Frequent Specimens and Inquiries:
Here you will find many of the most frequent critters that our Insect Diagnostic Lab handles on a routine basis, either through phone and e-mail inquiries, mail or in-person deliveries, or from conversations with people stopping in to visit us. Fungus gnats, ants, wood roaches and ‘white grubs’ are always at the top of our yearly list.
Routinely our Most Frequent Submissions/Inquiries:
- Ants
- [Eastern] Boxelder Bugs (BugGuide.net) See also: Boxelder Bugs (Univ. of Minnesota Extension) (they come inside accidentally or in search of a warm location in which to spend the winter)
- Browntail Moth/Caterpillar (2020 – 2022 saw heavy populations of this pest across much of Maine)
- Carpenter Ants
- Carpet Beetles
- Caterpillars (and sawfly larvae) of all kinds, but especially these caterpillar species which are often very abundant:
- Cockroaches (many of our cockroach submissions turn out to be wood roaches, which live outside but sometimes find their way indoors accidentally)
- Dogwood Sawfly (larvae) (Iowa State Univ Extension) (additional images, including the adult stage: BugGuide.net)
- European Red (Fire) Ants
- Fleas
- Fruit Flies
- Fungus Gnats
- Ichneumonid wasps (Texas A&M)
- Indian Meal Moths / Pantry Moths
- Japanese Beetles
- Jumping Worms
- Jumping/Snake (Amynthas) Worms in Maine (Maine Dept of ACF)
- If you believe you’ve found a Jumping Worm in Maine: Jumping Worm(s) Report Form (Maine Dept of ACF)
- Mites
- Bird Mites [will bite people in the absence of their bird host(s)] (University of Minnesota Extension)
- Clover Mites (Penn State)
- Mold Mites (Iowa State University)
- Spider Mites
- Moths (of all kinds)
- Pantry Moths
- Pavement Ants
- Rose Chafers
- Sawfly larvae (many different species)
- Solitary Ground-nesting Bees (Penn State)
- Spider Mites
- Spiders
- Springtails / Snowfleas
- Strawberry Seed Beetles (BugGuide.net)
- Ticks
- Western Conifer Seed Bugs
- White Grubs
- Whitespotted Sawyer Beetles
- Wood Roaches
- Yellowjackets