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 often at the top of our list.
Some of 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 of all kinds, but especially these three:
- Cockroaches (many of our cockroach submissions turn out to be wood roaches, which live outside but sometimes find their way indoors accidentally)
- European Red (Fire) Ants
- Fleas
- Fruit Flies
- Fungus Gnats
- Hickory Tussock Caterpillars
- 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
- Solitary Ground-nesting Bees (Cornell)
- Spider Mites
- Spiders
- Strawberry Seed Beetles (BugGuide.net)
- Ticks
- Western Conifer Seed Bugs
- White Grubs
- Whitespotted Sawyer Beetles
- Wood Roaches
- Yellowjackets
Photo Examples of many of our Frequent Submissions/Inquiries:
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- Eastern Boxelder Bug (Boisea trivittata) (adult stage) (Hallowell, ME; 4/19/2021)
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- Eastern Boxelder Bug (Boisea trivittata) (adult stage) (Hallowell, ME; 4/19/2021)
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- Browntail Moth (late instar caterpillar stage)
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- Browntail Caterpillars on a crabapple tree in Waterville, Maine; 5/12/2021 (Photo courtesy of Jamie Graves)
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- Browntail Moth (late-instar caterpillars feeding on wild apple leaves; Lincolnville Center, ME – 6/5/2019)
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- Browntail Moth (example of a spring/early summer-season nest)
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- Eastern Black Carpenter Ant (worker) (Camponotus pennsylvanicus) (central Maine; 6/13/2009)
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- Carpenter Ant (Winged Queen)
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- A male Carpenter Ant (central Maine; 5/29/2015)
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- A pair of Black Carpet Beetles and two carpet beetle larvae
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- Varied Carpet Beetle (Anthrenus verbasci) next to a U.S. penny for scale purposes (specimen from Orono, ME; 5/3/2023)
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- Dusky Cockroach (Ectobius lapponicus) (a type of wood roach that lives outdoors) (male) (Stetson, Maine; 6/19/2018)
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- European Red Ant (magnified view) — Myrmica rubra (also referred to as the European Fire Ant) (Invasive) (Calais, ME; June 10th, 2021)
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- Fall Webworm caterpillar (early stage of development) (these build nests but they are not considered to harm most trees that are generally healthy)
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- A mature Fall Webworm larva (Farmington, ME; 9/5/2020)
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- Fleas (Cat Flea shown here)
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- Fruit Fly (close-up view)
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- Dark-winged Fungus Gnats (Family Sciaridae) captured on a yellow sticky card placed in the pot of a houseplant (they are drawn to light and also to the color of yellow)
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- Closeup view of a fungus gnat (this particular specimen belongs to the genus called Trichonta) (Cape Elizabeth, ME; 11/27/2021)
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- Hickory Tussock (the hairs on many tussock caterpillars can cause an itchy rash)
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- Pantry Moth / Flour Moth (Plodia interpunctella)
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- Pantry Moth / Flour Moth (Plodia interpunctella) with fewer scales remaining on its wings (likely an older specimen)
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- Japanese Beetle (on a milkweed leaf)
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- A mating pair of Japanese Beetles on highbush blueberry (Albion, Maine; 7/27/2009)
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- Rose Chafers
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- Example of a solitary ground-nesting bee
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- Spider Mites (leaves with webbing are a telltale sign)
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- Late instar stage Lymantria dispar (Spongy Moth) caterpillar (Etna, ME; 6/20/2021)
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Ticks
(mostly Deer ticks and Dog ticks)
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- Western Conifer Seed Bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis)
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- White Grub
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- Whitespotted Sawyer Beetles
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- Whitespotted Sawyer Beetle (female); Photo by C. Armstrong
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- Example of a wood roach (Dusky Cockroach, Ectobius lapponicus) (male) (Stetson, Maine; 7/13/2015)
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- Example of a wood roach (Tawny Cockroach, Ectobius pallidus) (male) (Acadia National Park, Maine; 10/11/2009)
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- Common Aerial Yellowjacket
