Brits of all shapes and sizes have been spitting out mouth fulls of tea and shepherd's pie at the announcement that a strange unidentified insect seems to be running rampant across England, including London.
The black and red bug resembles the Arocatus roeselii, a rare central European insect, only Britain's bugs are significantly duller in color. It's not every day that an unknown species emerges in the center of one of the oldest cities in the world.
Click here to watch an informative video on the topic.
London's Natural History Museum will be analyzing specimens of the bug to determine its genetic makeup.
Life Science
Comments
[Spits out tea and shepherd's pie]
[Wonders what 'bumfizzle' means]
Posted by: Kapitano | July 17, 2008 7:36 PM
Is it a humbug?
[url]http://forumhub.com/stories/21862.09.16.37.html[/url]
Posted by: Romeo Vitelli | July 17, 2008 8:46 PM
Looks like a dull box elder bug to me....
Posted by: Mr.Mom | July 17, 2008 10:27 PM
Deep within the bowels of the city, an ancient tomb has been disturbed. The insects have emerged after centuries of living in the dark confines.
It has been reported in their insatiable bloodlust they enjoy eating babies, and occasionally kittens.
Posted by: Zellychan | July 17, 2008 11:10 PM
That looks like Rhyparochromus vulgaris from this page: http://aramel.free.fr/INSECTES10bisbis'-1.shtml (scroll down to the middle of the page)
The red one you mentioned (I don't know the English name for it, but the long name is Melanocoryphus albomaculatus, also visible in the above link) is a fairly common pest in Eastern Europe. Possibly even coming in second after cockroaches. People tend to control them a lot more harshly than cockroaches, though, because unlike cockroaches they bite...
Posted by: Sergiy Grynko | July 18, 2008 5:43 AM
Oops, I messed up on the red one. It appears to be Pyrrhocoris apterus from http://aramel.free.fr/INSECTES10bisbis'-10.shtml (next page in the same website)
I've been living in Canada for over 10 years, so my memory is a little rusty.
Posted by: Sergiy Grynko | July 18, 2008 5:46 AM
Sergiy's comment reminded me of an amusing bit from Orwell's 'Down and out in Paris'
'SALOPE! SALOPE! How many times have I told you not to
squash bedbugs on the wallpaper? Do you think you've bought the hotel, eh? Why can't you throw them out of the window like everyone else? PUTAIN!'
Posted by: milkshake | July 18, 2008 7:41 AM
London's Natural History Museum will be analyzing specimens of the bug to determine its genetic makeup.
After which they will name a weird pub dish after it.
Posted by: Liesele | July 18, 2008 8:26 AM