Bird Mites
(Ornithonyssus spp.)
Small to microscopic, very light colored. Parasites of fowl including wild birds and poultry. Readily bite humans, especially after nestlings have left when nests are built in and around structures. Entire life cycle may require only 10 days, adults can survive without blood meals for 2 months. The bites cause painful irritation and itching.
Booklice or Psoclds
(Liposcelis corrodens)
Gradual metamorphosis leads to a very small adult, light tan color, wingless. Long antenna, round abdomen, round head and thin thorax distinguish Psocids. Usual food is fungus growing on damp materials, including foods, furnishings, papers. May also attack glue in books, other starches. Over 400 young from one female, mature to adult in less than 1 month. Best control measure involves moisture control.
Cadelle
(Tenebroides mauritanicus)
Adults 1/2″ long, shiny black, with separation between thorax and wings. Larva an active wanderer, light colored with 2 black “horns” at tail end. Feed on variety of stored foods, including unbroken grains. Up to 1300 eggs per female, with extremes to 3500 eggs, larvae developing in less than a year.
Varied Carpet Beetle
(Anthrenus verbasci)
Adults small, somewhat flattened and oval in shape. Colors black, white, and brown, mottled and variable. Only larvae damage animal materials such as fur, skins, wool, felt, insects. Larva brown, very hairy, head end narrow, posterior widened with 3 tufts of long hairs. Commonly infest any manmade object of animal origin, insect and bird nests. Larval period normally lasts almost a year. Adults feed on flowers, larvae very active in wandering about structures.
House Centipede
(Scutigera coleoptrata)
Adults up to 2″ long, with extremely long legs – 15 pairs – last pair very long. Poison glands present, biting possible on humans, but problems slight. Very fast moving creatures, occurring commonly in structures where they feed on insects.
Cheese Mite
(Tyrolichus sp.)
Mold Mite – Tyrophagus sp.Extremely small, 8-legged, hairy, possibly microscopic. Common on cheese, but infests wide variety of foods and other materials, including meats, cereals, flours, many more. Enormous numbers of mites may lead to biting of humans handling infested products.
Drugstore Beetle
(Stegobium paniceum)
Cigarette Beetle – Lasioderma serricorneAdults very small, brown to reddish, with the head tucked under the overhanging pronotum. Cigarette Beetle shinier, more rounded, with antennal segments all small and equal in size. These attack the widest range of stored foods and tobacco – favorites are spices, baked goods, pet foods. Life cycle completes in about 1 month, with both larva and adult actively feeding.
Webbing Clothes Moth
(Tineola bisselliella)
Adults are small moths, shiny golden wings with no markings, tuft of reddish hairs on head. Larva feeds on hair, wool, carpets, furniture, feathers, insulation, lint, etc. – any product of animal origin. Adults do not feed. Adult and larva avoid light. Larva spins silken tunnel over its food and feeds beneath this cover. About 45 eggs perfemale, adults live less than 1 month.
Bean “Weevil”
(family Bruchidae)
Adults with prolonged mouthparts which look somewhat like a “true” weevil’s snout. Wing covers short, exposing several segments of the abdomen. infest exclusively legumes (beans), with larva completing life cycle within whole bean. Life cycle may be completed in less than a month.
Earwig
(Family Forliculidae)
European Earwig – Forficula auriculariaAdults dark colored with pale legs, well developed wings folded under small wingcovers. Forceps or pinchers, are the cerci, used in defense as well as for capturing food. Female lays up to 50 eggs, cares for them and the young after hatching. Food is primarily plant material and other insects, including termites.
Fleas
(Latrodectus, Cat Flea – Ctenocephalides felis)
Adults very small, wingless, dark brown to black,compressed laterally. Larva legless, worm-like, hairy. Eggs laid on the host, female may lay several hundred in her lifetime. Larva a scavenger feeding on debris in carpet or outdoors, including dried blood. Extremely imponant vector of diseases, and cause of discomfort and allergies.
Confused Flour Beetle
(fiibolium confusum)
Red Flour Beetle – Tribolium castaneumAdults small, dark reddish, somewhat flattened. Red can fly while Confused cannot. On both the antenna ends in an enlarged “club”, on Fled made up of 3 distinctly larger segments, on confused tapering gradually larger. Feed on wide variety of flours, cereals, debris, cocoa, fruits, and vegetable products, but not on unbroken grains. lmpart a bad taste and discoloration to flour they infest.
Mediterranean Flour Moth
(Anagasta kuehniella)
Adult moths with gray wings, 3 or 4 zigzag lines across wings. Larva white or pink with 2 rows of spots. Feed especially on meals/flours where larval webbing creates large lumps. Larva migrates from food to pupate, or in the flour itself. Female may lay over 600 eggs, develop to adult in as little as 1 month.
Furniture Carpet Beetle
(Anthrenus flavipes)
Adults very similar to Varied Carpet Beetle, but differs by a slight V-shaped “notch” where wing covers meet at posterior end. Larva small, brown and hairy, with head end wider than posterior end. Food sources similar to Varied, and control measures the same.