Pest Identification





          Scorpion
There are more than 70 species in North America, out of 1,500 to 2,000 worldwide. The only naturally occurring species in Missouri is the striped scorpion, Centruroides vittatus. Adult striped scorpions are yellowish tan with two broad, darkened longitudinal bands on the top of the abdomen. They are up to 2.5 inches long.
scorpions somewhat resemble miniature lobsters - they have lobsterlike pincers, but their long upcurved "tail" ends in a poisonous stinger.

  • Description: These medium-sized to large arachnids, 1 5/8-5" (40-127 mm) long, have a compact cephalothorax that is broadly joined to a long, 12-segmented abdomen; in fact the last 5 segments of the abdomen are really the "tail." Scorpions have 2 eyes in the center of the cephalothorax and 2-5 eyes on each side. A few species are blind. The small jaws or chelicerae, have 3 segments.Nocturnal, scorpions use their poisonous stinger to kill spiders and large insects.
  • Warning: All scorpions possess a sting which is normally used for capturing and subduing prey. When handled roughly or stepped on they may sting in self-defense. The venom of this species is not considered dangerous to humans.
  • Females give birth to living young that resemble tiny adults. The young ride on the back of the female until they molt for the first time. Then the young become solitary and catch their own prey. They grow slowly, some taking as long as 5 years to become adults. Most scorpions are not dangerous and do not attack people. If disturbed, they will inflict a sting that can cause painful swelling, but the poison of most North American species is not lethal to people.
  • Control measures:
    Boards, stones, wood piles and similar harborage sites should be removed from around the house. Firewood and lumber should be stored off the ground. During dry weather, scorpions may be attracted to wet burlap bags spread on the ground around the house and then killed by crushing with a heavy object. Eliminating insect populations from around the house helps because it removes the scorpion's food source. Caulking or other means of closing cracks under and around doors and windows is advised. Ducks and chickens maintained in the yard around a house will eliminate most scorpions.


          Yellow Jacket
Yellow jackets can be pests at picnics, and they will carry off bits of food. If the nest can be found and its opening covered at night with a transparent bowl set firmly into the ground, adults will be confused by their inability to escape and seek food in daylight; they will not dig a new escape hole and will soon starve to death. The Western Yellow Jacket (V. Pennsylvania) and Eastern Yellow Jacket (V. maculifrons) are similarly colored, except the first antennal segment of the latter is all black.
  • Description: 1/2-5/8". Body stout, slightly wider than head. Abdomen narrow where attached to thorax with short "waist" (pedicel). 1st antennal segment yellow, 2nd and subsequent segments black. Head, thorax, and abdomen black and yellow or white. Wings smoky.
  • Warning: Workers will sting repeatedly if they perceive you as a threat to their nest, otherwise, they are less aggressive.
  • Food: Adult eats nectar. Larva feeds on insects pre-chewed by adults.
  • Life Cycle: In spring mated female constructs small nest and daily brings food to larvae until 1st brood matures and females serve as workers, extending nest and tending young. In late summer males develop from unfertilized eggs and mate. When cold weather begins, all die except mated females, which over winter among litter and in soil.
  • Habitat: Meadows and edges of forested land, usually nesting in ground or at ground level in stumps and fallen logs.
  • Range: Throughout North America; various species more localized.
          Bumble Bee
Bees are important in the pollination of many plants, including commercial crops. The families of bees are distinguished by structural details that are often difficult to see, including the tongue structure and length, wing venation, and placement of the pollen-collecting apparatus.
  • Description Bumble bees are members of the superfamily Apoidea. Bees form a large group of insects that are specialized for feeding at flowers and gathering honey and pollen. More than 3,500 species occur in North America. Bees, 1/8-1" (4-25 mm) long, may be black, brown, or banded with white, yellow, or orange. In many species the tongue is long and pointed, adapted for probing into flowers.
  • All bees are covered with branched or feathery hair but some have more hair than others. When a bee visits a flower, pollen sticks to the hair. Most female bees have a pollen-collecting apparatus; males do not collect pollen and lack this structure. In most species the pollen is combed into a special pollen basket or brush, which is usually located on the hind leg. In leafcutting bees, the pollen is carried in a brush of hair on the underside of the abdomen.
  • A few species, as well as parasitic bees, have no pollen basket. Most bees are solitary - each female constructs a nesting tunnel underground or in a plant stem or wood, then stocks the brood cells with pollen and nectar for the larvae. Eggs are laid on pollen balls inside the tunnel. Honey Bees and bumble bees are social - they live in colonies consisting of a fertile queen, sterile female workers, and males, or drones. They are the only bees to produce and store honey. The parasitic bees lay eggs in the nests of other bee species; their larvae eat the pollen and honey intended for the host's larvae. Most bees can sting, but only the social species do so readily in defense of the colony.
  • Warning This bee stings but is not aggressive.


          Honey Bee
Settlers brought the Honey Bee to North America in the 17th century. Today these bees are used to pollinate crops and produce honey. They are frequently seen swarming around tree limbs. Honey Bees are distinguished from bumble bees and bees in other families mostly by wing venation.
  • Description: Male drone 5/8" (15-17 mm); queen 3/4" (18-20 mm); sterile female worker 3/8-5/8" (10-15 mm). Drone more robust with largest compound eyes; queen elongate with smallest compound eyes and larger abdomen; worker smallest. All mostly reddish brown and black with paler, usually orange-yellow rings on abdomen. Head, antennae, legs almost black with short, pale erect hair densest on thorax, least on abdomen. Wings translucent. Pollen basket on hind tibia.
  • Food: Adult drinks nectar and eats honey. Larva feeds on honey and royal jelly, a white paste secreted by workers.
  • Life Cycle: Complex social behavior centers on maintaining queen for full lifespan, usually 2 or 3 years, sometimes up to 5. Queen lays eggs at intervals, producing a colony of 60,000-80,000 workers, which collect, produce, and distribute honey and maintain hive. Workers feed royal jelly to queen continuously and to all larvae for first 3 days; then only queen larvae continue eating royal jelly while other larvae are fed bee bread, a mixture of honey and pollen. By passing food mixed with saliva to one another, members of hive have chemical bond. New queens are produced in late spring and early summer; old queen then departs with a swarm of workers to found new colony. About a day later the first new queen emerges, kills other new queens, and sets out for a few days of orientation flights. In 3-16 days queen again leaves hive to mate, sometimes mating with several drones before returning to hive. Drones die after mating; unmated drones are denied food and die.
  • Habitat: Hives in hollow trees and hives kept by beekeepers. Workers visit flowers of many kinds in meadows, open woods, and gardens.
  • Range: Worldwide.
  • Warning: This bee stings but is not aggressive; if stung, remove stinger immediately. Aggressive Africanized Honey Bees ("killer bees") have been moving northward in North America and are much more dangerous than the domestic variety.


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