# Dafuq dis bug?? Or, I'm afraid I am hosting an infestation of ants. **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 18, 2019, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dafuq-dis-bug-or-im-afraid-i-am-hosting-an-infestation-of-ants/832702 "2019-04-18T01:46:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dafuq-dis-bug-or-im-afraid-i-am-hosting-an-infestation-of-ants/832702/1 "2019-04-18T01:46:54Z")
So, oldest boy found [this bug](https://drive.google.com/open?id=1LlR_PgBufLrG_gvJbSml9hbiyNglRWfi) on the stairs to the basement just now. We do have plenty of ants, and we are getting ready to have the whole goddamn house [del] burnt down [/del] exterminated, so I assume it’s a queen ant. Please effing mother of god don’t tell me it’s a termite. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dafuq-dis-bug-or-im-afraid-i-am-hosting-an-infestation-of-ants/832702/2 "2019-04-18T01:59:23Z")
Looks to me like it’s the [Greenhouse Rove Beetle _Dalotia coriaria_.](https://www.greenhousemag.com/article/pest-disease-rove-beetle-insidious-flower-bug/) Harmless except to fungus gnats. Rove beetles don’t look like normal beetles because they have very short elytra (wing covers) that they can fold their flying wings under. You can tell it’s not an ant because it doesn’t have a narrow “waist” between the thorax and abdomen. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dafuq-dis-bug-or-im-afraid-i-am-hosting-an-infestation-of-ants/832702/3 "2019-04-18T02:01:27Z")
Does it have a [thorax](http://i67.tinypic.com/548uoi.jpg)? It’s difficult to tell from the photos - it looks like it has a head and huge abdomen. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dafuq-dis-bug-or-im-afraid-i-am-hosting-an-infestation-of-ants/832702/4 "2019-04-18T02:09:02Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Does it have a [thorax](http://i67.tinypic.com/548uoi.jpg)? It’s difficult to tell from the photos - it looks like it has a head and huge abdomen. Of course it has a thorax. All insects have thoraxes. As I said, the distinguishing feature of ants is a very narrow waist (technically called the “petiole”) between the thorax and the legs. It’s certainly not an ant. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dafuq-dis-bug-or-im-afraid-i-am-hosting-an-infestation-of-ants/832702/5 "2019-04-18T02:14:03Z")
It kind of looks like [this one](https://bugguide.net/images/cache/ZKE/KSK/ZKEKSK6K4KB0VQZSWQ30BQJ0WQY0AQF0IKJ01QTK9QY0AQOK7KOKIKBKIK30GQEKLKB0GQB0PQO00KNK5QB0LK6KZK9K.jpg). ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dafuq-dis-bug-or-im-afraid-i-am-hosting-an-infestation-of-ants/832702/6 "2019-04-18T02:18:24Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Looks to me like it’s the [Greenhouse Rove Beetle _Dalotia coriaria_.](https://www.greenhousemag.com/article/pest-disease-rove-beetle-insidious-flower-bug/) Harmless except to fungus gnats. Rove beetles don’t look like normal beetles because they have very short elytra (wing covers) that they can fold their flying wings under. You can tell it’s not an ant because it doesn’t have a narrow “waist” between the thorax and abdomen. > [@Colibri](#): > > Of course it has a thorax. All insects have thoraxes. As I said, the distinguishing feature of ants is a very narrow waist between the thorax and the legs. It’s certainly not an ant. Huh, very GOOD to know. Now oldest boy wants to know what to do to keep it alive…short of buying fungus gnats at the pet supply store, my suggestion was to put it back in the basement. 😃 Glad it’s not an ant queen or termite, but I am curious if there’s a reason it would be in the house? Is it a portent of gnats or fungus I should be looking out for? ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dafuq-dis-bug-or-im-afraid-i-am-hosting-an-infestation-of-ants/832702/7 "2019-04-18T02:19:19Z")
She loves you yeah, yeah, yeah! (Not a termite) ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dafuq-dis-bug-or-im-afraid-i-am-hosting-an-infestation-of-ants/832702/8 "2019-04-18T02:19:27Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > It kind of looks like [this one](https://bugguide.net/images/cache/ZKE/KSK/ZKEKSK6K4KB0VQZSWQ30BQJ0WQY0AQF0IKJ01QTK9QY0AQOK7KOKIKBKIK30GQEKLKB0GQB0PQO00KNK5QB0LK6KZK9K.jpg). Yep. That’s it. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dafuq-dis-bug-or-im-afraid-i-am-hosting-an-infestation-of-ants/832702/9 "2019-04-18T02:27:02Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Yep. That’s it. I googled “beetle huge abdomen” and it was the first image result. It’s from [a bug identification page](https://bugguide.net/node/view/1065341/bgimage) and was found in North Carolina. It looks like it’s an [oil beetle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meloe). ---
**Author:** ![Sicks\_Ate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/258eb7/32.png) [@Sicks\_Ate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sicks_Ate)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dafuq-dis-bug-or-im-afraid-i-am-hosting-an-infestation-of-ants/832702/10 "2019-04-18T02:35:35Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > I googled “beetle huge abdomen” and it was the first image result. It’s from [a bug identification page](https://bugguide.net/node/view/1065341/bgimage) and was found in North Carolina. It looks like it’s an [oil beetle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meloe). Yep. Apparently they’re not uncommon [around here.](https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/blister-beetles) From what that says, doesn’t explain why it was in my basement though. Guess it’s nothing to worry about, just a waylaid traveler. ---
**Author:** ![Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b487fb/32.png) [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walken_After_Midnight)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dafuq-dis-bug-or-im-afraid-i-am-hosting-an-infestation-of-ants/832702/11 "2019-04-18T02:44:25Z")
> [@Sicks\_Ate](#): > > Guess it’s nothing to worry about, just a waylaid traveler. Don’t touch it, because it causes blisters. Also, > [@](#): > > …they are hypermetamorphic, going through several larval stages, the first of which is typically a mobile [triungulin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planidium) that finds and attaches to a host in order to gain access to the host’s offspring So they are a bit like the facehugger/xenomorph in\* Alien\*. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dafuq-dis-bug-or-im-afraid-i-am-hosting-an-infestation-of-ants/832702/12 "2019-04-18T14:59:19Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > Does it have a [thorax](http://i67.tinypic.com/548uoi.jpg)? It’s difficult to tell from the photos - it looks like it has a head and huge abdomen. Must be an Ohioan. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2019, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dafuq-dis-bug-or-im-afraid-i-am-hosting-an-infestation-of-ants/832702/13 "2019-04-18T15:13:44Z")
> [@Walken\_After\_Midnight](#): > > So they are a bit like the facehugger/xenomorph in\* Alien\*. Even more horrific than the Alien facehugger. We are to imagine an alien that similarly attaches itself to a woman, but then appears to have no effect. Some months later, the woman gives birth, not to a baby, but to _the creature that ate her baby_. But, no, Sicks Ate, nothing to worry about. You shouldn’t spend any time thinking about the horror show potentially occurring in your basement.