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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » True Bugs (Heteroptera) » Burrowing Bugs (Cydnidae)
Photo#68250
Little Black Bug
Copyright © 2006 DoctorD

Little Black Bug
Modesto, Stanislaus County, California, USA
July 31, 2006
Size: about 6 mm
A profusion of these black bugs for 2 weeks during and after the recent heat wave. Slow crawler, good flier. Sounded like rain on a tin roof as they bounced off the flourescent light in my garage. Then suddenly, no live specimins could be found. Sorry, my weak camera limits picture - this dead specimen lost hind leg in photo session. Unable to key behond Order.
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Contributed by DoctorD on 2 August, 2006 - 7:15pm
Last updated 1 July, 2007 - 9:19pm

Moved
Moved from Pangaeus bilineatus. Impossible to ID this photo beyond family. Not enough detail shown.
… Brad Barnd, 1 July, 2007 - 9:19pm login or register to post comments

Classification
Maybe it is not a beetle, of course.
… DoctorD, 2 August, 2006 - 7:18pm login or register to post comments

 
Right. It's a bug.
Compare. One quick way to spot the difference between orders is to examine the antennae. If there are many antennal segments, it's a beetle. If there are just a few segments, it's a bug. A beetle will have pinching mandibles. A bug has piercing, sucking mouth parts. Finally, a beetle has a seam down the middle of its back where the wingcovers meet while a bug has wingcovers that meet only sparingly and often form an X shape with the scutellum.
… Jim McClarin, 2 August, 2006 - 8:18pm login or register to post comments

 
Heteroptera: Family Cydnidae
My field guide (RTP) suggests this family, aka Burrower Bugs. Hence the "strong spines on tibiae". May be Pangaeus bilineatus? (along those lines my Peterson Field Guide is from 1970 - any suggestions on a better, more up-to-date book?)
… DoctorD, 2 August, 2006 - 10:58pm login or register to post comments

 
Practically any guide
will leave out a lot of species. That's true of bugguide as well but bugguide has more images than any book and it's constantly growing. In time it will be a very comprehensive resource.
… Jim McClarin, 3 August, 2006 - 5:16am login or register to post comments

 
Hemiptera
Thanks for pointing me to the correct order - now that I look at my photo more carefully, I see what my "in need of bifocal" eyes could not. I will change my title to bug!
… DoctorD, 2 August, 2006 - 10:12pm login or register to post comments

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