The Argentine Ant (Linepithema humile), a small brown ant about 2-3mm long, is one of the world’s most damaging insects. This pernicious ant is spreading to warmer regions around the world from its natal habitat along South America’s Paraná River. Linepithema humile can drive native arthropods to extinction, instigating changes that ripple through ecosystems.

Flea is the common name for insects of the order Siphonaptera which are wingless insects with mouthparts adapted for piercing skin and sucking blood. Fleas are external parasites, living by hematophagy off the blood of mammals (including bats and humans) and birds.

The Kudzu Bug (Megacopta cribraria), is native to Asia, this pest undoubtedly found it’s way to the States along all the Kudzu we brought many years ago. Also known as the bean beetle and the Kudzu Bug, globular stink bugs like to feed on Kudzu during the spring and summer. In the fall, they’ll start seeking a safe place to stay for the upcoming winter. During this time they can become an invasive insect.

The roof rat is also known as the black rat, the rodent was called the black rat mostly in the Middle Ages. The rat’s name is also a reminder of the plague or Black Death, which the species was the initial carrier of the plague. Still to this day the roof rat still carries just as harmful diseases on its body. Also the roof rat can carry fleas, lice, bacteria, and parasites. The health implications are serious, and unlike spiders or scorpions they do not have to physically bite a person to infect them. Roof rat’s droppings that are often left behind, sometimes in gross high amounts, can cause a person to become ill. Not only are the rats carriers of diseases, what they leave behind can still have the potential to get a person sick. See how to handle this situation if it occurs by reading our blog on the diseases roof rats carry.

If you see droppings, how are you to know they are from a roof rat or a common house mouse? The droppings of a roof rat are actually long and cylindrical; the droppings are the most useful tool to determine if they have infiltrated your home. These rodents are nocturnal, so catching them out and about in your home in the day does not usually happen. It is what the rat leaves behind that will help you decide how to handle them. Although there is a chance you could find them sleeping in your attic. In order to tell if the rat is an actual roof rat look for these characteristics they can be as long as 18 inches, sometimes their tails are shorter than their bodies, have large ears and have a brown to black colored fur.

Cockroaches have been present on the earth for more than 400 million years. Cockroaches are considered to be one of the worst household pests because they contaminate food with their excrement, prduce allergens and secrete an unpleasant odor which can permeate the indoor environment. Many people develop allergies to cockroaches. Allergens present in roach feces can become airborne along with normal house dust. The allergens can then be inhaled from the air or ingested when in contact with food.

Cockroaches prefer moist, warm, dark places typical of many homes. Roaches will eat almost anything they find, including pet food, crumbs, spoiled food, paints, wallpaper pastes, and book bindings. They can carry germs from the sink or bathroom onto dishes and other food surfaces, thus spreading bacteria that cause food poisoning.

Silverfish consume matter that contains polysaccharides, such as starches and dextrin in adhesives. These include glue, book bindings, paper, photos, sugar, coffee, hair, carpet, clothing and dandruff. Silverfish can also cause damage to tapestries. Other substances that may be eaten include cotton, linen, silk, synthetic fibres and dead insects or even its own exuvia (moulted exoskeleton). During famine, a silverfish may even attack leatherware and synthetic fabrics. Silverfish can live for a year or more without eating.

Silverfish are considered a household pest, due to their consumption and destruction of property. Although they are responsible for the contamination of food and other types of damage, they do not transmit disease.

Eastern Subterranean Termites can withstand a wider range of temperatures and are able to survive in every state except Alaska.

Subterranean termites are the single greatest economic pest in the United States. These termites cause billions of dollars in damage each year to homes, historical structures, and commercial buildings. In addition to buildings, termites also consume valuable books, documents and photographs. Subterranean termites have existed for over 55 million years and are extremely good at what they do. A great deal of their success can be attributed to their cooperative behavior. Subterranean termites are social insects. This means that they live in family groups called colonies. Social insects are different from other insects (grasshoppers, cockroaches, or beetles) because each termite in the colony performs a specific job that benefits the colony as a whole. Most other insects work only for themselves. For example, each individual grasshopper will feed and reproduce itself independently of its siblings. In the termite colony, an entire group or caste of termites is responsible for feeding their parents and siblings, while another caste is responsible for reproduction. Because of this division of labor, the colony of individuals functions as a single animal. The following is a description of how a subterranean termite colony becomes established and how the different castes interact and communicate as the colony grows.

The term wasp is typically defined as any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita that is neither a bee nor an ant. Almost every pest insect species has at least one wasp species that preys upon it or parasitizes it, making wasps critically important in natural control of their numbers, or natural biocontrol. Parasitic wasps are increasingly used in agricultural pest control as they prey mostly on pest insects and have little impact on crops.