…so here is another pic of some spring flowers from a botanic garden I visited a while ago.

Mike:

I live in the Rocky Mountains near Loveland, Colorado. I seem to be getting 2 to 3 Western Conifer Seed bugs in my house every day. The “stink” is pretty potent. I have tried everything I know to seal up all cracks and spaces in my log home. I haven’t done anything with my chimney. What else can I do? Thanks, Mike

Picture courtesy of Cornell Cooperative Extention

Unfortunately all you can do to keep these guys out of your house is seal up cracks and gaps around your house. There are no pesticides (not that I would reccommend that anyway) registered for these bugs. You could try screening your chimney. Otherwise it sounds like you are already doing everything that I would have suggested. If it gives you any more peace of mind, they are not harmful or anything

Maybe another reader has some clever suggestions?

I am in my (not so much) home away from home…upstate NY for some more field work. I’ll pretty much be living here through August now. Someone throw me a pity party.

But while out in the stupid cold snow I did spot these cute snow fleas (aka springtails)

And a pretty (out-of-focus) snowflake….

And here is a mystery larva….anyone know what family it belongs to?

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

If it looks a little dead, its because it is

Here is a cute little cerabycid (longhorn beetle) pupa popping its head out of a gallery.

Ever see those signs or bumper stickers about not moving firewood, there is a reason for it…they are often packed with insects. The picture above is a pile of logs and the ’shavings’ that are on the center log are actually Monochamus frass (i.e., longhorn beetle poop). That frass is being pushed out of the wood as the insect continues to feed in the gallery and chew its way out of the tree.

We have been splitting those logs in order to get an estimate of how many insects there are in each tree/log. You may be suprised to know that we have found any where from 1-100 larvae per 0.5 meter section of log.

You never know what you are transporting when you move firewood.

Theresa:

“Can we please have the picture of Aphodinae(subfamily) Aphodiini(tribe), Aphodius sp., which has nesting type of a dweller”

I don’t personally have any pictures of that species of beetles, but you can find some here at BugGuide.net. Maybe someone else who reads this blog will want to share some pictures if they have some.