Help identifying mass amount of bug/insects that have appeared

anoctua Boort, Australia Mar 12, 2016

Hi all

I had been outside this morning and these insects/bugs were not there. Only a couple of hours later when I went outside there was a huge number (50-100) of these insects on the footpath (which runs between the lawn and the garden bed). Most looked dead, but then on closer inspection some had their legs still moving slightly so I was unsure if they'd just been born. On closer inspection there were a number of them crawling in the lawn also.

I have gone through bug identification charts and am unable to find anything that looks similar. I've looked up baby cicadas, baby flies, baby bees and baby wasps but can't quite find a photo that matches.

The body is pale cream in colour and if I pry the wings apart there is slight dark markings (possibly stripes, possibly not) on the body. It has too large legs on each side and then a smaller set (I am guessing they're legs) near what I presume to be the mouth region. Wings are transparent at the moment and grey in colour with some veining and there's a transparent set underneath from what I can see. It has large, fly-like eyes and is about 7-8 mm in length.

Am wondering if someone can help IDing this bug - not sure if it's a pest or nothing to be concerned about.

Thanks, Casey

Post #10207740

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Flapdoodle Minot, ND Mar 12, 2016

These are water boatmen, true bugs in the family Corixidae - see http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:40f82aa8-435b-45b6-8398-2974fddd6a4d and http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Corixidae&guide=Groups_Insecta
A few species are predatory, but the majority are herbivorous, using their straw-like mouthparts to inject digestive enzymes into aquatic plants.

Post #10207750

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anoctua Boort, Australia Mar 12, 2016

Quote from Flapdoodle :

These are water boatmen, true bugs in the family Corixidae - see http://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:40f82aa8-435b-45b6-8398-2974fddd6a4d and http://www.discoverlife.org/mp/20q?search=Corixidae&guide=Groups_Insecta
A few species are predatory, but the majority are herbivorous, using their straw-like mouthparts to inject digestive enzymes into aquatic plants.

Wow thank you! Looks spot on. It just seems unusual they've appeared in our ground/footpath in a big mass amount. Why would that be? We do not live near a river or anything like that, we are in a pretty arid area, so it would seem a bit strange for them to appear wouldn't it given they're an aquatic insect?

Post #10207753

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Flapdoodle Minot, ND Mar 12, 2016

They are quite good fliers, and may be found quite some distance from any open water. They may have mistaken a reflection from some shiny object(s) for water and tried to land there...

Post #10207755

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MagicHadi Apr 09, 2016

I dont know about this bug but i need to know about a different one and idk where else to post it, so my brother has had "small black slow-moving insects with wierd shaped legs" in his hair, this hasnt happened before. So he went to a resteraunt, then to a barber shop, he cut off most of his hair, and when the barber got to the bottom, there were small black insects there, and he said they made his hair itch. Then, in the car, more appeared in his hair, his arm, and the rest of the car. Idk if it helps but he was also in a rented car. We used a chemical smell to get rid of them, it looks like oil but idk what it is. Do any of you know what it could be?

Post #10216422

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