'Bugs News

The following post was sent to me by John Green of Longview, WA and concerns the possible link between certain insecticides and Colony Collapse Disorder in honey bees. The suspect insecticides belong to a new class called neonicotinoids and one of the more common active ingredients is imidacloprid . In 2007, many newspapers ran articles concerning the disappearance of bees, crop pollinators and songbirds. Farmers are becoming alarmed that there will not be enough bees around to pollinate their crops. These crops are our food supply. So what is happening to the bees? A look at our life styles gives us the answer. Our dependence on chemicals permeates every aspect of our lives. Walk through garden supply departments and see rows and rows of chemicals. When citizens douse their lawns and gardens with pesticides to try to have the greenest lawn or the prettiest flowers in the neighborhood, they use chemicals that are toxic to bees. In our pursuit of perfect produce, fa

spider fangs (lower 1/4 in photo) We get more visitors to our Bugs site looking for information about spiders, spider identification and spider bites than just about any other topic. Most people have an innate fear of spiders and believe that most are dangerous; even small spiders provoke this fear. The truth is most are harmless or even beneficial and the few that do have a venomous bite may not be as dangerous as we once believed. In the US there are three spiders that get blamed for most of the so called "spider bites" that end up in emergency rooms. Where you live largely determines which species gets the blame. The three common culprits are: brown recluse , black widow , and hobo or aggressive house spider. Brown recluse spiders are only found in the south central US . Researchers have tried to find specimens of the spider outside this range but have repeatedly failed. Despite the lack of actual spiders, even the medical community continues to report bites and u

Every once in awhile I get an e-mail with a question about the " small, black bugs that seem to be coming out of the drains in the bathroom and kitchen ". These are called drain flies (see photo) and are common and usually no reason for concern but it may mean it is time to clean out the "gunk" in your drains! Drain flies, also called moth flies ( another image of drain fly ) are small (~1/10") hairy flies that are commonly found in kitchens and bathrooms. Larvae of drain flies can develop in the organic, gelatinous material that builds up inside pipes and hence can be very common around sinks. They are also common outdoors near sewage plants and waste ponds. Adult drain flies are covered with scales that makes the fly look like a tiny moth. Flies may be attracted to lights and windows. Eggs are laid on the gelatinous film that forms in pipes or in sewage treatment facilities. Larvae develop in this rich organic material. Drain flies are harmless but a c