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Creature Feature
Norway rat is the official common name for a rat that is native to the eastern Siberia/China border and parts of Japan. This misnomer occurred because the English naturalist who classified the rat in 1769 thought the rat was introduced to the UK on Norwegian ships. Although not true, the name stayed and continues to be used today.
Norway rats spread west from Asia through human migration, arriving in Europe in the 1500s and the Western Hemisphere in the 1700s. With the exception of polar regions, some islands and the Canadian province of Alberta, Norway rats are a worldwide pest and are the dominant rat species in Europe and most of North America. Alberta has worked hard since the first Norway rat was discovered in 1950 to keep itself rat-free, including monitoring a buffer zone within 29 km (18 mi) of its lower eastern border with Saskatchewan and destroying rats whenever they are found.
Red and confused flour beetles are one of the most common stored product pests. Physically and behaviorally, they are practically the same and can be approached with the same management methods. The main difference between them is that adult red flour beetles fly (although not strongly) and adult confused flour beetles do not. Adults are up to ¼ inch long with flattened bodies that help them hide in tight crevices. They can also live from one to three years, are very active and cause feeding damage along with the larvae.
Red and confused flour beetles infest a wide variety of stored products, particularly those containing processed
Moth flies are fuzzy little flies with wing veins that run parallel from base to tip. In nature, they breed in moist, polluted environments that sometimes flood, where their larvae feed on decaying organic material. In and around structures, moth flies are common in plumbing drains and sewage systems. Because moth flies develop in decaying organic material, they may carry pathogens in healthcare facilities or to food handling areas. They may also cause allergic asthma in sensitive people.
Moth flies are one of the most common flies found in floor drains. Since the adults are poor fliers and are active at night, they are usually found resting
Voles belong to a group of rodents containing many species collectively referred to as meadow voles. Although they look like mice, voles are generally stouter with shorter ears and tail. They behave differently from mice as well and usually stay outside of structures. Voles live underground in shallow burrow systems and are poor climbers.
Voles feed on plant roots and stems and tend to damage turf and ornamental or garden plants. They are prolific breeders and their populations can peak about every four to five years. This is when most of their damage occurs around structures. Their burrow openings are connected by well-traveled runways, which also ruin the appearance of lawns.
Conenose or kissing bugs are blood-feeding insects that have a history of biting around people’s faces. Eleven species have been found in the United States – in Hawaii and the lower 29 states from California across to New Jersey. Most are found in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona.
Adult conenose or kissing bugs are about ½ to one inch long and fly. Most have a striped band around the edge of their body. They are mostly active at night and feed on a variety of vertebrate animals. Small vertebrate animals may be reservoirs for Chagas disease that conenose or kissing bugs can vector to people and dogs especially.
The Turkestan cockroach is native to much of the Middle East through Central Asia. It was most likely introduced to the United States in military equipment returning from the Middle East in the late 1970s. Since then, it has become common in southern California and across the southwestern states into Texas where it appears to be displacing the Oriental cockroach. It may occur in other states near military bases or due to its popularity as a live feeder insect for reptile pets.
The Turkestan cockroach is a peridomestic pest, meaning it can live in or around structures. In less humid environments, it tends to be more of an outdoor pest often found in underground utility boxes and hollow block walls. They become more of an indoor pest as heat and humidity increases.
Excluding the northeastern and upper midwestern states, scorpions are present across most of the US and just over the border into southwestern Canada. Although they can be found in a variety of habitats, many live in hot and arid deserts. Of the 90 or so species in the U.S., all but four naturally occur west of the Mississippi river with the highest concentration in the desert southwest. Most are terrestrial, living under objects on the ground or in burrows, but some are arboreal, meaning they live up in trees.
Scorpions are predators that may use venom from their stinging tail to subdue prey. Like other venomous arthropods, they may defensively
Earwigs belong to their own small order of insects. Most are easily recognizable by having a pair of cerci at the end of their long abdomens. Immature earwigs have straight cerci that remain so in adult females but generally become curved in adult males. Earwigs use their cerci to defend themselves and for grasping prey or each other during mating.
Most earwigs scavenge on dead plants and animals. Some are insect predators and others may eat and damage live plants. Earwigs need cool and moist environments, so they are usually active at night and spend the day hiding under tree bark or objects on the ground. After mating in the fall, adult pairs overwinter in soil together. When males leave in the spring, females lay eggs and continue to care for their offspring through the early nymphal stages, a behavior that is unusual in non-social insects.
Springtails are a group of organisms that have six legs (hexapods) like insects. However, springtails are not insects, mainly because their mouthparts are enclosed within the head, whereas insects have external mouthparts. Most springtails have a forked appendage (furcula) held under the abdomen that helps them escape predators by catapulting them into the air when sprung against the ground. Hence the name springtails.
Springtails primarily live in moist soil and leaf litter, feeding on microbes and organic material. Most of them breathe through their cuticle because they do not have a tracheal respiratory system. This makes springtails vulnerable to desiccation and dependent on having moisture in their environment. Sometimes their populations boom by the thousands during periods of high moisture, usually provided by excess precipitation or structural leaks.
The most common skunk in North America is the striped skunk, which is found across southern Canada down through the continental United States and into northern Mexico. Skunks have enlarged anal scent glands that produce an oily defensive fluid containing sulfur-based compounds that can be sprayed up to 10 feet away. If not surprised, skunks may warn before spraying by raising their tail and stomping their front feet.
Striped skunks are adapted to human environments. They are mostly active at night and may damage grass in yards while searching for insects to eat. They may also den under structures or fall into basement window wells. Aside from spraying people or pets if surprised or confronted, skunks may vector rabies, especially in California and the center of the United States up into Canada.