…Mosquitoes and flies make up the insect order, which is called dipterans (Diptera). They have, in contrast to most other insects, only one pair of wings. The second pair of wings is small, knobbed structures modified from the hind wings. These are called halteres and are help the insect balance during flight. The larvae are legless maggots that live in water or damp places. About 60,000 different kinds of mosquitoes and flies are known….
Search Results for: White-shouldered house moth with its wings open
Hymenoptera
…imbless, blind and pale maggots. There are two pairs of transparent flying wings with relatively few but clear ribs. The rear wings are always smaller than the front wings. Mouth parts are arranged to either suck or bite. In most species, there is a clearly marked narrowing between the first abdomen joint and the following joints. In the rear, the females have a stinger, which for some is used for egg production and for others to sting. The social…
Steatoda bipunctata
…ripe across the front edge, shines as though oiled. The web consists of an open mesh with threads running either vertically or obliquely to the substrate. These threads are sticky at the ends which become attached to the substrate, and the web is thus adapted for catching the small invertebrates that run about there. The spider usually sits hidden away in a crevice nearby. When a small animal is caught in the threads the spider comes out, turns it…
Ham beetle
…w up to 10 millimeters long. The larvae can be recognized by their greyish white color. On the upper side they have clear, violet drawings. In addition, they have two darker hooks on the rear end. Biology and behavior Adult ham beetles like to eat carrion, and they can typically get a lot of nutrition out of the driest parts of a carcass. Museums and similar institutions must keep a particularly close eye on ham beetles, which have also been found…
Cockroaches
…ifferent species of cockroaches and the vast majority of these live in the open and almost never come in contact with man. A few small species are native to northern Europe (see p. 201), but the majority are tropical. The cockroaches found indoors in temperate regions have been introduced from the tropics during the last 200 years, and most of them are completely dependent upon heated buildings. Newly hatched cockroaches German cockroach, developm…
Museum beetles
…k textiles, for they prefer clean new materials such as fine woollen curtains or bunting or soft, expensive knitted goods such as cashmere sweaters. In many places these insects are regarded as new pests of textiles, but this is probably because in former times they were grouped together with the numerous moth pests. It is, in fact, quite likely that our ancestors knew them. For example, it has been suggested that Odysseus had museum beetle larvae…
Animals in paper, leather and plastics
…s, but freshly tanned leather is a very poor source of nutriment. Here, as with paper, damp leather which goes mouldy becomes more attractive as a food. To an increasing extent artificial materials such as nylon and other plastics are replacing natural products in everyday life. Many of these plastics can be broken down by bacteria and fungi, and thus re-enter the natural chain of events, and this is to be welcomed, but there are still no animal s…
Booklice
…d winged booklice, e.g. Atropus pulsatorius, have small but non-functional wings. Booklice run about actively when disturbed, with characteristic jerky movements, and they can also make small, rather clumsy, jumps. As the name implies, booklice are found between sheets of paper in libraries and archives, and also behind loose wallpaper and in herbaria. They do not eat the paper itself, although they may feed on the glue in glazed paper, but they s…
Fox
…fox is probably one of the most recognizable animals in Danish nature with its distinctive appearance including all the stories and fairytales where the fox is involved. The fox is a wild and yet a social animal. Some of them even gets close to humans without fright, which is a great pleasure for children and childish souls. However, a fox can cause problems for humans if you are not careful, since the fox easily get close to humans, they can quic…
Prevention and protection
…l many peaceful moths and other insects that fly at night. Nets. Tulle or other suitable fabrics can be used to cover windows and doors. This is a reasonable way to prevent mosquitoes from entering the house or the caravan. If too many mosquitoes enter the house, they can be killed with one of the pyrethrin insect repellents for flying insects. Aedes mosquitoes Blackflies Midges Fig. 36. Of the three Diptera species which attacks humans, mosquitoe…
American cockroach
…American cockroach Lat.: 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….
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…
Arthropod structure
…in the true millipedes two pairs. Insects are the dominant group within the arthropods. The body is in three parts: head, thorax and abdomen. The head carries the mouthparts, eyes and antennae. The thorax has three segments, each with a pair of legs, and in most insects there is a pair of wings on each of the two foremost thoracic segments. The remaining twelve segments form the abdomen which contains the main organs such as the alimentary canal…
Pine weevil
…s. The adult beetles may cause some damage outdoors because they gnaw shoots and twigs, but indoors they are quite harmless. The beetles occur particularly in new timber houses, and they are possibly attracted by the scents given off during the first few years. Pine weevil (left) can be confused with the Black vine weevil. Both have stains off yellow hair on the wings. The snout of the pine weevil is much longer. This species may easily be confuse…
Invertebrates and hygiene
…onal stages from general malaise to a state of anxiety neurosis, sometimes with hallucinations, in which the patient believes that he or she is being persecuted by these small animals. Invertebrates and the spread of disease There are two principal ways in which pathogenic micro-organisms can be transmitted by invertebrates. In some cases a disease may be completely dependent upon certain species of insect or mite and can be transmitted only by th…
Animals in masonry and insulation
…ly dig their way into mortar. A Davies’s colletes returns home to its nest with pollen Woodpeckers Now and again woodpeckers find out that there are fat, juicy bee larvae in the wall. Once they have learned the trick they will arrive and hack great craters in the mortar in order to get at the grubs. If one cannot tolerate this form of biological control it will be necessary to scrape out the larvae and make good the mortar. Sparrows Sparrows and t…
Tetropium luridum
…f the wood, the tunnel having a total length of 4-6 cm. Pupa passages from black spruce beetle, Tetropium castaneum var. luridum When fully grown the larva makes a slightly enlarged chamber, which it closes behind it with coarse wood fibres, and then pupates. When the adult beetle emerges it finds its way back along the tunnel, gnawing an exit-hole if there is still bark on the tree, and flies off. The total development normally takes a year. The…
DPIL
…books written by Henri Mourier and Thorkil Hallas. The book “Pests in the house and home” was originally called “Wild animals in the house and home” and was published in several languages around Europe. Thus, this particular book is available in danish, Swedish, Norwegian, German, French, Dutch, Spanish and of course in English. The books “Pests in food” and “Bed bugs – Stings and itching” are published in Danish, English, Norwegian, Swedish an…
Mealworm beetle
…n former times mealworms were very common in bakeries, mills and grain warehouses, but nowadays they are no longer important as a pest. Mealworm beetle The adult beetles seen usually come from birds’ nests in the neighbourhood. On warm summer evenings they often fly in through the windows, attracted by the light. They normally do no harm in the living rooms of a house, and as they take so long to develop they do not become a problem in the kitchen…
Flour mite
…n 65 per cent. Enlarged flour mite Flour mites are able to survive periods with unfavourable conditions. After the second nymphal stage they may pass into what is known as a hypopus stage, in which they are almost immobile and very resistant to desiccation. In the hypopus stage they can also be transported, e.g. by flies. If there is any doubt as to whether flour is infested with mites it is only necessary to spread a little of it out on the table…
Cluster fly
…ey are not iridescent like the ordinary blowflies, but are more like large houseflies, and can be recognized by the numerous small, golden hairs on the thorax. Their life history is quite different from that of the ordinary blowflies, and they do not visit foodstuffs in the house. They lay their eggs in the soil, and the newly hatched larvae bore their way into earthworms, where they live as parasites. During the summer the adult flies remain outs…
Pests in bird’s nests
…or long periods of time….
Bed bugs in animals
…eek into the living room areas and bite humans. The risk of pigeon bugs visits – and visits from any of the other animals that live in pigeons – is greatest if you remove the pigeons and do not simultaneously remove nests, clean and disinfect. A treatment with insect powder will be effective against the pigeon bug. Oeciacus hirundinis, live in swallow nests, but can enter houses and bite people. In the rare case that we know of, it happened in the…
Scent
…s a skunk, and it serves as a scent marking, for these animals communicate with each other by scent. It is a curious fact that the rank carnivore smell in a house has in some cases been found to come from lamp fittings made of Bakelite, which owing to a fault in the manufacture give off a sharp smell when the fitting becomes warm. Scent marking can also be carried out by urine and faeces, which often have a characteristic smell. This happens, for…
Prevention of bites and stings
…ide useful clues. Protection by nets If the animals involved come into the house from outside, for example mosquitoes and gnats, nets fixed over the windows and doors will be effective. In the absence of nets, ordinary curtains will provide a certain amount of protection, especially if they have been treated with some kind of deterrent. Deterrent substances There are several substances that deter insects and mites and these can either be sprayed o…
Centipedes
…, damp places. At night they go hunting for small animals, which they kill with the powerful venom claws on their front segment. The venom is very effective against the centipedes’ natural prey (insects, etc.), but none of the Danish species can trouble people. They might frighten people and maybe bite, but the venom claws cannot penetrate the skin. The house centipede, Scutigera coleoptrata are located in the Mediterranean countries, where it is…
Spiders
…pecies can bite in such a way that it is felt. One example is the domestic house spider, Tegenaria domestica, and the cross spider, Araneus diadematus – two major species which are known to live in and around most Danish homes. Fig. 99. Domestic house spiders are seen indoors twice a year. Bites from large spiders can cause intense swelling, which can last for a long time. A spider bite, which a person might have gotten in bed while sleeping, may…
Allergy to pests
…as never actually been proved. Many beetle larvae have barbed hairs. The hairs break easily and find its way to human skin where it can cause allergic reactions and inflammation. Fig. 1. 1. Most people do not get skin reactions when allergy tested with extracts of house dust mites and flour mites. Those who do, react either to one of the two mite species or to both of them. In this figure, each dot represent a person. The number of people who reac…
Phymatodes testaceus
…present species only attacks hardwoods, such as beech, birch and oak. In a house the first sign will normally be the adult beetles, seen crawling around the room, and as they must necessarily have come from bark-covered timber the first place to search is the log basket. The exit- holes are oval (p. 118). This beetle is in no way a menace in the house, but if hardwood is being kept for carpentry work it is always advisable to remove the bark, as a…
Wood wasps
…ontaining these larvae. There is no risk of these insects spreading in the house, and it is very unlikely that they will be present in such numbers as to weaken the furniture. However, they may well cause damage when they emerge as adults. They can, for example, gnaw through floor boards and floor coverings or through roofing felt, or even lead sheeting (p. 163). Board with fly holes (the round ones) and cut passages wood wasp larvae. In some plac…
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