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Three weeks ago, we visited leaffooted bugs that dropped a leg to save their life. At the end of the video clip, we met a five-legged survivor of an apparent attack bedecked with two small white blobs attached to its back. We promised to revisit this bug to learn the story of the strange ornaments on its back. Here’s the deal. The white blobs on the back of the leaffooted bug are eggs deposited by a pretty parasitic fly known as a feather-legged fly. Feather-legged flies belong to a clan of parasitic flies called tachinids. Some tachinids attack caterpillars, including the nefarious gypsy moth caterpillar, but feather-legged flies have a penchant for attacking members of the “true bug” clan, insects with sucking mouthparts and immature stages called nymphs. Female flies tangle with their true bug victims and attach eggs to the exoskeleton of the host often in places where it is difficult for the host to remove them. Eggs hatch and fly larvae bore into the host to develop. When their development is complete, they exit, drop to the ground and pupate in the soil. Adults emerge from the soil to feed, mate, and find new bugs to attack and parasitize.

Three weeks ago we visited a leaffooted bug that dropped a leg to save its life. At the end of the video clip, we noticed two small white blobs attached to its back. The blobs are eggs deposited by a pretty parasitic tachinid fly known as a feather-legged fly. The eggs hatch and the fly larvae bore into the host to develop as they dine on their host. When their development is complete, the larvae exit, drop to the ground and pupate in the soil. Adults emerge from the soil to feed, mate, and find new bugs to attack and parasitize. Pretty feather-legged flies are common visitors to goldenrods in late summer and autumn. In addition to attacking native insects, feather-legged flies put a beat down on invasive pests like nefarious brown marmorated stink bugs.

But how do these smallish flies find their hosts in a very big world? Insects communicate in a variety of ways using sight, sound, and volatile chemicals to find and join other members of their species. Chemicals used for communication by members of the same species are called pheromones. In a series of fascinating studies, Jeff Aldrich and his colleagues discovered how these parasitic flies locate their victims. Many species of true bugs produce pheromones that serve as assembly calls for purposes of mating and defense. Tachinids use aggregation pheromones of true bugs for their own mischievous purpose, to find hosts that will serve as food for their parasitic offspring. While this tale may seem a little dark, the good news here is that native Trichopoda flies have joined other allies, including wheel bugs, garden spiders, robber flies, mantises, and wasps to stymie the shenanigans of invasive pests including the brown marmorated stink bug.     

Acknowledgements

The intriguing references “The biology of Trichopoda pennipes Fab. (Diptera, Tachinidae), a parasite of the common squash bug by Harlan Worthley, “Bug pheromones (Hemiptera, Heteroptera) and tachinid fly host-finding” by Jeff Aldrich, Ashot Khrimian, Aijun Zhang, and Peter Sherer, and “Parasitism of the Invasive Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, Halyomorpha halys (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae), by the Native Parasitoid, Trichopoda pennipes (Diptera: Tachinidae)” by Neelendra K. Joshi, Timothy W. Leslie, and David J. Biddinger were used to prepare this episode.

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Why give thanks to the bees? Here’s why. According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service some 4,000 species of native wild bees pollinate a vast assortment of agricultural crops in the United States, including several of those we will find on our Thanksgiving table. Bees are key providers of pollination services to agricultural crops. Estimates of this value in North America and the US range from 15 to 34 billion dollars annually. Worldwide, the United Nation estimates the worth of pollinators to global food production ranges between 235 to 577 billion dollars annually. Although they are not native to the US, our hard-working honey bees contribute 5.4 billion dollars annually to our agriculture and in 2023 honey bees produced some 139 million pounds of honey valued at $2.52 per pound. While these figures are mind-boggling, one easy way to wrap your head around the benefit of pollinators is this: every third bite of food you take is brought to you by a pollinator.

For many of us this week, Thanksgiving provides a memorable feast with family and friends. While the iconic turkey and fixings are fine, my personal favorite of the Thanksgiving feast is dessert, where tasty pies take center stage. Who doesn’t like pie to top off a turkey coma? So, let’s take a quick “tour de pie” to learn why we need to celebrate and give thanks to bees on this Thanksgiving Day.  

Cherry pie – Blue orchard mason bees

The first days of spring herald blue orchard mason bees. These early risers emerge in March and April to pollinate cherry trees, the fruit for our cherry pies.

Apple pie – Rufus-backed cellophane bees

Here in the DMV in April and May cellophane bees emerge, tussle a bit, and then fly off to pollinate a variety of plants including apple trees. Apple sauce, apple dumplings, apple pie.

Pumpkin pies – Eastern cucurbit bee

What would Thanksgiving be without pumpkin pie, brought to us by amazingly cute cucurbit bees, a.k.a. squash bees?  

Blueberry pie – Perplexing bumble bee

Beautiful perplexing bumble bees buzz-pollinate a wide variety of native plants and crops, including blueberries. As an added Thanksgiving treat, bumble bees pollinate the cranberries that garnish your turkey. 

Honey bees – Apis mellifera

Hardworking honey bees pollinate plants that provide fruit for pie filling in addition to pollinating other vegetables and beautiful bouquets gracing our Thanksgiving table. 

Unfortunately, all is not well in the realm of bees. A recent report on pollinators found that 34.7% of bees in North America are at an elevated risk of extinction with solitary species at the greatest risk. The root causes of these threats varied among different regions of the continent. In western and northern regions, climate change created the greatest risks to bees. In addition to climate change, agriculture presented an additional threat to bees in the Rocky Mountains and Great Plains. In the eastern United States including the DMV, pollution, housing and urban development, as well as agriculture were the biggest threats to bees. What about our iconic honey bees? Well, between June 2024 and March 2025 commercial beekeepers experienced catastrophic colony declines with  62% of their colonies lost, the largest losses ever recorded . Even hobbyist beekeepers felt the sting with a loss of 51% of their colonies.

Let’s be thankful for bees at our Thanksgiving dinner. Little ones like the early-rising blue orchard mason bee as she puts the finishing touches on a brood chamber that might be full of apple pollen ensuring apples for apple pies this Thanksgiving. Next, a female rufus-backed cellophane bee tussles with some male suitors before flying off just in time to pollinate a cherry tree. Any time of year cherry pie is a favorite. In addition to squash, my squash bees pollinate pumpkins for Jack O’ Lanterns and, yes, pumpkin pies. Perplexing bumble bees pollinate a wide variety of crops and flowering plants. When not pollinating teasel, they may be working on blueberries for blueberry pie or cranberries for the cranberry sauce at the Thanksgiving feast. Hardworking honey bees pollinate plants that provide fruit for filling pies, vegetables gracing our Thanksgiving table, and hundreds of other agricultural crops and flowering plants. So, let’s give thanks to our amazing bees on this Thanksgiving Day.

There are things all of us can do to show our gratitude to bees. To learn more about ways to help save our bees and the services they provide, please visit the Bee Conservancy’s website “10 Ways to Save the Bees…”. Also, David Goulson’s remarkable book “Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse” helps us understand the plight of bees and all insects and is replete with actions that governments and individuals can take to help preserve insects and the natural world.

On this Thanksgiving Day, as we eat our pumpkin or apple pies, let’s take a moment to give a little thanks to the industrious cadre of tiny, winged creatures that help bring us our meals and help the natural world keep on turning, the bees.

Acknowledgements

Bug of the Week thanks Margarita López-Uribe whose fascinating studies of squash bees inspired this episode. The important reference “Elevated extinction risk in over one-fifth of native North American pollinators” by Tara Cornelisse, David W. Inouye, Rebecca E. Irwin, and Bruce E. Young, and “Silent World” by David Goulson were consulted to prepare this episode.

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Previous episodes of Bug of the Week featured invaders from Asia including Emerald Ash Borer, Brown Marmorated Stink Bug, Joró spider and Kudzu Bug. During this season of home invasions by the likes of spiders, lady beetles, and stink bugs, I have received lots of inquiries about creepy camel crickets showing up in basements and bathrooms.  A decade ago, a fascinating study revealed that two species of Asian camel crickets, Tachycines asynamorus and Diestrammena japanica had bested our native camel crickets as rulers of residential man-caves and basement bedrooms. Researchers in North Carolina State University conducted a national survey and discovered that in places like Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia, more than 90% of the camel crickets found in homes were Asian camel crickets.

Camel crickets in the genus Tachycines asynamorus, sometimes known as Diestrammena asynamorus, were first detected in the United States in a greenhouse in Minnesota in 1898 and dubbed the greenhouse camel cricket. Who would have guessed that in little more than a century they would become a dominant home invader? These dromedaries of the insect world are so named for their humpbacked appearance. Like their cousins, field crickets, camel crickets (a.k.a. cave crickets) have extraordinarily long hind legs and prodigious antennae. The antennae bear sense organs that enable camel crickets to detect food and avoid predators in dark, damp habitats such as the deep woodlands and caves in which they live. In a realm of perpetual darkness where eyesight is of little value, some cavernicolous species of camel crickets are blind.

Camel crickets consume decaying organic matter such as leaves, roots, and fruits. They also devour rotting remains of other insects, including their kin. In the human-built environment, when not invading dwellings, camel crickets are found in tool sheds, damp wood piles, beneath upturned wheelbarrows, or in cool dank spots such as a leafy redoubt behind a rubbish bin along the shaded, northern aspect of my foundation. In addition to engendering the “yuck” response, they are occasional pests because they nibble stored fabrics. In tool sheds their fecal remains stain wood and tools.

The study by scientists in North Carolina focused on camel crickets in and around homes. While exploring a cave in Western Maryland, I wondered if these Asian camel crickets had also invaded the natural, aboriginal habitats of our native North American camel cricket.  A rather quick spelunking adventure inside the cave revealed dozens of greenhouse camel crickets hiding in crevices and galleries within the cave. We are currently researching the extent of these incursions in caves here in the DMV.

This time of year, I get lots of phone calls and emails about creepy camel crickets in people’s basements, bathrooms, and maybe even in the bathtub. Guess what? They didn’t evolve in your basement. They evolved in places just like this limestone cavern here in Western Maryland. Let’s go inside and see if we can find some camel crickets. About 100 feet in, I’m starting to see cave crickets. Inside this rocky crevice there’s a whole gaggle of crickets. Here is a big one and, like the ones in your home, she is a really good jumper. I wonder if these are non-native camel crickets or native ones. I guess to a camel cricket the dark interior of the tool shed looks a lot like a cave, because this tool shed has a lot of camel crickets inside. It’s fascinating that the camel crickets in my tool shed are the same species of non-native camel crickets that we found inside that natural cave in western Maryland.

What can you do about camel crickets in your home? Well, their annual home invasion begins in force late in summer and early autumn and they favor basements, garages, and crawl spaces with high humidity and low light levels. Camel crickets enter homes through portals including cracks in the foundation, voids around basement windows, spaces beneath doors, and holes where plumbing and electrical utilities exit and enter. Little crickets enter early in the season of siege and often go unnoticed, but as they scavenge food and grow, they become more apparent.

Here are some helpful tricks to keep these curious crickets out of your home. Remove wood piles and vegetation near the foundation of your home. These refuges are ideal sites for camel crickets to multiply and later enter your home. Caulk and seal all openings outdoors around the foundation. Replace and repair door sweeps and reduce levels of humidity in the basement. If you find crickets inside, you can capture them and place them outdoors. Or as one cricket aficionado noted, they make excellent fish bait. Fortunately, when wrangling these leapers, I have a long-handled insect net that gets the job done. If you are armed with a vacuum cleaner or jar, I wish you luck. Sticky traps such as those used for snaring roaches can be placed on the basement floor. I have found the corner junction of two walls to be a productive spot for catching crickets, as many species like to travel with a shoulder near a wall, a behavior known as thigmotaxis.

Though wingless, camel crickets have remarkable powers of locomotion. Long, powerful legs provide an uncanny ability to jump. Recently, as I chased one sartorial visitor around the bathtub, it easily cleared the edge of the tub – a leap ten times its own height. While this feat might seem trivial, in human terms this would be equivalent to me slam-dunking at a rim 60 feet above the court! In my dreams. With the reality of Asian camel crickets in the basement and Asian stink bugs in my attic, it only seems fitting to order some Chinese food for dinner tonight.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Abby, Eliose, and Paula for providing the inspiration for this episode. The wonderful article “Too big to be noticed: cryptic invasion of Asian camel crickets in North American houses” by Mary Jane Epps, Holly L. Menninger, Nathan LaSala, and Robert R. Dunn was used as a reference for this story.

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Last week on a sunny afternoon, a busy ensemble of stink bugs, lady beetles, and other insects ambled about the siding of a white farmhouse along the C & O canal in western Maryland. Among the most interesting of the gang was a five-legged, leaffooted bug.  Let’s start with the business of the identity of a leaffooted bug. Leaffooters belong to an insect family called Coreidae, members of order of insects named Hemiptera. These ‘true bugs’ have sucking mouthparts, two pairs of wings, and immature feeding stages called nymphs. More familiar members of this clan include stink bugs, squash bugs, and assassin bugs we’ve met in previous episodes. Leaffooted bugs are so named for the remarkable leaf-like ornamentation on their hind legs. Leaffooted bugs are herbivores, consuming plant tissues as juveniles and adults.

Ok, what’s so cool about a leaffooted bug, especially one with five-legs? First, what in the world are those fantastic leaf-like structures on the hind legs for anyway? Some male relatives of the leaffooted bugs we visit today have mighty, enlarged hind legs. These powerful legs, termed “sexual weapons”, are used to battle other males for mating territories and access to females. A second, and perhaps more fascinating purpose, is to direct a potentially lethal attack by a bird away from a vital body part like the head, to a less critical body part like a showy or colorful flag on the hind tibia of the bug. A fascinating study by Zachary Emberts and colleagues found that several members of the leaffooted clan had evolved the ability to drop a limb (= autotomy), to avoid death or entrapment by predators. This induced “loss of a leg” results when the femur of the upper leg detaches from a small segment called the trochanter near insect’s body.

Watch as a five-legged leaffooted bug ambles along a railing on a bridge. Several members of the leaffooted clan have evolved autotomy, the ability to drop a limb under dire circumstances like a predator attack. The showy flag on the hind leg likely directs a potentially lethal attack away from a vital body part like the head, to a less critical part like a leg. As the leaffooted bug takes flight, it looks like it is better to lose your leg than lose your life. And what are those two white spots on the back of the bug? Tune in to another episode to find out.

How common is leg autotomy? In their study of wild coreids, Embert’s et al. found autotomy to occur from 7.9% to 21.5% of the time in the species examined. While dropping a leg to save a life might sound like a good idea, there is a hitch. Recall that male leaffooted bugs may use legs to battle other males for access to a mate. Males missing a leg may lose out in the mating game. Lose a leg and lose a mate vs lose a leg and save your life. I know what I’d do. How about you?    

Acknowledgements

Bug of the Week thanks Dr. Shrewsbury for helping with wrangling and spotting leaffooted bugs. The fascinating article “Coreidae (Insecta: Hemiptera) Limb Loss and Autotomy” by Zachary Emberts, Colette M. St. Mary, and Christine W. Miller provided valuable insights into the lives of leaffooted bugs and the evolution of autotomy. 

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With Halloween a quickly fading memory, I visited my Jack O’ Lanterns one last time before their final journey to the compost heap. While lamenting the passing of my pumpkins, I was delighted to see dozens of tiny winged workers fully engaged in the decomposition process. Flies are important recyclers of dead plants and animals. They provide a vital ecological service by unlocking nutrients tied up in complex molecules and returning them to food webs. In this episode we meet the fruit fly, a master transformer of plant material. The common name fruit fly is often used to describe small (~ 3 mm) flies with bright red eyes in the family Drosophilidae (a.k.a. vinegar or pumice flies). Larger flies sporting spotted or banded wings in the family Tephritidae also go by the name fruit fly by virtue of their appetite for fruit and other parts of plants. Details of the former will be investigated today and strange dealings of the latter await another episode.

In autumn I regularly receive questions about hordes of tiny fruit flies buzzing around fruit bowls, kitchen sinks, and counter tops. They seem to appear from nowhere and lend credence to Aristotle’s notion that living organisms like tiny flies can originate spontaneously from non-living or putrefying things. Now famous experiments by Francesco Redi and Lazzaro Spallanzani pretty much disproved Aristotle’s theory of spontaneous generation, but the appearance of hordes of tiny flies remains vexing even for bug geeks.

My Jack O’ Lanterns were looking a little squidgy the week after Halloween, festooned with dozens of fruit flies. While adult fruit flies were busy on the surface, taking special care to groom antennae and mouthparts, their offspring were busy dining inside. Watch how this larva uses darkly colored mouth hooks to propel itself forward by grasping the substrate and pulling itself along. Ah, but once it finds just the right juicy spot it stops and slurps the nutritious tissues of decomposing pumpkin flesh. Fruit flies are part of Mother Nature’s team recycling fruits and organic matter.  

To help untangle this mystery, consider the change of seasons.  Autumn in many parts of the country is characterized by damp cool weather by virtue of incessant weekly showers. These moist conditions are nearly ideal for decomposing tons of leaves, fruits, and other vegetable matter, the accumulated bounty of Mother Nature’s efforts during spring, summer, and autumn. This week of early November my compost pile is a writhing mass of invertebrates intent on converting vegetable protein into animal biomass as quickly as possible. On warm days a cloud of fruit flies hovers over my compost pile and some of these winged raiders undoubtedly infiltrate my home when the door opens. Like many kitchens, mine is home to a bowl of fruit that occasionally contains one item that has gone a little squidgy. Yeasty odors of acetic acid and ethanol emanating from an over-ripe banana serve as powerful attractants for fruit flies. After arriving at the banana, the female fruit fly deposits eggs. Each gal lays roughly 500 eggs during the course of her lifetime. Small translucent larvae hatch from the eggs. They glide through the overripe fruit slurping-up nutritious fermenting fluids as they develop and grow. When ambient temperatures are warm, fruit flies can complete a generation in less than two weeks. With their capacity for reproduction, populations around the fruit bowl can explode seemingly overnight.

Fruit flies can also enter your home as stowaways when you purchase overripe fruits or vegetables from the market. These goods may arrive preloaded with a complement of eggs or tiny larvae. To reduce chances of bringing home an infestation, inspect your produce carefully and wash fruits and vegetables. If fruit is unrefrigerated and displayed in a bowl, check it out regularly and toss over-the-hill items before they generate flies. Fruit flies can also breed in sink or floor drains, garbage pails, or recycling containers in homes, restaurants, and offices where decomposing organic material accumulates. Inspect these areas regularly, clean up spills, and disinfect surfaces. For the cloud of fruit flies wafting around your home, consider building a vinegar trap to catch and kill these noisome rascals.  Traps can be purchased commercially, and several trap designs are available on the internet. My DIY vinegar trap consists of an 8 oz clear plastic tumbler filled with 4 oz of wine vinegar and a few drops of dish detergent. Within 24 hours of placing the trap on the counter, more than 100 fruit flies were lured to their death. Stealing a line from Robert Armstrong of King Kong fame (RKO, 1933) “Oh no, it wasn’t the banana that killed the beast. It was the fragrant odor of yeast.”

Acknowledgements

We thank Liz, Ingalisa, and Sahar for providing the inspiration for this episode. The interesting references “Trapping spotted wing drosophila, Drosophila suzukii (Matsumura) (Diptera: Drosophilidae), with combinations of vinegar and wine, and acetic acid and ethanol” by P. J. Landolt, T. Adams, and H. Rogg, and “Flies, gnats, and midges” by W. A. Kolbe in “The Handbook of Pest Control” were used in preparing this Bug of the Week.

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Rhode Island may be the smallest state in the United States, but it is big on charm and offers a wonderful place to live and work. From its coastal towns to its vibrant cities, the state boasts more than 1.12 million happy residents.

Rhode Island’s mix of coastal towns, historic cities, and wooded neighborhoods creates ideal conditions for insects, rodents, and nuisance wildlife year-round. From Providence and Newport to Warwick and Pawtucket, homes and businesses face challenges from insects, rodents, and nuisance wildlife.

For more than three decades, Catseye Pest Control has protected New England properties with safe, eco-friendly treatments and long-term prevention strategies. Our licensed technicians understand the unique pest pressures of Rhode Island’s coastal climate and deliver customized solutions that keep properties pest-free throughout every season. 

Why Choose Catseye Pest Control? 

Since 1987, Catseye has provided award-winning service across the Northeast. We’re among a select group of companies recognized with the QualityPro Certification for Excellence in Pest Management, and we maintain an A+ rating from the Better Business Bureau, a reflection of our commitment to safety, professionalism, and customer satisfaction. We also offer eco-friendly pet- and child-safe pest control services and comprehensive protection plans for residential and commercial properties. 

Pest Control Services Offered Across Rhode Island 

Catseye built its business model on providing high-quality service to all clients, starting with customized treatment and prevention plans. From serving Newport’s Gilded Age and historic colonial homes to protecting the industrial properties in Prov Port, the company works hard to ensure you can count on its comprehensive pest control services in Rhode Island. 

Residential Pest Control

Protecting Rhode Island homes is easier when you partner with the experts at Catseye. Our licensed Rhode Island technicians perform detailed inspections to locate entry points, identify species, and apply targeted, low-toxicity treatments tailored to each property. This allows technicians to identify where, how, and why pests are entering, and the species and types of pests that are creating problems.

Our technicians use that information to create a customized treatment plan that eliminates the current problem and prevents future infestations. Residential services include individual services, seasonal programs like our Organic Tick and Mosquito program, and year-round preventative options. 

Commercial Pest Control 

Pest control is a must to keep your Rhode Island business’ employees, customers, and reputation safe. Catseye’s commercial pest control services are designed to protect employees, customers, and property while ensuring full compliance with state health codes and safety regulations.

Wildlife Removal and Prevention

Rhode Island is not a stranger to nuisance wildlife. When common invaders such as squirrels, opossums, raccoons, skunks, and bats make their way onto residential or commercial properties, professional help is critical. These critters often seek shelter, food, and water inside human structures, leading to potential problems ranging from disease transmission to structural damage.

In Rhode Island, relocating wildlife independently is prohibited. Working with the knowledgeable professionals at Catseye ensures that animals are safely and humanely removed according to all regulations. Additionally, we work with residents and owners to help prevent them from returning.

Exclusive to Catseye, Cat-Guard Exclusion Systems, which are rigid, chemical-free barriers, provides targeted protection to safeguard homes and buildings. These systems keep birds, rodents, and other wildlife out permanently.

Year-Round Protection Plans 

Year-round pest control programs are essential for creating ongoing peace of mind and freedom from pests. Available for both homes and businesses, the ongoing visits included in these programs consist of thorough inspections, preventative treatments, and removal and cleanup of identified pest activities.

Pest Challenges Unique to Rhode Island 

Rhode Island’s mix of coastal weather, wooded suburbs, and dense urban neighborhoods makes it a hotspot for pest activity year-round. The state’s mild winters and humid summers create ideal breeding conditions for insects and rodents, while its historic homes and waterfront properties provide countless entry points for unwanted pests.

Seasonal Pests in Rhode Island 

While some pests, like rodents and cockroaches, remain active all year, others surge during specific seasons. Understanding these patterns helps residents take preventative action before infestations begin. Some of the biggest seasonal threats include:

• Ticks: Activity has been rising in recent years, with tick season often peaking in the warmer months of May through July. Ticks can emerge whenever temperatures rise above 40 degrees Fahrenheit. 
• Mosquitoes: These warm-weather nuisances can cause more than just itchy welts. Mosquitoes can transmit various diseases, including Eastern Equine Encephalitis, West Nile Virus, and the Zika virus. Rhode Island Department of Health cautions that mosquitoes are sometimes active through October.
• Rodents: Many homeowners and businesses report seeing rodents once the weather cools down, and mice and rats begin looking for shelter for the winter. Rodents can transmit many illnesses, including Hantavirus.
• Ants: These scavengers often make their way indoors in search of food, potentially carrying illness-causing pathogens with them. Ant activity typically decreases during winter, but it can remain high through fall as these insects look for shelter.
• Termites: Subterranean termites, which can cause massive structural damage when infestations go unnoticed, are active across Rhode Island. Peak swarming season, when residents are most likely to spot termites, occurs during the day from March through May.

Regional Concerns

Rhode Island’s woodlands, shrublands, and relatively warm waters make it a favorite for many migratory birds, reptiles, amphibians, and mammals. Some of the most common nuisance wildlife include raccoons, opossums, squirrels, bats, Canada geese, coyotes, and foxes. Moisture-loving pests like termites, silverfish, and cockroaches are also a concern in Rhode Island and throughout much of New England.

State-by-State Pest Control Expertise 

Every state, city, and town — as well as every property — has unique conditions, making it essential to partner with pest control experts with local expertise. The Catseye team offers just that, with service locations throughout New England and experience working within each locale. 

• Rhode Island: Thanks to its coastal climate, moisture-related pests like termites, mosquitoes, carpenter ants, and cockroaches are among the most common pest problems in Rhode Island.
• Massachusetts: Urban areas like Boston are prone to rodents and cockroaches. Additionally, suburban and rural areas are experiencing an uptick in tick activity and often have to deal with ants, spiders, stinging insects, and nuisance wildlife. 
• New Hampshire: With more than 4.7 million acres of forest land, New Hampshire has to address nuisance wildlife as one of its most common pest problems. Insects like ticks, mosquitoes, stinkbugs, and Asian ladybugs are also problematic.
• Connecticut: With temperatures in Connecticut warming over the past decade, heavier rains and earlier springs have led to pests like ticks and mosquitoes emerging sooner. Other common pests include bed bugs, ants, spiders, and termites.

Pest Control in Rhode Island 

Whether homes and businesses are on the coast or in the city, Catseye understands the types of pests Rhode Island owners may face. Additionally, we partner with you to provide tips and tricks to keep pests gone for good.

Comprehensive Services: We provide residential and commercial programs to eliminate insects, rodents, and nuisance wildlife. 

Eco-Friendly, Low Toxicity Solutions: Catseye uses an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) approach, with an emphasis on prevention and safe treatment options for your Rhode Island home or commercial property. 

Excellent Customer Service: Friendly, knowledgeable technicians provide a free, thorough inspection and customized treatment plans in the field.

Why Work with a Professional Exterminator 

A 2022 study from Zevo and OnePoll revealed that 66% of Americans would do “nearly anything” to eliminate pests. It’s common to reach for a trap or off-the-shelf bug spray to try to tackle pest problems on your own — and the same survey revealed that homeowners spent an average of $177 on homemade concoctions — with only 54% reporting some degree of success. Do-it-yourself methods may seem convenient, but they rarely address and handle the root of the issue.

Benefits of Choosing Licensed Experts 

Working with a licensed exterminator means your pest problem is handled safely, effectively, and permanently. Certified technicians are trained to identify the source of an infestation, apply professional-grade treatments correctly, and prevent pests from coming back. They also understand the biology and behavior of each species, allowing for precise, targeted solutions that store-bought products can’t achieve. 

Beyond better results, licensed experts protect your home, family, and pets from unnecessary chemical exposure or recurring infestations. With Catseye, every service follows strict safety standards and includes long-term prevention strategies, giving you lasting peace of mind. 

Contact the Premier Pest Control Company in RI 

With more than three decades of experience, Catseye’s licensed technicians have the expertise necessary to eliminate your pest problems. We offer safe and effective treatment options that are gentle on people and pets but tough on pests. Our award-winning team also has an A+ Better Business Bureau rating, which reflects our commitment to our clients. You always come first, as proven by our service guarantee, flexible scheduling, and client reviews. 

For advanced pest and wildlife control, contact us today to schedule a free inspection.

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One of my favorite insects decked out in Halloween colors of black, orange, and white is the shaggy tussock moth caterpillar, which dines on members of the milkweed plant family. Every time I see one, it reminds me of the irascible creature Cousin Itt, of Adam’s Family fame. Hordes of these leaf-munchers are often seen in late summer and autumn consuming leaves of milkweeds. These caterpillars are the offspring of a species of moth known as the milkweed tussock moth or milkweed tiger moth. To understand why they present a scary meal to would-be predators, let’s review a little bit of the biology of milkweed plants and milkweed-feeding caterpillars.

Milkweed gets its name from the sticky white sap exuded from stems or leaves when their surface is broken by hungry insects or curious humans. Milky sap and cells within the leaves contain nasty chemicals called cardiac glycosides. As the name implies, these compounds have something to do with the heart. At higher concentrations, cardiac glycosides can be heart poisons, bringing death to animals like horses that eat the plants containing them. However, many insects that eat milkweeds have evolved mechanisms to deal with these toxins and have the ability to consume leaves of milkweed without being poisoned. In fact, they obtain cardiac glycosides from their food and then store these noxious compounds in their bodies. Caterpillars of both the monarch butterfly and milkweed tussock moth obtain cardiac glycosides and retain them as they develop into a butterfly or moth, respectively.

Milkweed tussock moth caterpillars devour leaves of milkweeds. As they feed, toxic cardiac glycosides found in milkweeds are ingested and stored in their bodies. Caterpillars become a noxious meal. Their orange and black coloration warns predators not to mess with them.

What is all of this chemical chicanery about? Birds are important predators of many kinds of insects,  including caterpillars and butterflies. Scientists discovered that cardiac glycosides found in monarch butterflies caused predators such as blue jays to vomit dramatically following an attempted monarch meal. Blue jays exposed to monarchs soon learned to recognize the monarch by sight and avoided eating these beautiful, but nasty tasting butterflies. Many of the insects that live on milkweed and consume its leaves display vivid patterns of orange and black as both juveniles and adults. This convergence on a similar, easily recognizable color pattern by two or more nasty-tasting insects is called Müllerian mimicry. Other milkweed feeders that participate in the milkweed mimicry ring include milkweed longhorned beetles, milkweed bugs, and milkweed leaf beetles we met in previous episodes. Like the larvae of the monarch, caterpillars of the milkweed tussock moth obtain cardiac glycosides from milkweeds and retain them as adults.

While the caterpillars of this tiger moth boldly wear the characteristic warning colors of orange and black as they feed during the day, the adult moth is comparatively drab at first glance, with pale brown wings. Nevertheless, its impressive abdomen sports the Halloween colors orange and black. The fact that caterpillars of the milkweed tussock moth store cardiac glycosides for use as adults is somewhat perplexing. Primary predators of these night-flying moths are fearsome bats that hunt using sound rather than sight to locate prey. Orange and black coloration may have little value in defeating these night-hunting predators. However, the cardiac glycosides stored in the body of the moth are put to good use. The resourceful milkweed tiger moth evolved an organ that emits an ultrasonic signal easily detected by bats. The signal warns that an attack will be rewarded with a noxious distasteful meal and bats soon learn to avoid tussock moths as prey. For many bugs in orange and black there are no treats for hungry predators.   

Acknowledgements

Bug of the Week thanks Chris Sargent and several Bug of the Week viewers for providing the inspiration for this week’s episode. Two delightful references “Sound strategy: acoustic aposematism in the bat–tiger moth arms race” by Nickolay I. Hristov and William E. Conner and “Secret Weapons” by Thomas Eisner, Maria Eisner, and Melody Siegler provided valuable insights into the mysterious ways of this week’s star.

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One of my favorite late summer and early autumn bloomers is spotted horse mint, Monarda punctata. During this season horsemint attracts an amazing variety of pollinators, including several species of remarkable wasps including  great black wasps, mason wasps, and potter wasps. Among the most interesting and beautiful of these visitors are thread-waisted wasps in the family Sphecidae. One of the most common members of the sphecid clan visiting horsemint is Eremnophila aureonotata, hunter of caterpillars. Caterpillars serve as food for her larvae. Locating and subduing caterpillars requires loads of energy, and frequent trips to flowers for carbohydrate-rich nectar are regular daily activities. When not feeding on flowers, Eremnophila search foliage to find caterpillars, the food for their young. Upon finding a potential victim such as a prominent caterpillar, the female wasp wrestles with the larva and delivers a paralyzing sting. The immobilized victim is then transported to a subterranean nursery and placed beneath the ground. An egg deposited on the hapless victim hatches into a legless larva that consumes the living but powerless prey. Before leaving her young, the mother carefully arranges debris, pebbles, and dirt over the burrow to disguise the entry to her nest. This probably keeps other insects from making a meal of her young or their provisions of caterpillars.  

Mating behaviors of Eremnophila include prolonged coupling of the blissful pair with the male grasping his mate by the neck as she saunters from blossom to blossom. This prolonged tandem linkage likely ensures that the sperm of the lucky suitor will be the ones that fertilize eggs carried by his mate, sort of a behavioral guarantee of paternity. This prolonged copulatory guarding is seen in many other species of insects, such as dragonflies and damselflies. In addition to spotted horsemint, thread-waisted wasps frequent goldenrods and other members of the aster family. When your late summer and early autumn rambles take you to the meadow, try to catch a glimpse of these clever hunters as they fly in tandem amongst the blossoms.    

Spotted horse mint is a dynamite attractor of many kinds of pollinators. Watch as this female thread-waisted wasp searches blossoms for carbohydrate-rich nectar. Nectar powers her mission to find caterpillars that will be stung, paralyzed, and consumed by her offspring as they develop in subterranean galleries. Her piggy-backing mate isn’t just there for the ride. Prolonged copulation ensures that his sperm will be the ones to fertilize eggs of his mate, a behavioral insurance policy of paternity. But I wonder, does he really have to grab her by the neck?

 Acknowledgements

 Interesting and entertaining accounts of thread-waisted wasps including “The habits of aculeate Hymenoptera” by William Ashmead, “Sleep in insects: An ecological study” by Phil and Nellie Ray, “Insects: Their natural history and diversity” by Stephen Marshall, and “Predatory Wasps (Hymenoptera) of the Yucatan Peninsula” by Maximiliano Vanoye-Eligio, Virginia Meléndez Ramírez, Ricardo Ayala, Jorge Navarro and Hugo Delfin-González, were used as references for this episode. With thanks to Ben Burgunder for generously allowing use of his fine image of a thread-waisted wasp capturing a caterpillar.

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Several members of the moth family called the Sphingidae are known as sphinx moths owing to the defensive behavior of larvae which rear upright presenting a visage reminiscent of the lion-headed Great Sphinx of Gaza. Often accompanying this display is a vomitous regurgitation of partially digested catalpa leaves meant to deter would be predators. This performance certainly would deter me from eating one.

The female sphinx moth lays batches of eggs often numbering in the hundreds on the leaves of both northern and southern catalpa trees. After hatching, larvae feed gregariously for the first several instars of their life before feeding singularly in their latter stages. Fully developed larvae wander from the plant to the soil where they form a pupa. Two or three generations are present annually throughout the range of the moth and winter is spent as a pupa in the soil near its catalpa host. Under ideal conditions for survival of adults and larvae, large populations may defoliate portions of catalpa trees.

Catalpa trees are host to the larvae of the catalpa sphinx moth. These larvae are one of the largest and most striking of all caterpillars in North America. Early stages are a chummy lot and feed gregariously. Their feeding generates waste called frass that piles up on leaves and the ground below. Watch as this one nibbles off the tip of a leaf. Ah, but like other sphinx moth caterpillars they are attacked by small parasitoid Cotesia wasps. After completing development inside the caterpillar, wasp larvae emerge through the caterpillar’s skin and spin small silken cocoons on the caterpillar’s surface. You may have seen Cotesia cocoons on a hornworm caterpillar on your tomatoes. Parasitoids like this make me glad I’m not a caterpillar.   

As with many caterpillars and other herbivorous insects, when populations become locally dense, natural enemies often arrive to take advantage of the bounty of fresh meat. A small parasitoid braconid wasp, Cotesia congregata, attacks and kills larvae of several species of caterpillars including tobacco and tomato hornworms in addition to those of the catalpa sphinx. We met clever Cotesia parasitoids attacking larvae of saddleback caterpillars in a previous episode. Check out that episode to see these alien-like creatures emerging from the skin of their host – truly creepy. Another moniker for caterpillars in the family Sphingidae is horn worm. One legend has it that the prodigious horn on its rear end is poisonous. Well, I tempted fate with one of the large catalpa sphinx caterpillars and found the horn to be rather tickly but certainly not capable of delivering any type of venom.

Acknowledgements

Bug of the Week thanks eagle eyed Erika and the wonderful Cylburn Arboretum for allowing me to visit their catalpa sphinx caterpillars that inspired this story. The fact-filled “Caterpillars of Eastern North America” by David Wagner was used a reference for this story. Special thanks to Wayne Owens for allowing the use of his image of the catalpa sphinx through Creative Commons.

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The last two episodes focused on the Yin and Yang of yellow jacket wasps. Well, with delightful autumn weather upon us, with fall festivals, picnics, and tailgates in full swing, it is time to visit an episode from a few years ago to avoid some nasty surprises brought to you by stinging insects. So, here is a throw-back to 2021 to help you avoid some pain.

If this episode of Bug of the Week reads like a public service announcement, well, that’s because it is. While our usual episodes demystify insects and revel in their curious and marvelous behaviors, every now and then something a bit unseemly pops up and warrants attention. In past episodes we have quelled fears of murder hornet invasions in the DMV, provided information to thwart mosquitoes and ticks, and addressed autumnal invasions of stink bugs, spiders, and other creepy creatures. This week we aim to help you avoid a nasty surprise at your October picnic.

On a recent outing to a park, my granddaughter was frightened when yellowjackets swarmed her blueberry flavored shave ice. A second unnerving tale arose when a colleague took a swig from a soda can and imbibed a yellowjacket. Fortunately, the angry vespid stung her tongue, not her throat, prior to ejection from her mouth. Lucky her, to only suffer a swollen tongue and not a life-threatening occlusion of the throat. Yellowjackets are among the most aggressive of all stinging insects in the DMV. During late summer and early autumn yellowjackets operate at a fevered pitch as workers try to gather food to maximize the production of brood back at the nest. Unlike the nests of honey bees, yellowjacket nests contain no honey or pollen. These rascals are meat eaters that also gain carbohydrates from fruits, flowers, and sometimes human-made sources. At sunny October picnics and tailgating parties, yellowjackets visit plates and battle you for bites of barbecued chicken. Meaty protein will be taken back to the hive for the developing brood. Yellowjacket larvae are fed meat and carbohydrate rich foods provided by the workers. Natural prey items of yellowjackets are other insects such as caterpillars and beetles that plague garden and landscape plants. In this regard, yellowjackets are highly beneficial.

October is a month when stinging insects hunt for food. In the wild, caterpillars are a regular source of protein, and carbohydrate rich honeydew supplies energy for yellowjacket workers and brood. Human-made sources like peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are on the menu and sweet soft drinks are favorite sources of sugar. Soda cans may contain nasty surprises, wasps or bees, so be careful and consider pouring drinks into cups. Open cups provide a chance to look before you sip. For children, consider using cups with reusable straws and tight-fitting lids for soft drinks.

By late summer and early autumn, colonies may contain thousands of workers and their subterranean or aerial nests can attain the size of a football. Under extraordinary circumstances, nests may persist for more than one year and become enormous. There are reports of monster yellowjacket nests in southern states reaching the size of a “Volkswagen Beetle”. In late summer, back in the nest, the yellowjacket assembly line switches from production of workers to the production of queens and drones. Foraging occurs at a frenetic pace. Queens produced in autumn leave the nest and seek protected locations under tree bark or in other outdoor refuges to escape the ravages of winter before founding new colonies next spring. You can learn a bit more about yellowjackets in a previous episode entitled “Be careful around yellowjackets: Eastern yellowjackets, Vespula maculifrons”. Bumble bees, carpenter bees, and honey bees are also on the prowl for sugar sources during the waning days of autumn. In addition to natural sugar sources, sweet soft drinks are also on the menu. Liquid sugar sources are guzzled and stored in the bee’s specialized honey stomach. Carbohydrate rich liquids are fed to brood, other bees, or turned into honey upon returning to the hive.

 

 

What can you do to avoid confrontations with these stingers? Choose picnic and tailgating spots carefully. Do not set up your picnic near a trash container or dumpster where yellowjackets and bees may be foraging for discarded barbeque or half-full cups of cans of sugary soft drinks. Bring a covered container to stow your trash and to keep hungry foragers away from food scraps and partially filled drink containers. Keep food covered. This reduces recruitment by foragers that accumulate around accessible food sources. Drink from clear bottles or pour drinks into clear cups. This will allow you to observe stinging insects doing a backstroke in your drink before you down them. Bees and yellowjackets often find their way into pop-top cans and can disappear down your gullet without being seen. Instead of canned drinks, try juices in drink boxes equipped with tight fitting straws. These are great for children who often place canned soft drinks down for a while before returning to finish them. Better yet, for your youngsters, pour soft-drinks into one of those cleverly designed drink containers with tight fitting lids and reusable sippy straws (good for the environment too!). If yellowjackets try to sneak a bite of your food, gently brush them away rather than engaging in hysterical slapping and squealing. Quick movements and non-lethal blows can incite painful stings. Oh, and you may have heard that yellowjackets are capable of multiple stings. This is only partially true. Contrary to common belief, some yellowjackets have barbed stingers like our friends the honey bees. Yellowjackets may lose their stingers and be eviscerated in the process. If you are stung, apply ice to the site of the sting to reduce swelling and pain. If you are stung and experience symptoms such as shortness of breath, difficulty breathing or swallowing, hives on your body, disorientation, lightheadedness or other unusual symptoms, seek medical attention immediately. Enjoy outdoor feasts with friends and families on these glorious October days. By taking a few precautions you can avoid nasty surprises from yellowjackets and busy bees.

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr. Shrewsbury for drinking a yellow jacket and living to tell about it, and Eloise for braving out the feisty wasp’s attack on her shave ice. We also thank Dr. Nancy Breisch for sharing her expertise and knowledge about stinging insects.

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