Teeny Bug
So my wife called me yesterday to tell me she had captured a bug for me to photograph. I rushed home after work, hauled out the camera, and breathlessly asked, “where is it?”
She handed me a plastic cup with an envelope covering it. I looked through the side of the cup. I squinted. I lifted the envelope. I peered into the cup. I flipped the envelope over and checked the back of it. I looked back up at my wife and asked, “where is it?”
She pointed at a speck in the bottom of the glass. “Right there!”
This little critter was quite docile and content to be handled for photography. Sorry for the blurry photo, but this was the best one I got showing its true scale. Check out the larger version to see what that giant copper ridge is from.
Anyone who has an idea on an ID, please let me know. I have a couple more pics of this bug that are pretty good, and I’d like to get an ID before I run them. I’m pretty sure it’s a True Bug, Order Heteroptera¹, though, or more appropriately Suborder Prosorryncha²–one of the coming photos will show why I wasn’t willing to handle this bug with bare fingers! (Look at footnote 2 for a hint.)
¹ Literally, “different wings”. True bugs have both forewings and hindwings. This bug had a pair of membranous flying wings tucked up under its shell-wings.
² If my greek is correct, this means “big freakin’ nose”. True bugs all have a beak, usually used for stabbing or biting plants or other bugs. And yes, I have a picture coming soon of its very, very, proso-looking ryncha.
AJ said,
March 20, 2008 @ 12:26 pm
Whatever it is, it looks a lot like the nameless little beetle guys that are all over my apartment. I have no idea what they are, but they’re cute, harmless (as far as I can tell) and they kind of tickle when they crawl on me, so I keep them around. They’re so tiny that they even escape the notice of my cats, who go crazy over the occasional moth and fly that sneak in.
tceisele said,
March 20, 2008 @ 1:05 pm
Well, if it weren’t for the note about it having a bug-style proboscis, I’d think it was a carpet beetle, like these. I still think that’s a possibility, but let’s see what the face looks like, first . . .
We have carpet beetles in the house. As does pretty much everybody, I think (although many people deny it). They’re great if you want to, say, extract the skeletons from small mammals (the larvae eat everything but the bone. And I mean everything
Entr0physt said,
March 20, 2008 @ 2:28 pm
Given that the forewings do not appear to overlap, and seem to curve downward at the posterior, and given the gloss level of the shell-wings, I’d guess this one is actually a beetle of suborder Myxophaga, order Coleoptera. Possibly even a flea-beetle with jeuvenile coloring? Many beetles have large or even piercing mouthparts, but all truebugs have overlapping forewings that get thinner toward the posterior, and they typically don’t curve downward. It sure is wee.
Susannah said,
March 20, 2008 @ 2:59 pm
Looks like a carpet beetle to me. I’ve been trying to photograph a couple for ages, and it looks just like my poor pics.
Look at the underside: does it look like this?
David Brady said,
March 20, 2008 @ 3:13 pm
tceisele, Susannah: Looks like you’re right. It’s a dead ringer for the carpet beetle underside photo. Cool! So the beak I saw in the other photo is probably me misreading the photo.
Entr0physt said,
March 21, 2008 @ 8:13 am
Cool, yeah I wish I’d read the carpet beetle post first, the coloring is exact!
At least I got the Order right. Where did they live before the World Of Carpet, I wonder? There has to be something about the consistency or the fibers that they like, and that other outdoor insects don’t. Do they live in palm mesh or fibours desert grasses?
tceisele said,
March 21, 2008 @ 9:13 am
They evidently used to live in bird and mammal nests, eating skin flakes, hair, feathers, and (when the animal died in the den) corpses. They adapted to dry conditions in the process (since most animals like dry nests), so they bear up well in a dry house. That’s one thing that most of the house fauna has in common: they are mostly arid-region animals that can manage well without much in the way of a water source. A lot of the things you find in the house aren’t things that got in from outside; many of them have turned the house into their ecosystem, and have little or nothing in common with the critters outdoors. These are the ones that travel around the world with us, and you will find in pretty much everybody’s house.
Insect Picture of the Day » Carpet Beetle said,
March 24, 2008 @ 9:06 am
[…] an adult and post it someday soon, so I was a bit surprised at my own surprise to discover that last Thursday’s bug was actually a carpet beetle. Thank you everyone for helping with the ID; Susannah had the clincher […]
Entr0physt said,
March 24, 2008 @ 12:48 pm
Makes sense… even though genetic evolution is a long-term process, it filters via adaptation, which can happen very quickly. I guess some part of me is prejudiced to think that a critter from one place would try to get back to where it fits in, or at least share its time across both. I guess that makes us somewhat responsible for the ones who now choose to live with us instead of in their ancestral home. Mi casa su casa…