# Identify this bug. (fairly good pics)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [February 22, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976 "2009-02-22T21:02:51Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2009, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976/1 "2009-02-22T21:02:51Z")
I found this bug crawling on my son’s skin. At first, I thought it was a hard tick, but on closer examination, I’m sure it’s not. I also wondered if it was a bedbug, but I’m pretty sure it’s not one of those either, as they look to be redder and more glossy than this - it was grey-brown, dull, slow-moving and about 3mm long. I’m in England.
[Here is a picture of it](http://www.atomicshrimp.com/stuff/bug.png)
[Here is closeup of the head](http://www.atomicshrimp.com/stuff/bug_head_detail.png)
[Here a closeup of the body](http://www.atomicshrimp.com/stuff/bug_body_detail.png)
What is it?
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### Author:  [@jakesteele](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jakesteele)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2009, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976/2 "2009-02-22T22:40:12Z")
It looks like a wood tick to me. Usually get them from areas where there’s a lot of pine like you would see at higher elevations in the mountainous areas. I live in Seattle and we have none, but on the east side of the Cascades, which has very dry heat in the summer you get them a lot. Nasty bugs that bight into you and burrow and suck blood. They lock in somehow and if you pull them out they tear leaving part of them in you which can get infected. You have to use a special medicine or turpentine to drive them out.
Also, I could be entirely mistaken about it being a tick.
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### Author:  [@scm1001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scm1001)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2009, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976/3 "2009-02-22T22:52:15Z")
head and legs look wrong to be a wood tick. cant offer more than that though
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### Author:  [@Key\_Lime\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Key_Lime_Guy)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2009, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976/4 "2009-02-22T22:56:59Z")
[Brown dog tick](http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures/urban/medical/brown_dog_tick.htm)?
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### Author:  [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2009, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976/5 "2009-02-22T23:11:05Z")
Do ticks even have antennae? Doesn’t seem like a tick.
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### Author:  [@yams](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yams)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2009, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976/6 "2009-02-22T23:34:31Z")
How about a [carpet beetle](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dermestidae)?
Much better pictures can be found by googling same.
love
yams!!
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### Author:  [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)
#### Post date: [February 22, 2009, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976/7 "2009-02-22T23:36:14Z")
I’ve had carpet beetles and I don’t think it’s one of those.
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### Author:  [@puppygod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puppygod)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976/8 "2009-02-23T00:00:33Z")
> [@erislover](#):
>
> Do ticks even have antennae? Doesn’t seem like a tick.
Yeah, it’s definitely insect, so ticks are out.
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### Author:  [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2009, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976/9 "2009-02-23T00:09:35Z")
Looks like a “True Bug” family Heteroptera.
Here’s an [example](http://www.fotomulazzani.com/natura/Animali/Insetti/Heteroptera/047_026.jpg).
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### Author:  [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976/10 "2009-02-23T00:31:58Z")
> [@beowulff](#):
>
> Looks like a “True Bug” family Heteroptera.
> Here’s an [example](http://www.fotomulazzani.com/natura/Animali/Insetti/Heteroptera/047_026.jpg).
I don’t see the little triangle up by the head.
Perhaps a Leaf Beetle - Chrysomelidae.
It looks to me like it has a thin/transparent shell projection like this [tortoise beetle](http://bugguide.net/node/view/71983)
Order [Coleoptera](http://bugguide.net/node/view/60#id)
[Bug Guide](http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740)
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### Author:  [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2009, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976/11 "2009-02-23T00:42:53Z")
Could it be a young stink bug?
[Picture here](http://www.hgic.umd.edu/content/brownstinkbug.cfm). Look at the bottom picture, the lowest bug on the leaf. Young ones have a more rounded tail area.
[another one](http://quad9damage.wordpress.com/2008/03/06/xbox-360-bully-riddled-with-errors-rockstar-horrified/)
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### Author:  [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2009, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976/12 "2009-02-23T00:50:23Z")
[http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/bedbugs/](http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/bedbugs/) Bed bugs look sort of like that.
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### Author:  [@erislover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erislover)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2009, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976/13 "2009-02-23T01:03:43Z")
> [@Mangetout](#):
>
> I also wondered if it was a bedbug, but I’m pretty sure it’s not one of those either, as they look to be redder and more glossy than this - it was grey-brown, dull, slow-moving and about 3mm long. I’m in England.
Bedbugs are pretty fast. I saw some videos on youtube… not a bedbug.
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### Author:  [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2009, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976/14 "2009-02-23T01:31:37Z")
> [@mutantmoose](#):
>
> Could it be a young stink bug?
>
> [Picture here](http://www.hgic.umd.edu/content/brownstinkbug.cfm). Look at the bottom picture, the lowest bug on the leaf. Young ones have a more rounded tail area.
>
> [another one](http://quad9damage.wordpress.com/2008/03/06/xbox-360-bully-riddled-with-errors-rockstar-horrified/)
That looks a pretty close match- and my impression was that it was a true bug rather than a beetle. It wasn’t quite as leggy as the immature stink bugs in that picture, but we have lots of other true bug species here - Googling around, I think it’s almost certainly a nymph of one of our shield bugs - maybe [this](http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Pentatomidae/Pentatomidae_images/forest_bug_4.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Pentatomidae/pentotoma_rufipes.html&usg=__m5IZnL1-XwQHpNstf6-B4uqWh4E=&h=300&w=400&sz=25&hl=en&start=107&um=1&tbnid=qwo62bWY9mDTKM:&tbnh=93&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dbug%2Bnymph%26start%3D100%26ndsp%3D20%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26hs%3D5E5%26sa%3DN) one.
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### Author:  [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2009, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976/15 "2009-02-23T01:54:55Z")
Yep, definitely looks like a forest bug to me.
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### Author:  [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)
#### Post date: [February 23, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/identify-this-bug-fairly-good-pics/486976/16 "2009-02-23T01:55:20Z")
> [@erislover](#):
>
> Do ticks even have antennae? Doesn’t seem like a tick.
[Per ID pics youare correct. Does not seem to be a tick](http://www.oes.org/html/how_2_identify_different_ticks.html)