Insect and Spider Identification: Black Flying Wood Burrowing Bug, 1 by chiques

chiques wrote:
Hello Everyone,

I was wondering if anyone can tell me what kind of bug this is? I live in Southern California about 5 miles from the beach. These bugs seem to have colonized in a few pieces of old firewood I have in my back yard. They make tunnels in the wood and live inside of them. I was trimming a tree right above the colony and a fairly large branch landed on the pieces of wood where they live. I assume this one was foresting because it came out of nowhere and got hostile with me when it couldn't get to its piece of wood. Unfortunately for it, I had to show it who's house it was with my leaf rake.

Are these things dangerous? Can I leave them or do I need to break out the WD-40 and my Zippo? I appreciate any insight.

This message was edited Aug 18, 2009 2:20 PM