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Most recently reviewed by: Charles Allen & Pat Porter (2018)

Common Name(s): Field Cricket

Description

Field crickets are dark brown to black crickets, 9/16 to over 1 inch long. These crickets live in cool dark and damp habitats like caves, plumbing, under rocks, damp basements and inside privies. Chicken laying mash or dry dog food is excellent feed for raising crickets. Crickets spend the day in warm, dark cracks and crevices and emerge at night to feed. Outdoors, high numbers of crickets can damage garden plants. Indoors, crickets can damage natural and synthetic fabrics, furs and carpeting.

Crickets can be found on plant material, but are less of a plant pest problem than a nuisance when found in large numbers; prefer outdoors, but will be attracted to lights in large numbers and invade homes. Crickets are one of the more effective baits for sunfish, bluegill and catfish.

Life Cycle

Undergo simple metamorphosis. Adult females are recognizable because of the sword-like egg laying structure (ovipositor) in addition to the two appendages (cerci) at the end of the abdomen, and their fully developed wings. Females deposit eggs in moist soil or sand. After 15 to 25 days, nymphs hatch from the eggs. They resemble adults except for their smaller size and lack of wings. Nymphs develop to adults in about 12 weeks, depending on temperature. As many as three generations may be produced per year in southern areas. Winter is spent in the egg stage in cold climates and also as nymphs in warmer areas. Under cool conditions, crickets can be kept alive for an extended period of time. Adult males chirp to mark territory and attract females.

Bugwood Images

Most recently reviewed by: Janet Hurley (2018)

Common Name(s): Earwig

Description

Adults and nymphs have characteristic “pinchers” or forceps-like structures on the back end of their brown to black somewhat flattened bodies. They may be as long as 1 inch and have three pairs of well-developed legs. Nymphal stages are wingless, but some adult earwigs have hind wings neatly folded underneath short cover-like forewings. However, they rarely fly.

About 10 species occur in Texas, but only a few are common. The ringlegged earwig, Euborellia annulipes (Lucas) (Labiduridae) has yellow legs with dark bands or rings on the segments. Other common species include the riparian earwig, Labidura riparia (Pallas); the linear earwig, Doru lineare (Eschscholtz); and the brown-winged earwig, Vostox brunneipennis (Serville). Earwigs are occasionally confused with rove beetles (Coleoptera: Staphylinidae), which are often elongate and have an exposed abdomen and short forewings (elytra). However, these beetles have no forceps-like structure on the end of the abdomen. Many sap beetles (Coleoptera: Nitidultidae) have short elytra as well.

Origin and Distribution

Earwigs can be collected from underneath rocks, bark and other debris or in infested structures. At night, they may be found around lights.

Habitat & Hosts

Earwigs are active at night and seek dark places during the day such as underneath rocks, bark, and plant debris. They also occur indoors, particularly during periods of unfavorable outdoor conditions. They feed mainly on both dead and living insects and mosses, lichens, algae and fungi. Indoors, their food consists of sweet, oily and greasy foods. One earwig, the European earwig, Forficula auricularia Linnaeus (Forficulidae), feeds at night on leaves of plants. Some species emit a foul odor when crushed.

Earwigs are generally harmless and feed mainly on arthropods and decaying organic matter. They can be a nuisance when they invade homes.

Life Cycle

Simple metamorphosis. All developmental stages are able to overwinter. Eggs are produced in clusters and hatch in about 2 weeks. Female earwigs stay with the eggs and young nymphs. Nymphs leave the nest is a few days and thereafter develop through five stages (instars) over about 45 to 176 days, depending on temperature. Adult males have larger, more curved forceps than do females. One to two generations are produced annually.

Management

If you live in the State of Texas, contact your local county agent or entomologist for management information. If you live outside of Texas, contact your local extension for management options.

Moist, dark environments. Outdoors look under boards, mulch,flower pots, vegetation and stones. Indoors look around crack and crevices, door sweeps/thresholds, in storage areas and garbage cans. These insects can also be transported in produce and their storage crates.

Earwigs abandon drought-stricken ground to enter structures in search of moisture. To avoid invasions, reduce outdoor lighting as well as moisture and vegetation around the foundation. Foundation perimeter treatments with residual insecticides and/or baits labeled for earwig control help reduce nuisance populations.

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Most recently reviewed by: Janet Hurley & Pat Porter (2018)

Common Name(s): Carpenter Bee

Pest Location

Urban Structural

Description

Adult carpenter bees are large (3/4 to 1 inch long) and resemble bumble bees except that the abdomen is hairless and shiny black rather than being covered by patches of orange to yellow hair found on bumble bees. The carpenter bees in the genus, Ceratina, are much smaller (1/4 inch) and are dark bluish-green, and make nests in plant stems.

Carpenter bees are usually shiny or metallic blue-black with a greenish to purplish sheen. Some male carpenter bees have yellow areas on the face, and males of a few species may be partially to entirely buff or pale yellow.

Carpenter bees can be distinguished, however, by the lack of hairs on the top of the abdomen. On the rear legs, female carpenter bees have a dense brush of hairs, whereas female bumble-bees have large pollen baskets.

Origin and Distribution

Adult female carpenter bees can sting but usually only if aggressively disturbed; most carpenter bees “attacking” people passing by nesting sites are territorial males incapable of stinging,

Habitat & Hosts

Structural damage produced by nest-making activities can be somewhat damaging to homes, garages, fences and other buildings, although damage is largely cosmetic unless nesting sites are used repeatedly over years.

They prefer unfinished softwoods such as redwood, cypress, cedar and pine in structures for constructing nests. Carpenter bees do not consume wood like termites, but use wood merely to construct nests. While gathering nectar and pollen carpenter bees pollinate flowers.

Life Cycle

Complete metamorphosis. Adults spend the winter in nests constructed the previous year, and become active in April or May. After mating, females construct new nesting tunnels or use pre-existing tunnels. Nesting tunnels are about ½ inch wide and start on the end of wooden beams or at right angles to a surface for ½ to 1 inch before turning and following the wood grain. Tunnels are clean cut and may extend 6 to 8 inches. Females collect pollen and nectar to produce a dough-like mass called “bee bread.” Eggs hatch into larvae that feed on the bee bread in their cells. Development varies with species and temperature, but can progress from egg to adult in a little over a month. There may be two or three generations per year. Continuous generations may occur in south Texas. Adults emerging in late summer or fall do not mate until spring but may gather and store pollen in their tunnels.

Carpenter bee nests are easily distinguished from those of other wood-boring insects. Nest entrances are almost perfectly round and, for the common carpenter bee, about 1/2 inch in diameter. No other insect produces as large an opening with a perfectly round shape.

Management

If you live in the State of Texas, contact your local county agent or entomologist for management information. If you live outside of Texas, contact your local extension for management options.

Carpenter bees drill into wooden surfaces such as window sills, wooden siding, eaves, deck railings, outdoor furniture and fences which can be significant. Carpenter bees will attack painted or stained wood surfaces though bare wood is preferred. Carpenter bees do not consume wood like termites, but use wood merely to construct nests.

There are some paint additives that are insecticides, but a less permanent method of control would be to spray the bees with insecticide as they enter or exit the wood surface. Existing tunnels should be filled with stainless steel steel wool and caulk so as to prevent their re-use in the future.

Related Publications

Carpenter Bees. Texas Apiary Inspection Service.

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Article author: Mike Merchant
Most recently reviewed by: Janet Hurley & Pat Porter (2018)

Common Name(s): Carpenter Ants

Pest Location

Urban Structural

Description

Fourteen species of carpenter ants occur in Texas. The largest species is the black carpenter ant, Camponotus pennsylvanicus (Fabricius) and is found primarily in wooded areas outdoors. Common indoor species, Camponotus rasilis Wheeler and C. sayi Emery, have workers that are dull red bodied with black abdomens. Worker ants range in size from 1/4 to 1/2-inch. They can be distinguished from most other large ant species because the top of the thorax is evenly convex and bears no spines. Also the attachment between the thorax and abdomen (pedicel) has but a single flattened segment.

Winged reproductive carpenter ants should not be confused with winged termites (Isoptera). Ants have elbowed antennae, distinctly veined wings of different sizes (large forewings and small hind wings) and a narrow portion of the body (waist) between the thorax and abdomen. The acrobat ants, Crematogaster sp., also occasionally nest in wood. These ants are much smaller and have a heart-shaped abdomen that is often held up over their bodies. They feed primarily on honeydew produced by aphids (Homoptera).

Mouthparts are for chewing.

Origin and Distribution

These ants usually nest in dead wood, either outdoors in old stumps and dead parts of trees and around homes (in fences, fire wood, etc.) or indoors (between wood shingles, in siding, beams, joists, fascia boards, etc.). Ant colonies are often located in cracks and crevices between structural timbers, but the ants can also tunnel into structural wood to form nesting galleries. They often appear to prefer moist, decaying wood, wood with dry rot or old termite galleries. However, damage is often limited because these ants tunnel into wood only to form nests and do not eat wood. Galleries (nesting tunnels) produced by carpenter ants usually follow the grain of the wood and around the annual rings. Tunnel walls are clean and smooth. Nests can be located by searching for piles of sawdust-like wood scrapings (frass) underneath exit holes. These piles accumulate as the nests are excavated and usually also contain parts of dead colony members. Occasionally carpenter ants, particularly Camponotus rasilis Wheeler, nest under stones or in other non-wood cracks and crevices. Foraging worker ants leave the nest and seek sources of sweets and other foods such as decaying fruit, insects and sweet exudates from aphids or other sucking insects.

Habitat & Hosts

Water-damaged or other softened wood is especially conducive to nesting, with gallery expansion into adjacent sound wood as the colony grows. Nests may also be constructed in wall voids, insulation, hollow doors, or wood furnishings or fixtures.

Carpenter ant nests are kept clean, with frass, sawdust-like wood shavings, dead ants, and other debris pushed out of the gallery through a crack or slit, creating telltale dump piles that look like sawdust from a distance.

Carpenter ants will eat fruit, insects, meat, and sugars including insect honeydew. Carpenter ants typically forage in late afternoon and night, up to 200 yards from the nest, and carry food back to the colony.

Life Cycle

Ants develop through several stages: eggs, larva, pupa and adult. Larvae are legless and grub-like and pupae are a cream-colored to tan cocoon which are often mistakenly called “ant eggs”. Development from egg to worker ant occurs in about 2 months. Carpenter ants are social insects and live in colonies made of different forms of ants or “castes.” Mature colonies contain winged male and female forms (reproductives), sterile female workers of various sizes, and a wingless 9/16 inch long queen. Winged forms swarm during May through late July. The presence of 3/4 inch long winged forms in the home is an indication that structural damage may be occurring.

Management

If you live in the State of Texas, contact your local county agent or entomologist for management information. If you live outside of Texas, contact your local extension for management options.

They nest primarily in wood including live trees with heart rot. They can nest in buildings especially in areas of moist wood. In some areas of the U. S. carpenter ants may damage sound, structural wood to excavate nests. More commonly, carpenter ants nest in existing cavities, or in soft or rotting wood of higher moisture content. Smaller species may live in pre-existing voids, such as curtain rods, hollow-core doors, or between studs in walls and around windows. They are scavengers that eat sweets and some insects. Carpenter ants use trees and other plant material as bridges to enter structures. Look for wood shavings and sawdust discarded from the nest. Follow the trail back to the nest. This procedure is especially effective at night during summer months.

Non chemical Control Measures

A primary defense against carpenter ants is to avoid moisture-damaged wood. Regularly inspect and promptly correct roof, window or vent leaks; clogged, damaged or improperly aligned gutters; or wood that may be in contact with soil or vegetation. Prune trees and shrubs in contact with the structure. Move firewood piles or other debris away from the structure. Similarly, decaying or softened wood building elements, such as soft decking and window or door sills, should be repaired or replaced.

Related Publications

E-412: Carpenter Ants

Carpenter ants around the home – AgriLife Extension fact sheet by Dr. Mike Merchant

IPM Action Plan for Carpenter Ants this document is peer reviewed recommendations for a management plan for carpenter ants.

Bugwood Images

Sawtoothed grain beetle. Photo credit: Patrick Porter.

Most recently reviewed by: Janet Hurley & Pat Porter (2018)

Common Name(s): Sawtoothed Grain Beetle

Pest Location

Urban Structural

Description

The adult beetle is a small (1/10 inch long), very flattened and brown with the segment just behind the head (pronotum) having characteristic “sawtoothed” outer margins, bearing six “teeth” on each side.

A closely related species, the merchant grain beetle, Oryzaephilus mercator (Fauvel), is very similar to the sawtoothed grain beetle but differs in the dimensions of the head capsule (i.e., the temple region just behind the eyes is shorter, less than the vertical diameter of the eye for the merchant grain beetle, being longer for the sawtoothed grain beetle).

Mouthparts are for chewing. Adults find their way into stored grains, flour, sugar, nuts and other dry material of plant origin through cracks and crevices of imperfectly sealed containers. They are incapable of attacking sound grain kernels and often occur in food previously infested by other stored product pests. This pest may be found infesting dry goods, crawling around kitchen surfaces and occasionally underneath tree bark.

Beetles can infest stored dry goods in the pantry; adults leave infested food sources can occur in the kitchen or other food storage areas and be a nuisance; medically harmless.

Origin and Distribution

This is a common, worldwide pest of grain and grain products as well as fruit, chocolate, drugs, and tobacco.

Habitat & Hosts

The beetle is one of the most commonly encountered stored product pests and is widespread within the food industry and can be found in food manufacturing, storage, and retail facilities, as well as in home pantries. Prefers damaged or processed grain to establish in significant numbers. Adults can live for seveal months, females laying 300 to 400 eggs losely throughout the grain. White larvae feed and develop externally.

Life Cycle

Fertilized females lay numerous shiny white eggs, singly or in clusters, in foodstuff and packaging. Larvae hatch from eggs in 3 to 17 days depending on temperature. Yellowish-white, deeply segmented larvae develop through several (two to four) stages (instars) while growing to about 1/8 inch long. Pupation often occurs in cells made of food particles cemented together, usually onto a solid object. Development from egg to egg occurs in 27 to 375 days. Four to six generations can occur annually.

Management

If you live in the State of Texas, contact your local county agent or entomologist for management information. If you live outside of Texas, contact your local extension for management options.

Prevention is the best strategy to avoid insect problems in stored grains. Proper bin sanitation before introduction of new grain minimizes the need for pesticides. Good sanitation involves the removal of old grain and dust in and around the gain bin. This includes removal of old grain from corners, floors, and walls. Any grain remaining when a bin is emptied can harbor insect infestations which will move into the new grain. Grain that is to be stored for longer than six months may need a protective application of an approved insecticide.

Grain placed in a clean bin should be checked at two week intervals during warm months and at one month intervals during cooler months for the presence of hotspots, moldy areas, and live insects. If any of these conditions exist, the grain should be aerated to lower the moisture level and temperature. Sieving and probe traps are recommended for detection.

Fumigation should only be used as a last resort. Because of the high toxicity of registered fumigants and technical knowledge needed for their proper use, a qualified pesticide applicator should be contacted if fumigation is required.