masked Hunter

Dear Stacy,
This is a Masked Hunter, an immature Assassin Bug in the species Reduvius personatus that has a sticky exoskeleton.  All manner of dust and debris sticks to the insect, effectively masking it in its surroundings in an interesting example of adaptive camouflage.  According to BugGuide:  “Nymphs cover themselves with dust, lint, sand, and other debris which usually matches the color of their immediate surroundings and makes the nymphs difficult to detect.”

Related posts:

Default ThumbnailThread Legged Bug Wheel Bug Wheel Bug Spined Assassin Bug in Dried-Up Foliage Pose

Lace Bug

On · Category: Lace Bugs · Add Comment

Subject:  Very strange insect!
Geographic location of the bug:  Great Falls, VA
Date: 06/30/2021
Time: 11:34 PM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Hello!   You helped me identify a pseudoscorpion in Boston in the nineties!  Now I have seen the strangest bug ever in Virginia.  It was less than a centimeter, brown with white markings, slowly walking along.
How you want your letter signed:  Elise H

Lace Bug

Dear Elise,
We love hearing back from folks after years have passed, but we believe your timeline needs a bit of adjusting.  Though Daniel did begin What’s That Bug? in the late 90s, it was a column in a printed “zine” until American Homebody went online after about two years, and What’s That Bug? became a unique website in 2002.  We were unable to locate any ubmissions from Elise or from Boston in our Pseudoscorpions archives, but there were countless identifications we made that did not get posted live to our site.  Your current submission is a Lace Bug in the family Tingidae. According to BugGuide they:  “Feed mainly on leaves of trees and shrubs, causing yellow spotting and sometimes browning and death of the leaves.”

Wow, thank you!!   I will look it up and share the info with everyone.   Really appreciate it.  You’re awesome!  Happy 4th!

Related posts:

Lace Bug Lace Bug Default ThumbnailLace Bug Lace Bugs

Black Corsair bites Canadian

On · Category: Assassin Bugs · Add Comment

Subject:  I got bit by this bug an i don’t know what it is
Geographic location of the bug:  Canada
Date: 06/28/2021
Time: 03:18 AM EDT
Your letter to the bugman:  Hey so this bug bit me an idk if it’s A Black Corsair or a kissing bug
How you want your letter signed:  Not sure

Black Corsair

We just created another new posting with a Black Corsair, and that is what you have encountered.  This is not a Kissing Bug.  You have confused the two which is understandable as both are Assassin Bugs and both will bite, but according to BugGuide, unlike the Kissing Bug which spreads Chagas Disease, the Black Corsair:  “Can inflict a painful bite but does not feed on blood and does not transmit diseases.”

Related posts:

Millipede Assassin Bugs from South Africa Wheel Bug Assassin Bug Nymph found in bed Assassin Bug Nymph