More recent entomology questions and answers

Entomology answers

Cricket or spider

There are some really scary bugs around my house. They look like spiders, but jump like crickets. They are brown and have six or eight legs, two eyes and bodies are about the size of a nickel or dime. They live in dead grass by the edge of my house. Sometimes, I find them inside and in clothes. What are they?

It sounds like you have spiders, some spiders can jump fairly high, however it can be very difficult to identify them from a description. The MU Plant Diagnostic Clinic can identify insects and spiders. I suggest taking some photos and/or collecting a sample of the insects or spiders and submitting them to the clinic for identification. Please see the online image submission instructions and then click the insect images submission at the right side of the screen to submit photos and required background information to the lab. You can also find more information about the clinic and how to submit physical samples.

Simeon Wright
Plant Diagnostic Clinic Coordinator

Caterpillar and dill

I would like to identify a caterpillar which is light green with horizontal black stripes along its body and orange, small, double horns on front of its head. It just loves my dill plants. What is it?

From your description, this sounds like the larvae of the black swallowtail, which feeds on dill and related plants. However, it is difficult to identify an insect with certainty from a description. To be sure of the identification of the larvae, I suggest submitting a sample to the Plant Diagnostic Clinic.

Simeon Wright
Plant Diagnostic Clinic Coordinator

Honey bees in wall

Tonight I noticed bees coming in and out of the wall around my chimney. Inside the house you can put your ear on the wall and hear bees buzzing inside. What do we do?

Honey bees are a very beneficial insect whose colonies are normally protected from activities that would harm them. However, when a colony of honey bees are nesting inside the wall of your home, the only solution is to kill the colony, open the wall, and remove all the dead bees, honey, and wax comb.

Some professional pest control companies provide this service for a fee. Typically, there is an initial treatment and a second treatment a few days later. After activity has ceased, the wall can be opened and the dead bees, honey, and wax removed.

Even after this process is completed, there is a higher than normal risk of another colony establishing in the wall. Chemical smells from the original colony may stimulate another colony to take up residence if all openings on the outside of that wall are not completely sealed. Repairs must be made to close all openings. Even small cracks and crevices should be sealed with caulking, etc. Once all are repaired, be vigilant in watching for honey bee swarms. If there is a cluster of bees on a fencepost, tree limb, porch, or other object near your home, make sure you call a beekeeper immediately to collect the swarm and prevent it from moving into the wall. Our state entomologist at the Missouri Department of Agriculture maintains a list of beekeepers who have volunteered to collect swarms.

Richard Houseman
Assistant Professor of Entomology
State Urban Entomology Extension Specialist

Swarming phase

One day in May my front yard was covered in thousands (not exaggerating) of flying, buzzing critters. I think they were bees. They came from the east and turned and went southwest. They were not here to stay but traveling in a swarm. Have you seen this, and is it common? My husband thinks I am crazy.

You are not crazy. This is the swarming phase of the honey bee colony's life cycle. It is commonly observed in late spring in Missouri.

When a new queen is reared in an established hive, the old queen leaves along with hundreds of worker bees. The old queen and these worker bees cluster on the ground, fence posts, tree limbs, decks, etc. waiting for scout bees to find a new nesting site. During swarming, the bees are not aggressive because they are vulnerable and have not yet established a nest with honey and baby bees to defend. Usually the swarm leaves within a few hours when they either find a nest cavity or look for cavities in other areas.

We recommend that local beekeepers be contacted when a swarm is seen. They will come and collect the cluster of bees and put them in a hive where they can produce honey for harvest. We do not recommend that pest control companies spray the swarms to kill them.

Because honey bee swarms are looking to find a nest cavity and because the walls of homes are suitable cavities for them to nest in, we also recommend that you thoroughly check the exterior of your home and seal any cracks and crevices that swarms could use to get inside a wall. If they establish a hive with honey and baby bees inside the wall, then it often becomes necessary for someone to kill and remove all the bees, wax and honey.

Richard Houseman
Assistant Professor of Entomology
State Urban Entomology Extension Specialist

Bite like a chigger

Alberto Broce, Department of Entomology, Kansas State University, photo

None of the several species of chiggers are recognized as existing in Arizona. However, I developed numerous welts with all the characteristics of chigger bites after heavy exposure to tree cutting and other plant tending activities. There was no evidence of flying insects, ants or spiders. What could be the cause?

We have received several reports during the last two years of mysterious bites in Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. People report bites similar to chiggers after spending time outdoors-especially when around oak trees. However, the bites were not oozing clear fluid or getting a crusty cap like chigger bites. There also was never any evidence of flying, stinging insects associated with the bites.

University entomologists eventually discovered that galls on the leaves of oak trees were being infested by Pyemotes sp mites. See top photo. These mites are very tiny (less than 1/8 inch) and unable to be seen with the naked eye. They are predators on insect larvae that make and inhabit oak galls. The mites were in such high abundance last summer and fall that they were falling out of trees and biting people on the arms, shoulders, necks. Additional bites were reported later in the fall from people raking leaves.

Richard Houseman
Assistant Professor of Entomology
State Urban Entomology Extension Specialist