Subject: Bug ID
Location: NC
January 26, 2016 8:46 pm
I have only found one of these. He has to be the strangest insect I’ve ever seen. I didn’t kill it ! I found him this way . It was on our living room floor near the propane fireplace.
Signature: Lost in the woods
Dear Lost in the woods,
Though you have provided several images, we have no idea what they depict. You mentioned finding it near the propane fireplace. Do you burn wood in the fireplace? Was there a stack of firewood nearby? Many insects infest wood, including the larvae of beetles in the families Cerambycidae and Buprestidae, but this doesn’t look like either a Round Headed Borer which is pictured on BugGuide or a Flat Headed Borer which is also pictured on BugGuide.
No sir , WE do not use wood . Actually have only turn it on one or two time. Funny looking little guy ! It look like it has a possum tail.
Lost in the woods
Drone Fly Larvae?
A Rattailed Maggot is a possibility, but there is not enough detail in the images to be certain.
But it seems to have something in the tip of the tail. Some fishing lure have a tail simmilar to this.
Is it a possibility that this thing can sting or bite a person? I have a picture of a wound that I had and in the pictures that I took you can see that same pointed tail. I can send you the pictures and you can tell me if it seems to be the same bug. Thanks alot….. Matthew
We are not fully convinced the thing in this image is a living creature.
I replied with my pictures attached. Please let me know if you received them. Please hold onto that specimen Lost in the Woods.
If you want to contact me you can email [email protected] Thanks, Matthew
Hello Matthew ,
I have been given, marks sometimes very itchy, sometimes the bites sting, burn after the bite. After doing so much research, I truly believe these small black specks, are Mites.
Domestic Starling Mite – Bird Mites ( Bird lice )
Ornithonyssus Sylviarum – ( Northern Fowl Mite )
Ornithonyssus Bacoti -(Tropical Rat Mite )
Ornithonyssus Bursa.
If it is a dark or black colour, it maybe O. Sylviarum, O. Bursa O. Bacoti. Rat mites are small, approximately the size of a period at the end of a sentence. Tropical rat Mite is the worse one. Many counties have these mites, due to Birds, animals, and especially old damp cracks in houses, as the Mites spread. From outside to in side, air vents,, screen windows, sidings on houses. From cellars. Found only a couple of things to cure,
White Vinegar 5% Acetic Acid applied directly on the bites last for days also heals the bites faster and prevents bacterial/fungal infections.
It could be a borer beetle with a horsehair worm inside of it. Some animal (chimney swallow, centipede, mouse) might have attacked the grub and revealed an immature worm inside.
Seriously, I have no idea what this is.