Dangerous Alliens (AKA: The invasion continues)

I'm in Orlando this week at PestWorld so I'm super excited to see what's new and get to talk to everyone. Which brings up an interesting point. Is there anything new? Aside from a few new invasive insects which aren't necessarily structural pests (spotted lanternfly, spotted lady beetles, etc.) our pests haven't changed much. So here's a quick rundown of some history on our common pests.

Starting with one of my favorites: cigarette beetles. These go back to ancient Egyptian times. They've been found in pharaoh tombs from thousands of years ago. They were found in resin in King Tut’s tomb from 1323 BC. One of the reason they have been so successful is because they have gut microbes that let them digest things that other insects can’t. Like tobacco. Tobacco has lots of nasty stuff in it like nicotine. And we use nicotine compounds in many pesticides!

Bed bugs have likely been living with us since humans lived in caves. It’s thought they originally fed on bats (makes sense being in caves) and made the easy jump to people. They likely came from the Mediterranean and Middle East regions. For a blood sucking insect, it’s actually surprising that they do not spread any diseases. Compare that to mosquitoes, kissing bugs, and more that are more than happy to share their “bugs” with us.

German cockroaches are from….wait for it…. not Germany! Relatively new research (2024) found their origins to be from Asia, likely India and Myanmar. They probably evolved from the Asian cockroach around 2100 years ago. So why is it named “German”? Because Linnaeus (the original classifier) based it off of samples collected in Germany. Tropical in origin, these cockroaches do not survive well outdoors and in temperate areas, they are only found indoors.

American cockroaches are from… you guessed it, not the Americas. These came from Africa and the Middle East. They crossed the ocean with the slave trade in the 1600’s. This is one of our pests that gets mixed up a lot because there are lots of common names people will call them. Among them: waterbug, ship cockroach, kakerlac, and Bombay canary. Especially here in Florida, the American cockroach is commonly misidentified as a palmetto bug.

For once, we have a common name that represents where the pest is from: the Formosan subterranean termites. The name refers to their origins in Taiwan and southern China. They made it to the US in the late 1800’s in Hawaii. They made it to mainland US through ports in Louisiana, South Carolina, and Florida in the mid-1960’s. We have a number of species of native subterranean termites in the US, but as an invasive species, the Formosan consumed much more, much faster, making them a bigger pests.

Fire ants are native to the US, but the red imported fire ant was …. you guessed it: imported. They came in from South America and spread through much of the world. They are considered one of the worst invasive species in the world according to the IUCN/SSC Invasive Species Specialist Group. (say that five times fast!). Again, these are thought to have come off cargo ships, likely starting in Alabama. These have immigrated relatively recently and have been date to the 1930’s.

Honey bees - you better believe honey bees are an invasive pest! They just happen to be beneficial as well. I wanted to put a fun one in here! It’s official common name is “honey bee” but they will also be called the European or western honey bee. Originally coming from the Middle East and Africa, they were domesticated and spread to Europe. Early US introductions were in the early 1600’s with European settlers. Think they aren’t a pest? Around 100 people every year die from honey bee stings.

There are plenty of pests like mosquitoes, ticks, rodents, and more that have been around for thousands, if not millions of years. This is why we are still dealing with them today; they’ve evolved with us and faster than us. So if you need help with an “ancient” pest issue, we help with that! Contact us.

Urban Pest Consulting