A reader sent me this picture, asking for an ID - it was taken in upstate New York:
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What bug is this?
Category: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words • Insects • Invertebrates
Posted on: November 15, 2009 7:23 PM, by Coturnix
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Comments
Box Elder Bug.
Posted by: John | November 15, 2009 7:29 PM
Just a shot in the dark. Could it be a species of cockroach?
Posted by: lyle | November 15, 2009 7:31 PM
They are boxelder bugs: http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/horticulture/DG0998.html
Posted by: Karen the Microblogologist | November 15, 2009 7:33 PM
Ok, I go with John he sounds authoritative.
Posted by: lyle | November 15, 2009 7:33 PM
You and your readers might like knowing about a site called BugGuide, where pictures like the ones your reader submitted of Boisea trivittata or other North American insects and spiders can be submitted for identification:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/6/bgimage
http://bugguide.net/node/view/3598/bgimage
Posted by: Bob Carlson | November 15, 2009 8:06 PM
I concur with the box elder bug consensus. And agree with Bob that bugguide.net is awesome!
Posted by: Julie Stahlhut | November 15, 2009 8:17 PM
Boisea trivittata (Eastern Boxelder Bug)
Posted by: cfeagans | November 15, 2009 8:26 PM
Wow.. in the time I took to pay for Pizza and eat a couple slices there were 6 answers! I agree: bugguide is great. My daughter and I use it on occasion ID various creepy-crawlies around the house.
Posted by: cfeagans | November 15, 2009 8:29 PM
They did not send it to Bug Girl?
Posted by: Anon | November 15, 2009 8:48 PM
yup, it's a boxelder. I sent you the same link karen did on facebook before I saw it here.
Posted by: dorid | November 15, 2009 9:26 PM
Box Elder bugs are way more than common around here in late fall and early spring. (Mpls, Minnesota) They're harmless, they come in to get away from the cold, and die. Only control needed is a vacuum cleaner.
Posted by: GoatRider | November 15, 2009 10:04 PM
Hahaha. while I was waiting for the page to load, I thought...bet it's a box-elder bug. When I was growing up we had so many of these on the wood casing of the outside of the window of our house that it was black. Little bastards were prolific and everywhere. They mainly like to hang out near the box-elder trees for which they are named, which also happen to harbor lots of little green worms that hang down on really long strings. Not sure why they do that. The box elder trees would put out some really interesting looking "flower", though. Every once in a while I'd see a box-elder bug that was round and a bit fatter. I'm still trying to figure out what that one was.
Posted by: Scrabcake | November 16, 2009 1:15 AM