Insect Identification and Information
If you are plagued by an insect that you may not recognize, we know that you will find this handy information guide helpful in identifying your insect pest. The pest professionals at ChemTec Pest Control can always identify
and insect pest for you and create a treatment plan that will exterminate your pest quickly and in an environmentally responsible manner.
Click the links below to find out more about each insect pest that you may
find in your home or on your property.
Ants
Ants have segmented bodies with thin waists and
elbowed antennae. Social insects, ants live in large, highly-organized, underground,
colonies that can number in the millions. Living in cooperative caste systems,
each individual performs a specific task to support the colony. Beneficial
in their outdoor environment, ants can be a persistent nuisance insect pest
if they come indoors to forage for food or water. Ant scouts leave pheromone
trails to guide workers to food sources. A trailing line of ants into a kitchen
trash can or food left on a counter is often the first sign of an ant infestation.
While, with the exception of carpenter ants, ants are a mostly nuisance household
pest, ant stings or bites are particularly painful and can cause serious allergic
reactions. When they invade human food resources, ants can also be vectors
for food-borne diseases such as Salmonella. Ants enter homes through doors
and windows, underground through cracks in foundation walls, and via landscape
bridges formed by overhanging trees and shrubs. When colonies become overcrowded,
winged reproducers will swarm, flying to establish new colonies. Swarming ants
can be confused with termites which also exhibit swarming behavior. Ants have
larger forewings than hind wings, unlike termites whose wings are the same
size.
New Jersey and New York are home to numerous ant species, including these typical home invaders:
- The tiny odorous house ant, commonly known as sweet
ants or house ants, nest both inside homes and
outdoors. They swarm kitchen counters and garbage cans seeking sweet
foods or spilled liquids.
- Little black ants nest indoors and feed on nearly anything humans eat. Just 1/16 inch long, they easily infiltrate food containers, contaminating contents.
- Small, dark brown pavement ants make their homes under concrete structures. When they become active in the spring, they can become a serious nuisance as they swarm by the thousands over sidewalks, patios, and into homes built on slabs.
- The brown Argentine ant nests outdoors in yards or along structural foundations and feeds on a wide variety of foods. Its huge colonies and the proximity of nests to foundation walls make it an occasional home invader.
- While extremely rare home invaders, the mounding behavior of field
ants, commonly found in gardens, can damage and kill landscape plants.
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Bed Bugs
A nuisance pest, bed bugs hide in and near beds, emerging at night to feed
on the blood of their human hosts. These small, wingless insects are reddish-brown,
oval, flat-bodied, and about the size of an apple seed. Bed bugs do not spread
disease but can raise itchy, red bites that can cause severe allergic reactions
and considerable emotional distress. For more information, see our special
section on bed bugs.
Bees
Related to wasps and ants, bees are beneficial insects, the exception being the wood-tunneling carpenter
bee (see below). Their bodies and thick waists differentiate bees
from smooth, thin-waisted wasps. The primary pollinators of flowers and crops, bees have specialized hairs on their abdomens that allow them to gather nectar and pollen. Most bees are social insects living in communal hives and employing a caste-system of labor. Unless defending their hive or provoked, bees are not normally aggressive. However, an estimated 2.5 million Americans are allergic to bee stings which send 500,000 people to hospitals every year and cause 50 to 100 deaths annually.
New Jersey and New York residents are most affected by three bee varieties:
- Prolific pollinators, honey bees are 1/2-inch long with short, dense, golden-brown and black hair and a striped abdomen. They usually build their wax-comb hives in tree hollows but may colonize under siding, in eaves, attics, chimneys, garages or storage sheds. Honey seeping from the comb can permanently stain walls or ceilings, creating a rank odor as the honey decomposes and attracting secondary infestations by ants, cockroaches, flies and other pests. Agriculturally important, honey bees are protected. When a problem, ChemTec will arrange to have a qualified beekeeper relocate honey bees and remove the hive.
- Bumble bees are large, 3/4 to 1-1/2 inches, and hairy with distinctive black and yellow coloration. Beneficial pollinators, they are docile unless provoked. Unfortunately, they often nest near homes in storage sheds or garages in large, social colonies, bringing them into uncomfortable contact with humans.
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Carpenter Ants
The
black carpenter ant (Camponotus Pennsylvanicus) is the most
common carpenter ant in the United States. Omnivores, carpenter ants feed on
insects and plant matter, foraging up to 100 yards for food and often invading
homes. If you see a large, dull 1/4- to 3/4-inch long black ant, it is probably
a carpenter ant. The biggest of the American ant species, carpenter ants have
tri-segmented bodies, elbowed antennae, and chewing mouthparts that can cause
considerable structural damage to homes. Carpenter ants live in huge, organized
social colonies with thousands of members and, like termites and other
ants, swarm in the spring
to establish new colonies. Immense colonies can cause significant structural
damage when carpenter ants attack a home.
Unlike termites, carpenter ants do not feed on wood, but rather hollow out beams to create the large, open galleries that house their nests. While carpenter ants usually nest outdoors in logs, wood piles or damaged trees -- a crotch, pruning scar or broken branch providing entry -- they often move inside, nesting in high moisture areas in wall cavities, porch pillars, roofs, window sills, etc. Because they require a constant water source for survival, carpenter ants seek out wood softened by water damage; however, they will tunnel into undamaged wood to expand their galleries. Carpenter ant activity is often discovered by the telltale piles of sawdust-like byproduct created during tunneling. Carpenter ant destruction can only be halted by complete professional elimination of the entire nest.
Carpenter Bees
Solitary rather than social insects, carpenter bees tunnel into eaves, porches, sheds, siding, decks, picnic tables or any outdoor wood surface to lay their eggs. Perfectly circular 1/2-inch holes and telltale yellow sawdust give away their presence. They do not eat wood, but use it to create partitions between egg cells. Carpenter bees prefer soft woods like cedar, cypress, pine, and redwood. Multiple breeding pairs and successive generations may tunnel in the same area, creating extensive damage over a few years. Carpenter bees are very large, up to 1-1/2 inches, resembling bumble bees except that they have shiny instead of hairy abdomens. Females can sting but are usually docile. Males have no stinger but are highly aggressive, buzzing loudly as they hover around tunnel openings and dive bombing anyone who comes near.
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Cockroaches
One of the most common urban pests. cockroaches carry disease organisms on their bodies and in fecal matter. They often harbor in kitchens where they can contaminate food supplies with saliva and feces, spreading food-borne illnesses such as Salmonella, food poisoning and dysentery. Cockroach infestations are a leading cause of allergies, asthma and bronchial disorders in humans, particularly children and the elderly.
Several varieties of cockroaches are common in New Jersey and New York, including
the American (also called a Palmetto
Bug), German, Brownbanded, Oriental and Smokey
Brown. Cockroaches are brown to black and sometimes reddish in color
and have flat, oval bodies with spiny legs, stubby appendages at the base of
the abdomen called cerci, and long filamentous antennae. They range in size from
the 5/8 inch German cockroach, the most common cockroach in American homes, to
the 1-1/2 inch American roach. Some cockroaches have wings and may jump and glide
but usually prefer to run.
Cockroaches can be transported into homes in luggage, bags or boxes, but usually creep in from outside under doors or windows, through foundation cracks as small as 1/16 inch, or up dry drain traps and sewer pipes. Prolific breeders, they spread quickly through multi-family dwellings via plumbing and electrical conduits and heating vents. With the exception of Oriental
roaches, cockroaches have sticky pads on their feet that allow them to climb across smooth surfaces like walls and ceilings.
Cockroaches are attracted by food, clutter, garbage, yard debris, overgrown shrubbery, woodpiles and moist conditions. Nocturnal, roaches like dark, warm, moist, protected environments and often harbor near drains or leaking pipes, in the motor compartments of refrigerators or dryers, under upholstered furniture or in bookcases, behind loose wallpaper or baseboards, in closets, and in cracks and crevices. They are usually found in kitchens, bathrooms, basements and crawl spaces and will feed on nearly anything, including food, beer, potted plant shoots, wallpaper paste, glue, cosmetics, soap, postage stamps, fermenting fruit, clothing, books and paper goods. They foul surfaces with disease-carrying feces and body parts and emit a distinctive, unpleasant odor.
House Crickets
The common house cricket is 1/2 to 1 1/4 inches long, pale brown to black in color, with long antennae and large, jumping hind legs. Scavengers, crickets live outdoors in fields or yards where they feed on dead insects, plants and other organic material. In the fall, they may seek shelter indoors, particularly in dark, damp basements. While they are not a threat to humans, they may feed on soiled clothing; and their strident nocturnal chirping can be annoying.
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Fleas
These tiny (1/16 to 1/8 inch) insects with flat, wingless bodies and long jumping legs live on the bodies of cats, dogs, squirrels, raccoons and other animals, feeding off their hosts. When brought indoors by pets, fleas may bite humans, leaving small itchy, red bites that can trigger allergic reactions. While fleas are associated with disease transmission, notably bubonic plague, typhus and tapeworms, fleas common to New Jersey are not known to transmit infectious diseases.
Mosquitoes
A thin, brown, long-legged, winged insect, adults are 1/4 to 1/2 inch long with three pairs of slender legs and an elongated proboscis for piecing the skin of their victims. Particularly active at dawn and dusk, mosquitoes breed in stagnant, standing water in lakes, ponds, clogged gutters, bird baths, unfiltered pools and drainage ditches. Female mosquitoes feed on human blood, their bites raising itchy, red welts. Mosquitoes usually live their entire lives near their breeding spot. Mosquitoes transmit serious, sometimes fatal diseases, including West Nile Virus, malaria, yellow fever, encephalitis, dengue fever and canine heart worm.
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Silverfish
Silverfish are named for their silvery, dark gray scales. About 1/2 to 3/4 inch long, these nocturnal insects feed on proteins and carbohydrates including paper, linens, starches, wallpaper glue and dried pet food. The live in dark, damp areas, favoring attics and roof insulation, and are often seen trapped in bathroom sinks or running quickly across ceilings. Left undisturbed, they can damage cloth and paper products but are benign to humans.
Spiders
The
most common spider species in the New Jersey area are harmless, beneficial,
insect-eating house and wolf
spiders. The Black Widow and Brown
Recluse are the only dangerous spiders in New Jersey and New York but
are seen rarely in our area.
- Black Widow spiders are shiny black, about 3/8 inch in diameter, with a distinctive red hour-glass marking on their backs. They feed on insects caught in webs spun near ground level in dark corners of garages, electrical boxes and wood piles. Bites are severely painful and their potent venom can be dangerous, particularly to young children and the elderly.
- Brown Recluse spiders have brown, 5/8 inch-long bodies with a distinctive dark fiddle-shaped marking on their backs. While not native to New Jersey, the Brown Recluse can be transported into the state. Night hunters, Brown Recluse spiders feed on insects, hiding during the day in silken nests built in undisturbed areas such as behind furniture, closet corners, inside shoes, and in outdoor wood piles. Attacking when provoked, their venomous bites are vicious, requiring prompt medical attention. Most at risk are children and older adults with weak immune systems.
- House spiders have small brown- to gray-colored bodies less than 1/3 inch long with very long legs. They spin thin, asymmetrical webs in dark, damp, indoor areas such as basements and feed on the small insects they trap in their webs.
- Wolf spiders are large (1-1/2 inches), hairy, dark brown or black spiders that resemble the tarantulas native to tropical regions. Harmless to humans, wolf spiders live outdoors but may wander into dark basements, crawl spaces or garages. These hunters feed on other insects and do not construct webs.
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Termites
The wood-eating Eastern subterranean termite is active in New Jersey and New York. Termites are 1/8 to 1/4 inch long and have soft, white, oval-shaped, wingless bodies. Living in large colonies numbering in the millions, termites can cause serious structural damage to homes and wood structures that can result in structural collapse. For more information, see our special section on termites.
Ticks
These wingless, blood-feeding parasites come indoors on pets or clothing, particularly after a walk through the tall grasses or woods where they live. The brown dog
tick, however, is an imported species found only indoors. Varying in color from light brown to dark red, ticks are ovoid with dark heads. They burrow their mouth parts into victims, growing from pinhead size to 1/8 inch or larger as they feed. Ticks can transmit serious bacterial infections that are often misdiagnosed as flu, including Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, the less common malaria-like Babesiosis, and Ehrlichiosis, which attacks white blood cells.
- Lyme disease is transmitted by black-legged deer
ticks. Flu-like symptoms and stiffness of the neck joints are accompanied by a diagnostic bulls-eye like rash centered around bite sites. Without prompt treatment, Lyme disease can lead to chronic, severe fatigue, arthritis, and heart and nervous system complications.
- Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever is transmitted by the American
dog tick and lone star tick. This serious disease is characterized by severe flu-like symptoms accompanied by a red rash on extremities. Without prompt treatment, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever can be fatal.
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Wasps
Wasps can
be highly aggressive, particularly in late fall when their threatening behavior
often spoils outdoor picnics and gatherings. Wasps are attracted to bright-colored
clothing, colognes, perfumes and hair spray, drawing them to human gatherings.
Wasps have straight stingers and can sting multiple times, posing a serious
health risk, particularly to people allergic to their stings. Attacks by swarming yellow
jackets, yellowjackets, paper wasps, or hornets,
the most aggressive stingers, can be deadly, even to those who are not allergic.
Wasps can be mistaken for bees; however, wasps are smooth bodied while bees are covered with tiny hairs. Predatory insects, wasps hunt insects to feed their young but also feed on nectar, fallen fruit and carrion. In the fall, certain species pose a serious nuisance buzzing around trash cans in parks to feed on discarded sugars and proteins. With the exception of the fertilized queen who winters deep in the hive, wasp colonies die in the winter.
Social wasps build elaborate hives with a paper-like substance produced from partially-chewed wood. Nests are either built underground in abandoned animal burrows or in sheltered areas in tree branches or cavities, under eaves, in attics or garages, or in wall voids. Occasionally, wasps build large, gray, football-shaped aerial nests in trees. Solitary wasps like the mud-dabber build hives of mud or live in tree cavities or underground.
Social wasp species pose the greatest threat to New Jersey and New York residents:
- Paper wasps are vividly colored and may be orange, yellow,
black, red or brown, with or without stripes. They have long, slender,
3/4-inch long bodies with long, dangling legs, a tapered abdomen and thin
waist. Paper wasps build the "umbrella" nests commonly found around
homes under eaves, roof peaks, fences and shrubs. Nests consist of a single
exposed paper comb suspended from narrow stalk like an upside down umbrella
and may harbor a dozen to 100 individuals. Paper wasps have a vicious sting.
- Yellowjackets are stocky, boldly-colored black and yellow and from 1/2 to 3/4 inch in length. Yellowjackets build massive underground nests harboring thousands but may also nest in wall voids or attics or build aerial nests. In early fall, yellowjackets pose a risk as they forage in trash cans and recycling bins for sugars and proteins from discarded human food and drinks. Extremely aggressive repetitive stingers, yellowjackets are responsible for most of the life-threatening stinging attacks in the U.S.
- Hornets are among the largest wasp species, 1-1/4
inches long, with brown or black and white stripes. Uncommon in populated
areas, hornets make large paper nests in hollow trees and animal burrows
but may build nests in wall voids and attics. Extremely aggressive,
their sting is extremely painful and because of their size, multiple
stings can be deadly.
We Are Ready To Help Exterminate Your Insect Problem
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insect problem, ChemTec Pest Control provides the responsive same day service that you expect from a pest control industry leader. Find about our insect control services.
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