Insects Library

Ladybugs

Most people are fond of ladybugs because of their colorful, spotted appearance. They are loved by farmers for their appetite as most ladybugs voraciously consume plant-eating insects, such as aphids, and in doing so they help to protect crops. There are about 5,000 different species of these insects. They have short legs and antennae and can secrete a fluid from joints in their legs which gives them a foul taste. If threatened, a ladybug may both play dead and secrete the unappetizing substance to protect itself. Ladybugs can live up to three years and range in size from 0.3 to 0.4 inches.

Caterpillars

The larval stage of butterflies and moths is the caterpillar. They eat constantly (leaves and plant parts), outgrowing and shedding their skin several times. The caterpillar fastens to a branch and enters the pupa stage after the last shedding. Moth caterpillars use a silk thread from their silk glands to spin a protective cocoon. Metamorphosis takes place inside the cocoon. Eventually, the insect emerges as a beautiful moth or butterfly. Caterpillars can be found almost everywhere in the world.

Moths

Moths typically have two pairs of wings that are covered in scales. They have a coiled proboscis and large compound eyes and vary dramatically in behavior, diet, habits, appearance and size depending on the species. Moths tend to avoid light and are most commonly found in dark locations such as basements, attics and closets. Indoors, homeowners most likely encounter moths that are either feeding on stored pantry items or on fabrics. They are most famous for their ability to ruin wool clothing. Moths are capable of infesting a home long before their populations are noticed and as a result, substantial damage can occur to clothing or furnishings.

Cockroaches

Cockroaches have six legs, two antennae and some have wings and can measure over 2 inches in length. However, most winged cockroaches are not particularly adept at flying.
Some species invade human dwellings and are considered pests. Others are beneficial to the environment as important recyclers of decaying organic material. The pest cockroaches can be carriers of various diseases because they are commonly found near waste deposits or in the kitchen, where food is present and can wreak havoc in your home. Cockroaches emit unpleasant odors and may also produce sound.
These pests can enter the home in many different ways, from the outside through cracks and crevices, vents, sewer and drain pipes or come in on products like grocery bags, boxes, purses and on our person. With plenty of food, warmth, water and nesting sites, cockroaches can remain active all year round. Cockroaches are rapid reproducers, for every one you see, there can be many more hiding and multiplying behind your walls. They are typically nocturnal therefore the few cockroaches you see by day could mean they were likely forced out by overcrowding. The debris created by cast-off cockroach skins, dead bodies and droppings can aggravate allergies, and asthma in children and sensitive individuals.

Chinch Bugs

Chinch bugs are small insects that have a hard body; two pairs of wings that are folded over the insect’s back; and are distinctly colored in spotted combinations of black, white or red. Most species that cause serious crop and turf damage are only about 1/8 to ¼ inch long and have mouthparts that are used to pierce into the plant and suck out plant juices.

Chinch bugs overwinter as adults and emerge in spring to lay eggs on their host plant or in the soil. Eggs hatch within a week and the nymphs begin feeding. Depending on the species and location, chinch bugs will complete two to three generations per year. In lawns, the damage looks like spots of grass that has yellowed or turned brown. Sunny locations are normally the most seriously affected.

Mites

There are thousands of mite species, the majority of which measure less than 1 mm in length. They begin their life cycle as eggs and develop through larval and pupal stages prior to full maturation. Mites can survive on land and in water. Although most mites are not harmful to animals, some species are parasitic in nature. Parasitic mites that attack animal hosts can cause severe skin irritation known as mange.

Fruit Flies

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If you’ve been seeing small flies in your kitchen, they’re probably fruit flies. Fruit flies can be a problem year round, but are especially common during late summer and fall because they are attracted to ripened or fermenting fruits and vegetables. Fruit flies are also common in restaurants, supermarkets and wherever else food is allowed to rot and ferment.

Adult fruit flies usually have red eyes and are about 1/8 inch long. The front portion of the body is tan and the rear portion is black. Fruit flies lay their eggs near the surface of fermenting foods or other moist, organic materials. Upon emerging, the tiny larvae continue to feed near the surface of the fermenting mass. This surface-feeding characteristic of the larvae is significant in that damaged or over-ripened portions of fruits and vegetables can be cut away without having to discard the remainder for fear of retaining any developing larvae. Fruit flies have an enormous reproductive potential and can lay about 500 eggs. The entire life cycle from egg to adult can be completed in approximately one week.

Although fruit flies are especially attracted to ripened fruits and vegetables in the kitchen, they also will breed in drains, garbage disposals, empty bottles and cans, trash containers, mops and cleaning rags. All that is needed for development is a moist film of fermenting material. Infestations can originate from over-ripened fruits or vegetables that were previously infested and brought into the home. The adults can also fly in from outside through inadequately screened windows and doors.

Fruit flies are primarily nuisance pests. However, they also have the potential to contaminate food with bacteria and other disease-producing organisms.

Weevils

Weevils are herbivorous beetles that are small, usually dull-colored and hard-bodied. They have a long ‘snout’ at the front of their head, called a rostrum, specially adapted for boring. They range in length of ¼ inches to 3 inches. In most species the female lays her eggs inside the plant tissue, on which the growing larvae feed. The granary weevil and rice weevil are serious pests of stored cereal grains. There are thousands of other destructive weevil species as well. Weevils cause millions of dollars’ worth of damage annually.

Stink Bugs

The stink bug, also known as a shield bug, is easily recognized by its five-sided or shield-shaped body. Adult stink bugs are about 3/4″ in length with broad bodies, sucking mouth-parts and a set of foul-smelling defensive glands underneath their bodies. There are about fifteen different species of stink bugs.

Adult stink bugs can be seen on plants, sidewalks and building structures in warm temperatures. By fall they begin searching for warm overwintering sites, entering your home through cracks, open doors and windows, even hitching a ride on you or your pets. Depending on temperature, the stink bug life cycle is completed in one year. The species typically have a single generation per year, although warm weather conditions can allow for two or three generations to develop. Their size and unpleasant odor make them very unwelcome.

Stinging Pests

Warm weather tends to bring everyone outside, including stinging pests. While the stings from wasps, bees, hornets, or yellow jackets may hurt, they can also cause more serious health issues like painful swelling, infections, nausea, and in rare cases even death.

Bees

There are more than 20,000 recorded bee species. Bees range in size of 2mm to 3.9 cm long and can be black or brown with red and yellow or lustrous blue stripes.
Bees live in colonies that contain the queen bee, the worker bee and the drone. The worker bee and the queen bee are both female, but only the queen bee can reproduce. All drones are male. Worker bees clean the hive, collecting pollen and nectar to feed the colony and they take care of the offspring. The drone’s only job is to mate with the queen. The queen’s only job is to lay eggs. Bees store their venom in a sac attached to their stinger and only female bees sting, as the stinger or ovipositor, is part of the female bee’s reproductive design. As a result of their constant laboring, their average life span is usually a mere six weeks.

All bees are hairy, a crucial trait for pollen collection. Flowers and flourishing vegetation often attract bees, and there is no insect as important as the bee when it comes to pollination. The most well-documented and encountered bee swarms are those of honey bees. Typically, honey bee swarms are not a major threat, unless when dealing with Africanized honey bees. The bees do not have a nest or young and, therefore, are less defensive. However, they will sting if provoked.

Wasps

There are 4,000 kinds of wasps in the United States. They vary tremendously in size from almost microscopic to several centimeters long depending on species. Most have two pair of wings and a pinched waist and range in colors from black to metallic greens and blues.
Social wasps live in colonies, which may number in the thousands. Within these colonies, female workers perform all duties within the nest. Solitary wasps live alone and therefore do not have a colony. They do lay eggs, but their eggs are left alone to hatch.Typically, wasps are most active during the day and usually return to their nests at dusk. These pests are often seen flying around during the second half of summer and early fall when the colonies search for food that will sustain their queens during the winter.

Some wasps are aggressive species and can sting when threatened. Unlike honey bees, wasps often are capable of stinging multiple times.

Scorpions

Scorpions possess eight legs and are related to spiders, mites and ticks, as well as other members of the Arachnida class. There are over 2,000 different species of scorpions that are found all across the world.
Scorpions prefer warm and relatively dry habitats. Because scorpions can live in very hash environments they have adapted the ability to slow their metabolism to as little as one-third the rate of most arthropods; enabling some species to use little oxygen and live on a single insect a year. Even with lowered metabolism, the scorpion has the ability to spring quickly to the hunt when the opportunity presents itself something that many hibernating species are unable to do. They find shelter during the day in underground holes or undersides of rocks.
Some species can have over 100 viviparous offspring, followed by the young climbing on the mother’s back for weeks until first molt and living independently. All scorpions are venomous, they use their venom to paralyze and kill their pray and in self-defense.
A scorpion’s life span ranges between three and five years, but some have been known to live up to 10 to 15 years.

Centipedes

Centipedes are elongated, with flat, segmented bodies that contain a pair of legs per segment. Depending on the species, they range in colors and sizes and may have anywhere from 15 to 177 pairs of legs. They have small mouths and have large, claw-like structures that contain a venom gland.
Most centipedes are carnivorous and forage for food at night, using their claws to paralyze their victims, such as worms, spiders and small vertebrates. Centipede venom is not normally life endangering to humans, although the bite can be painful.

Adult centipedes hide in moist, dark and secluded areas around bathrooms, closets, basements and other sites typically infested by pests during the winter. They place their eggs in dampened soil during summer or spring. Most centipedes live for more than a year and some up to six years. Centipedes may enter houses and buildings, but they do not usually roam during daytime.

Earwigs

There is a superstition that earwigs burrow into people’s ears while they sleep. Because of the pincers on the back of their abdomens, earwigs tend to frighten many people. Adult earwigs range in size from 5-25 mm, depending on the species. These slender insects have two pair of wings and some species produce a foul smelling liquid that they use for defense. They also produce a pheromone that scientists believe is the reason they cluster together in large numbers.
During the day earwigs hide in damp areas, cracks, under rocks, logs and mulch etc. They are very active at night and eat plants and insects. Earwigs spend the winter in small burrows in the ground. They are attracted to lights and can become a nuisance on porches and patios on summer evenings.

Gnats

Gnats are small, winged insects. Depending on their species, gnats can be biting or nonbiting and will feed on plants, other insects or blood. They range in size but usually are no larger than 33 mm. Males assemble in large mating swarms known as ghosts, most commonly at dusk in large fields and above streets. Gnat eggs are laid on land or water. The larval and adult stages of the gnat are considered both beneficial and detrimental. Some species are excellent plant pollinators and feed on crop pests such as aphids and scales. Other gnats are crop pests themselves.

Beetles

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There are more than 300,000 species of beetles. Beetles are poor flyers compared with many other insects, but they are well adapted for surviving rigorous conditions. They range in size from under 1/32 in. to over 6 in. long. Although most beetles are dull in color, several beetle families are brilliantly colored. Many beetles are highly destructive pests of crops and gardens, but others are beneficial predators of harmful insects.

Ticks

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Ticks are small blood-sucking parasites that are related to spiders. They are efficient hunters, often waiting (“questing”) in brush or tall grass for a host to latch onto. Once attached, ticks on dogs or other mammals remain often unnoticed for several days, making them excellent carriers for disease. After feeding, an engorged female falls off to lay 3,000-6,000 eggs. Tick larvae, nymphs or adult ticks can easily end up in residential areas, creating a whole new tick population waiting to be fed in your own garden or neighborhood park.

Spiders

Spiders have eight legs and two body regions. The ground spider is nocturnal, has a hairy body and legs and is very common in the Bahamas. This particular Spider is believed to be harmless to the human. They can bite if they feel threatened. The bite can also break the skin. However, its venom is weaker than from a typical bee sting. They typically will consume all types of insects, though so they will also eat rodents, snakes, bats, and lizards too. They will take the opportunity to eat whatever comes along.

The black widow spider or bottle spider is possibly the most venomous species in The Bahamas. It’s small, jet-black body is characterized by a red hourglass-shaped marking on its underside. The venom of the black widow is a powerful neurotoxin, capable of killing a human but or likely to cause severe pain followed by weakness, tremors, cramps and aches. Spiders commonly enter homes in two primary ways: entering through open, poorly screened windows and doors and through cracks and gaps around door and window frames.

Some spiders like moisture and are found in basements, crawl spaces and other damp parts of buildings. Others like dry, warm areas such as subfloor air vents, upper corners of rooms and attics. Most of the time, spiders come inside the home looking for prey. The other common method of entry is hiding in dark areas or accidentally hitchhiking inside boxes, on outdoor items and numerous other things that are brought inside a home or business.

Fleas

Adult fleas are small, wingless and about 2.5 mm long. Their bodies are shiny and reddish brown in color. Fleas are covered with microscopic hair and are compressed to allow for easy movement through animal fur. Adult fleas are parasites that draw blood from a host, while their larvae feed on organic debris, particularly the feces of adult fleas, which contain undigested blood. Fleas commonly prefer to feed on hairy animals such as dogs, cats, rabbits, squirrels, rats, mice and other domesticated or wild animals. Although they are capable of jumping long distances, fleas do not have wings. Most flea eggs hatch within two days on the ground, in rugs, carpet, bedding, upholstery or cracks in the floor.

Sealing cracks, gaps and holes to help keep rodents or other potential hosts from gaining access into the home is an important indirect way to keep fleas outside. However, one of the most effective ways to keep fleas from getting inside the home is to eliminate outdoor flea habitats.

Mosquitoes

Mosquitoes are pesky pests that can spread diseases such as Dengue, Chickungunya, Zika and Malaria. Adult mosquitoes range in size from 3 to 9 mm. They typically have long, thin legs, a head featuring a prominent proboscis with their bodies and wings most often are covered in tiny scales.
Mosquitoes are best known for the habits of the adult females which often feed on blood to help generate their eggs. The wormlike larvae are usually located in standing, preferably stagnant, water. Adult mosquitoes are most active from dusk until dawn but can become active with sufficient cloud cover or in dark shady areas. They are less active in the sunshine since they may desiccate and die.

Rodent

Rodents are warm-blooded mammals that can be found throughout the world. They have oversized front teeth for gnawing and check teeth, which are adapted for chewing. Rodents chew on a variety of items available to them and cause great damage in and around homes.
Rodents tend to be rapid breeders. Because of the rodents’ body plan, they are capable of squeezing through spaces that appear to be much too small for them. All such holes should be sealed to prevent entry and reentry of rodents.
To prevent or control rodent populations, keep any possible food sources away from them. Garbage, grains, cereals and small crumbs are popular sources of infestation. These should be kept in sealed metal or glass containers to prevent contamination. Fruits and vegetables should also be stored properly, and resulting waste should never be left in sinks or on counters. Cardboard or cottony objects are attractive to rodents, as they tend to chew them up for use in their nests.

Ants

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The ant’s life cycle consists of egg, larvae, pupae and adult. This is known as complete metamorphosis. It generally takes several weeks to several months to complete the life cycle, depending upon the ant species and environmental factors.
Ants can enter through even the tiniest cracks, seeking water and sweet or greasy food substances in the kitchen pantry or storeroom areas. They leave an invisible chemical trail which contains pheromones for others to follow once they locate the food source. Ants can nest about anywhere in and around your house; in lawns, walls, stumps, even under foundations. Colonies can number up to 300,000 to 500,000, and whole colonies can uproot and relocate quickly when threatened.

Termites

Often called the “silent destroyer”, termites may be secretly hiding and thriving in your home or yard without any immediate signs of damage. They range from 1/4 to 1/2 an inch in length. The queens and kings are larger and capable of reaching over one inch long.
Termites are detritivores that feed on dead plants and trees. Wood makes up the majority of the pests’ diet, but they also eat other materials such as paper, plastic, and drywall. House foundations, furniture, shelves and even books are all possible feeding sites for termites. Unfortunately, all structures, regardless of their construction type, can provide cellulose food for termite infestation. Their feeding habits are capable of causing costly property damage.
There are two major types of termites found in the Bahamas, drywood and subterranean being the most abundant. Subterranean termite homes are usually formed in soil. Within their mounds, termites build elaborate tunnel systems and mud tunnels through which they access above-ground food sources. Drywood termites live within the wood they consume and often infest walls and furniture.
When a colony has matured, winged, swarming termites are often seen around windows and doors. Winged termites are highly attracted to sources of light and are most active in springtime. After mating, these termites locate a new breeding site and create another colony.