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
- Boxelder Bugs / Eastern Boxelder Bugs (Univ. of Minnesota Extension)
- 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 Caterpillar
- Indian Meal 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)
- Pavement Ants
- Plant Diseases
- Rose Chafers
- Solitary Ground-nesting Bees (Cornell)
- Spider Mites
- Spiders
- 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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Carpet Beetles
(and Carpet Beetle larvae)
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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
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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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- Indian Meal Moth
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- Indian Meal Moth
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- An Indian Meal Moth with fewer scales remaining on its wings (likely an older specimen)
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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
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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)
