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. Various plant diseases, ants and white grubs are generally always at the top of our list.
Some of our Most Frequent Submissions/Inquiries:
- Ants
- Bed Bugs
- Boxelder Bugs / Eastern Boxelder Bugs (Univ. of Minnesota Extension)
- Browntail Moth/Caterpillar (2020 and 2021 saw heavy populations of this pest across much of Maine)
- Carpenter Ants
- Carpet Beetles
- Caterpillars (of all kinds)
- Fleas
- Fruit Flies
- Hickory Tussock Caterpillar
- Indian Meal Moths
- Japanese Beetles
- Mites
- Moths (of all kinds)
- Pavement Ants
- Plant Diseases
- Rose Chafers
- Spider Mites
- Spiders
- Ticks
- Western Conifer Seed Bugs
- White Grubs
- Whitespotted Sawyer Beetles
- Yellowjackets
Photo Examples of many of our Frequent Submissions/Inquiries:
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- Bed Bug (adult)
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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 (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 (caterpillars feeding on wild apple leaves; Lincolnville Center, ME – 6/5/2019)
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- Browntail Moth (nest of caterpillars)
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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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- Fleas (Cat Flea shown here)
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- Fruit Fly (close-up view)
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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) (compare with adjacent 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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- Spider Mites (leaves with webbing are a telltale sign)
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Ticks
(mostly Deer ticks and Dog ticks)
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- Western Conifer Seed Bug
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- White Grubs
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- Whitespotted Sawyer Beetles
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- Whitespotted Sawyer Beetle (female); Photo by C. Armstrong
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- Yellowjacket
