…s pleasure. Flower bugs are especially encountered in the late summer. Flower bugs are useful animals, which help keep the aphids-population down, and it’s not reasonable to fight them with poison. People who are bothered strongly by the bugs must cover bare parts with clothing to keep the bugs from gaining access to bare skin….
Search Results for: White-shouldered house moth with its wings open
Thrips
…era year 1853, and it was erroneously thought that they had some connexion with the disease. Most thrips are associated with plants, where they feed on the sap. They fly very well, but normally only take to the wing on warm, still days. They may then occur in enormous numbers and can be very irritating when they crawl around on the skin producing a tickling sensation, and because they have a tendency to creep beneath clothing and into ears, mouth…
Wasps
…hrough the entrance hole. You wait until late in the evening when the wasps are all home and are relatively quiet. If the nest is hidden in a cavity wall or in the ground, you can dust the hole or the slot which the wasps fly in and out of, with an insect powder. The wasps will then bring the poison into the nest and a few days later it will be dead. Wasps are aggressive towards people who tamper with their nest, so do not linger at the nest when…
Mites
…s stick out. Mites are also missing facet eyes, auditory system and wings. With mites, as with insects, males and females mate. Female mites lay eggs and from those eggs come tine mite offspring with only six legs. Otherwise mite offspring is very similar to adult mites. After the first moult the number of legs increases to eight and two to four moulting phases later, the young become adult female or male mites. The mites that occur in foods have…
Biting midges
…ound in most parts of the globe. Most species of the Culicoides have wings with dark and light spots. Biting midges lay their eggs in moist places. The larvae live in peat moss, in moist soil or in mud. Here, they eat decomposing organic matter. Some species prefer mud soaked in salt water and are found in salt marshes. In Denmark, there is one generation of biting midges each year. The larvae overwinter, and the first adult midges take off in lat…
Thrips
…used to pierce the cell wall of tissues….
Fly bug
…t suck the body fluids of other insects. They are often found in lofts, outhouses and similar places where there are usually other insects of various kinds. They avoid the light and spend the day hidden in crevices. Specimens found in houses are usually strays from their normal habitat, but exceptionally they may be hunting bed bugs. There have been a few records of fly bugs biting sleeping humans, and they may also bite in self defence if picked…
Follicle mites in humans
…ollicle that is pulled out. You can also press a piece of adhesive tape on wings of the nose. Then you examine the tape under a microscope. Your ophthalmologist can see the mites that live in the eyelid edge (if there are many). Harmful effects Most scientists agree that, generally speaking, human follicle mites are harmless or even beneficial. 98% of the people who are infected by the follicle mites never feel or see their presence. Many mites in…
The German cockroach
…oped elytrons that cover the entire abdomen. The breast is yellowish brown with two dark stripes. Under the elytrons are quite well-developed flying wings. They are not used to fly, but is on rare occasions used as a kind of gliders when the cockroach jumps from tables and shelves onto the floor. Cockroaches are omnivorous, but you rarely find them in food. They are active when it is dark. When it is bright, they sit in cracks and crevices near fu…
American cockroach, Periplaneta americana
…A species introduced into Europe with food cargoes. Both sexes have wings which are longer than the body. They thrive in warm places with a high humidity, such as greenhouses and conservatories, but will not tolerate cold or dryness….
Rice weevil
…by the four reddish spots on the elytra, which cover a pair of functional wings. Rice gnawed by rice weevil This is one of the most serious pests of cereal crops in the tropics and subtropics. It is often brought to northern Europe and is not uncommonly found in kitchen cupboards, usually in a packet of rice (see page 93). As in the grain weevil it lays an egg in a small groove which it has gnawed in a rice grain. The larva lives and feeds in the…
Firebrat
…Thysanura – Firebrat ( Latin: Thermobia domestica) As its popular and scientific names suggest, this is an insect that likes warmth. In fact it thrives best at a temperature around 37° C, and is therefore frequently found in bakeries and restaurant kitchens. Unlike the common silverfish it can survive under very dry conditions….
Common gnat
…Common gnat (Latin: Culex pipiens) This small mosquito does not usually bite humans, but evidently prefers the blood of birds. Its habits are more or less the same as those of the preceding species, and specimens may also be found spending the winter in damp cellars, often in quite large numbers….
Ant beetle
…(Latin: Corynetes coeruleus) (Ham beetle) – Ant beetle, corynetes coeruleus This beetle has very similar habits to the preceding species, Opilo. Its larvae wander round in the tunnels and attack wood-boring larvae. They may also feed on the larvae of moths and larder beetles, for example in birds’ nests, and like the copra beetles (p. 75) they are sometimes found on dry carrion. Ant beetle is a natural enemy of timber pests….
Khapra beetle
…ten congregate in large numbers in the cracks and crevices of walls in warehouses. Unlike the preceding dermestids this beetle feeds mainly on plant material. Khapra beetles ind wheat It has now spread to almost all tropical and subtropical regions and those areas where it has not appeared have very stringent quarantine regulations to prevent its introduction. For it is regarded as one of the most serious pests, particularly in grain and food stor…
Lithobius forficatus
…Latin: Lithobius forficatus Stone centipede This very common centipede can reach a length of 3 cm. It is easily found by turning over stones in the garden or by searching under loose bark. It sometimes occurs in compost heaps and outhouses, or in piles of dried leaves, and occasionally one comes indoors during its nocturnal hunt for prey. Centipedes are very sensitive to desiccation so they do not survive long indoors, except in damp cellars….
Lymexylon navale
…Latin: Lymexylon navale Lymexylon navale This beetle infests old oaks in the forest and oak beams in timber yards. It has, on occasion, done considerable damage in shipyards, and is especially famous from Linnaeus’ account of its depredations in the naval dockyard at Gothenburg in 1747….
Kestrel
…(Latin: Falco tinnunculus) Silhouette of kestrel This bird of prey often builds on church towers in the country, and is by no means uncommon as a breeding bird in towns and cities, particularly in southern Europe. On occasion they also use the deserted nests of crows or magpies. They feed mainly on mice, but also take quite a few large insects, such as beetles. Kestrel feeding its young…
Development of adult bed bugs
…he bed bug nymph leaves the egg, it pumps liquid into the head and wiggles its way out using peristaltic movements. (Askew) Insects cannot grow gradually; their exoskeleton simply prevents it. Therefore, they must grow in stages, changing skin sometimes in the course of development and growing a size each time. The insects’ development can proceed in two radically different ways. Some insects undergo a complete metamorphosis. A good example is but…
Grey flesh fly
…Flesh fly ( Latin: Sarcophaga carnaria) This large grey fly is occasionally seen indoors. Like the true blowflies it lays on dead animals, so all meats and meat products must be kept out of its reach. The eggs hatch just before they are laid so the flesh fly can be said to produce live young….
Lesser housefly
…ours after it has left the pupae sheath. The female fly mates only once in its life, then it rejects all approaches from the mating eager male flies. This is the fly, common in houses, which circles ceaselessly round lamps and candles. The female lays eggs in very damp rotting material, such as wet manure, at the outflow of the kitchen sink and similar places, and there the characteristic, flat larvae develop (p. 104). This little fly is often ver…
Ant beetle
…Ham beetle ( Latin: Corynetes coeruleus) This beetle is similar to the copra beetles, but is a uniform iridescent green. The larvae feed on dried carrion and may also eat smoked meat products. In roof spaces suffering attack by wood-boring beetles it lives as a predator (p. 121), its larvae hunting the wood-boring larvae like a mole hunting earthworms….
Empicoris culiciformis
…Thread-legged bug This is a reduviid bug (Order Hemiptera) which in spite of its very delicate appearance is .an active predator. It frequents damp places, such as old walls, thatch and low herbage, where it catches small insects and feeds by sucking their body contents….
Tarantulas
…word of truth in them. Moreover, it often turns out that in Denmark, a suspected tarantula is in fact the domestic house spider which can be frightening with its impressive size. A fully grown specimen takes up more than a large coin….
Unease about small animals
…s that we have an inherent fear of small creepy things .We are rather born with a preparedness, an application that allows us to know and remember the animals which we have unpleasant experiences with or to which our surroundings have a negative reaction – so we can avoid them in the future. To better understand people’s attitude towards small animals, extensive surveys have been carried out in the U.S. These show that more than 80% found it uncom…
Control
…In most cases, having a bumble bee family in the house poses no problems. They are, as mentioned, peaceful, and they make themselves useful by pollinating crops in the garden. In the rare cases when they are not tolerated, they can be controlled in the same manner as honeybees….
Dermestes haemorrhoidalis
…f gnawing their way into all kinds of materials. This is a recent addition to the European fauna, but it appears to have become quite common, particularly in large towns. The adult beetles fly very well and so an odd one may appear in any house. In general, they can do no damage in a normal household, but they may multiply if the remains of food and other kitchen waste are left lying around for months. In many cases the beetles come from a pigeon’…
Prevention
…You can avoid hornets settling into the house, by covering potential nesting holes with nylon nets. First and foremost, the gaps between boards in the eaves and vents in the walls need to be covered….
Small black or garden ant
…t Tender woodwork that has served as part of a nest of black garden ants. The surface gets a typically sanded structure Several of the ants which otherwise live in the ground will occasionally build their nests in damp timber in the house, and these include the garden ant. They will only start to gnaw their way into timber which has already been subject to damp and has been broken down by fungi and possibly by the attacks of beetle larvae. On this…
On pests in general
…ider in a corner of the garden shed, but it must be recognized that for some people the presence of a single invertebrate in the house is a traumatic experience….