Some Problem Invertebrates of Texas

Ants / Bees & Wasps / Beetles / Bugs / Caterpillars / Centipedes / Chiggers, Fleas & Ticks / Grasshoppers

Lovebugs / Mosquitoes / Scorpions / Shrimps / Solifugids / Spiders / Sticks / Termites / Worms

Return to Texas Entomology - Compiled by Mike Quinn

Most publications linked here were written by the Texas Cooperative Extension - See Also: Field Guide

Contact your local agent here: Texas County Extension Offices

Texas Cooperative Extension Entomologists

Texas Department of Health - Medically Important Arthropods - Zoonotic Diseases - Outdoor Health and Safety Tips

CDC - Search page for detailed information on insects of medical importance

Understanding Common House & Garden Insecticides

Ants 

Fire Ants

• http://fireant.tamu.edu/ - Texas Imported Fire Ant Research and Management Project 

• The Texas Two-Step Method - (Organic Method) - Currently the best proven approach to effectively manage fire ants

• Managing Red Imported Fire Ants in Urban Areas

• Managing Fire Ants in Texas Schoolyard and Butterfly Gardens

• Managing Red Imported Fire Ants in Wildlife Areas

• Managing Red Imported Fire Ants in Electrical Equipment and Utility Housings

• Organic Fire Ant Baits Available, Effective

• Taking the Bite Out of Fire Ants: Biologists battle destructive imported ants with vampire-like flies - UT

• Areawide Suppression of Fire Ants - Decapitating flies - Thelohania fire ant disease - USDA/ARS 

Fire Ant Maps

• Imported Fire Ant Quarantine - USDA 
• Dynamic Map of U.S. Infestation, 1918-2000
• Possible Future Fire Ant Infestation Area

Non-Fire Ant Information

• House-infesting Ants and Their Management
• Carpenter Ant Control - Camponotus spp.
• Native Ants - List of Ant Species in Texas
• Texas Leaf Cutting Ant - Atta texana - Range map - Texas & Louisiana
  • Photos: worker, winged form, winged form, queen, all castes (note, female reproductive has larger head than male)
  • Atta Texana Leafcutter Ant Colony Visualization - Carol LaFayette and Texas A&M University
    • Atta texana: a view underground - 3d model and animation created from a Ground Penetrating Radar scan of an Atta texana leafcutting ant colony in Texas
      

Honey Bees 

• http://honeybee.tamu.edu/
• Temporary Honey Bee Swarm Photo
• Honey Bees in and around Homes - Established colonies (revised edition)
• "What should I do about the Africanized Bee?" - FAQ
• How to Submit Honey Bee Samples for Identification
• Map of Africanized Honey Bee Distribution in the US
• Africanized Honey Bees - AgNews Updates
• Texas Beekeepers Associations - Most are willing to offer advise and/or assistance
• Colony Collapse Disorder - Wikipedia

Other Bee and Wasp Information

• Bumble Bees - TAMU
• Carpenter Bees - TAMU
• Mexican Honey Wasp - This honey-storing wasp ranges as far north as San Antonio, Texas 
• Cicada Killers - News Article - Bexar Co. Extension - East Texas Extension - These giant wasps rarely sting people or animals

Beetles - Coleoptera

• Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle - University Florida
  • Photo of large number of adults   
• Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle - USDA
• Ladybug Masses Bad News for Aphids - Texas A&M 
• Multicolored Asian Lady Beetle - Ohio State University Extension 
• Photo - Photo - Photo - Photo - Photo - Photo - Highly variable, look for white "cheeks" near beetle's head 
  
  
• Twig Girdlers ("Flying Beavers") - Longhorned Beetles (Family Cerambycidae) - TX Forest Service
• Twig Girdlers
• WANTED: Asian ambrosia beetle - Xylosandrus crassiusculus 

• Wood-boring Insects of Trees and Shrubs

Bugs - Hemiptera

• Chagas Disease in a Domestic Transmission Cycle, Southern Texas - CDC

Caterpillars - Lepidoptera

• Oak Leaf Rollers can be controlled

• Oak Leaf Roller and Springtime Defoliation of Live Oak Trees - PDF

• Oak Leaf Tier - Croesia semipurpurana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) - Univ. of Florida

• Oak Leaf Roller - Archips semiferana (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) 

• Juniper Budworm - Cudonigera houstonana (syn. Choristoneura) - (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae) - TX Forest Service
          Photo - E.C. Knudson

• Saltmarsh Caterpillar - Estigmene acrea - (Lepidoptera: Arctiidae) - Univ. of Florida 

  • Mature Caterpillar - Common name is a misnomer as they are not tied to marshes 

  • These caterpillars are active dispersers and are often found crossing the road

  • Variably colored larvae usually are dark, but sometimes are yellowish brown or straw colored.

  • They are most common in the southern United States, particularly the southwest.

  • Broadleaf weeds are the normal caterpillar food plants.

• Fall Webworms 

• Webworm Caterpillars - Texas Cooperative Extenion

• Tent Caterpillars - Malacosoma spp. - (family Lasiocampidae)  
  

• Biological Control - Cornell University
  
      Stinging Caterpillars
  

• The most frequently reported caterpillar envenomation in Central Texas is by the puss caterpillar or "asp"

  • Adult moth - Caterpillar - Caterpillar - Pupa

  • The Asp or Puss Moth Caterpillar, Megalopyge Opercularis - Baylor College of Medicine

• Stinging Caterpillars of Bexar County

• Io Moth - Automeris io- University of Florida

• Stinging Caterpillars Found on Alabama Trees - Auburn University

• Slug Caterpillars of New Jersey - Bob Barber 
  

• Caterpillar ID Tips

Centipedes

• Centipedes and Millipedes - TAMU

• Centipedes and Millipedes with Emphasis on North America Fauna - Rowland M. Shelley
          Centipedes of Texas - Soil Centipedes - Mike Quinn
          Scolopendra heros - University of Arkansas, 
          Photos: Giant Redheaded Centipede - Scolopendra heros, close-up, on  white background

Chiggers, Fleas, Mites and Ticks 

Grasshoppers, Katydids and Crickets - Orthoptera

• Attack of the Post Oak Grasshoppers? - Dendrotettix quercus
• Grasshopper Control Tips for Texas Landscapes
• Grasshoppers and Their Control
• Cricket Control in the Fall
• Grasshoppers are Making People Hopping Mad in 2002!! - Nathan Riggs, Bexar County Extension
• Eastern Lubber Grasshopper: Romalea guttata - Feature Creature - Florida
• Central Texas Leaf Katydid - Occasional Central Texas outbreaks - Has both green and red forms
• Red-eyed Devil - Large spiny wingless grasshopper of Central to South Texas
• Katydids of Texas

Lovebugs - Diptera

• Lovebugs - Plecia nearctica - TAMU
          Photo

• Love Bugs on the Move! - (Request for assistance) - University of South Carolina

• Lovebug - Feature Creature - University of Florida
          Swarm photo
          Windshield photo

• Cherry, Ron and Richard Raid. 2000. Seasonal flight of Plecia nearctica (Diptera: Bibionidae) in southern Florida. Florida Entomologist 83(1):94-96.

• Hetrick, L.A. 1970. Biology of the "Love-Bug", Plecia Nearctica (Diptera: Bibionidae). The Florida Entomologist 53(1):23-26.  

Mosquitoes

• Mosquito Management and Control - TAMU
• Mosquito Control Gimmicks - TAMU
• West Nile Virus Links
• Biological Control - Cornell University
  
• Crane Flies - Are NOT giant mosquitoes - Photo
  • Large numbers of adult crane flies can be a nuisance indoors but are medically harmless.

Scorpions

• Scorpions 

• Striped bark scorpion - Centruoides vittatus 

  • range of C. vittatus

• Texas Cave Scorpion - Pseudouroctonus reddelli 

  • Photo - Kari J McWest

Land Shrimps - Lawn Shrimp - Scuds - small terrestrial crustaceans

• "lawn shrimp" - University of Florida
  • Photo
• Land Shrimp: Terrestrial Amphipod - University of Florida

Solifugids

• Curve-faced Solifugid - Family Ammotrechidae - Mike Quinn

• Windscorpion or Solifugid - Texas Cooperative Extension 

• Windscorpions - Carl D. Patrick, Professor and Extension Entomologist, Texas A&M University 

• Giant Camel Spiders in Iraq? - HOAX email circulating mostly in 2004

Spiders

• Venomous Texas Spiders - Texas Department of Health
• Arachnids - Centers for Disease Control 
  
• Brown Recluse Spider Information - Loxosceles spp. - University of California, Riverside
          Brown Recluse photo - Ohio State
          The alleged brown-recluse-caused thumb wound - [pix] - University of California, Riverside
          Brown Recluse photo showing size - University of Nebraska
          Control of Brown Recluse Spiders - Texas A&M
          Range of recluse (Loxosceles spp.) spiders in the United States - University of California
          Scavenging by brown recluse spiders - Sandidge, University of Kansas, Nature 2003
• Black Widow Spider - Latrodectus spp. - Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet
          Black Widow photo - UC Davis
          Black Widow multiple photos
• Brown Recluse, Black Widow Spiders: Unwanted Visitors - TAMU
  • A Field Guide to the Spiders and Scorpions of Texas 
    John A. Jackman. 1997. Gulf Publishing, Houston, TX.
• Catalogue of Texas Spiders - D. Allen Dean, Texas A&M University 
• Spiders - Texas A&M
• Yellow Garden Spider - Argiope aurantia - A large common harmless garden spider 
• Banded Garden Spider - Argiope trifasciata - A large common harmless garden spider 
• Spiny-backed Orbweaver - Gasteracantha cancriformis - A small common crab-like spider

• Photos and discussion of massive spider web east of Dallas, Texas

Stick Insects

• Texas Walkingstick Information - Mike Quinn
• Ocular Injury from the Venom of the Southern Walkingstick

Termites

• Termites
• Subterranean Termites - Reticulitermes spp.
• Commonly Asked Questions About Subterranean Termite Control
• How to Select a Termite Control Service
• Termites101.org

"Worms"

• Horsehair Worms - Gordius robustus
          Horsehair Worm Photos

• Land Planarians - Bipalium kewense - TAMU

• Land Planarians - University of Florida

• Shovel-headed Garden Worm - Australian Museum

See also:

• A Technique for Removing Insects from Homes
• Diagnosing Mysterious "Bug Bites"
• Least Toxic Approaches to Pest Control In and Around the Home
• Who to talk to when you have insects on your mind: Entomophobia, Illusory Parasitosis, Delusory Parasitosis

No Claims are made to the accuracy or suitability if this information.

If you need medical assistance, see your physician.

06 May 2008 © Mike Quinn / mike.quinn@tpwd.state.tx.us / Texas Entomology