Reduvius personatus or the masked hunter is an insect belonging to the assassin bug (Reduviidae) family. The name is because its nymphs camouflage themselves with dust.
Description of woolly alder aphid
A peculiar phenomenon occasionally reported around Iowa is the unmistakable sight of small cottony white fuzz-balls flying through the air under their own power.
Mealybugs
These tiny oval-shaped bugs secrete a white powdery coating, giving them a dusty appearance. What is this? Mealybugs live in groups and can quickly damage plants by infesting the leaves, stems, and roots.
Masked hunters are given this name because the immature masked hunter carries dust and debris on its body to camouflage itself. They may appear as walking piles of dust and fluff. It is similar to the adult, but is smaller and lacks fully developed wings.
“Powderpost beetle” is a term used to describe several species of small (1/8-3/4 inch long) insects that reduce wood to a flour-like powder (Figure 1). The developing grub-like larvae inflict damage as they create narrow, meandering tunnels in wood as they feed.
These pesky fabric pills are the result of normal wear and tear—broken clothing fibers on the surface become tangled together. Over time, these threads clump together, forming the characteristic lint ball that is stuck to your clothing.
Woolly aphids are small, sap-sucking insects that can look like tiny, fluffy cotton balls because they are covered with white waxy strands. This waxy covering serves as a deterrent for predator insects.
Pillbugs are scavengers, and they mainly eat decaying plant matter and other decomposing material. They serve as decomposers, breaking down decaying material through eating it and then returning the nutrients to the soil, Sciencing(Opens in a new window) reports.
Fabric bugs or clothing bugs are a group of fabric-eating bugs usually found outdoors. They come indoors because of a food source or via items made from animal fibers. These insects feed upon and damage fabric and paper. It's possible to see them, but generally, you only see holes and other damage left behind.
The woolly adelgid is an aphid-like insect that sucks sap from trees and may inject a damaging toxin while it is feeding. It causes the needles to discolor and may kill branches or entire trees. The cottony substance that you see is actually a fluffy wax that the adelgids cover themselves with.
Pill bugs in the family Armadillidiidae are able to form their bodies into a ball shape, in a process known as conglobation. This behaviour is shared with pill millipedes (which are often confused with pill bugs), armadillos, and cuckoo wasps.
These balls, known as brochosomes, were first discovered in the early 1950s. Scientists knew that they were found on the shells of leafhoppers—a group of colourful, sap-sucking insects that includes more than 20,000 species.
Adult bed bugs are reddish brown in color, wingless, and are about the size of an apple seed. Immature bed bugs (there are 5 immature or nymphal instar stages) can also be seen with the naked eye but they are smaller than adults, and translucent whitish-yellow in color.
A pill, colloquially known as a bobble, fuzzball, or lint ball, is a small ball of fibers that forms on a piece of cloth.
Pilling is what happens when cotton fibers break and tangle, resulting in the tiny little fuzzballs or "pills" of fiber that appear to be stuck on the fabric. Pilling can occur with any fabric that is subject to abrasion when using or washing. Since we're all about bed linens, that's what we'll focus on.
Most homeowners simply consider these pests a nuisance. Pill bugs do not bite, sting, or carry any harmful diseases. They do not damage household items or deposit eggs indoors. However, they may damage the roots of plants when feeding.
These woodlice have lots of common names, such as armadillo bugs, pill bugs, sow bugs, roly-polys, roll up bugs, chuggy pigs, wood bugs, doodlebugs, potato bugs, slaters, gramer sows, butcher boys, boat builders, carpenter bugs, and cheese logs. There are numerous types of woodlice.
Dung beetles are beetles that feed on feces. Some species of dung beetles can bury dung 250 times their own mass in one night. Many dung beetles, known as rollers, roll dung into round balls, which are used as a food source or breeding chambers. Others, known as tunnelers, bury the dung wherever they find it.
Weevils are larger than flour mites and so are easier to spot. They also have a darker body, being brown in colour. They are a form of beetle and so are slender and oval shaped, with scales or shiny hairs on their bodies. Adult weevils have a distinctive snout shaped nose and are between 3mm and 10mm in length.
Bed worms, also known as mattress worms, are not a specific type of pest, but a group of pests and their larvae that can end up infesting your mattress or bedding. Unlike adult bed bugs and fleas, their larvae have not yet developed into an insect with a hard exoskeleton, giving them a worm-like appearance.
If the pill bug dries out, its gills won't function properly and the pill bug can suffocate. That's why you usually only find them in damp areas, like under a dead log. If they start to overheat and dry out, pill bugs will even roll into a ball to protect the remaining moisture on their gills.
Mealybugs are small oval insects that are covered in wax. The wax makes them look powdery white. Their wax covered egg masses look like puffs of cotton. Mealybugs are a serious pest of houseplants as they use their piercing-sucking mouthparts for feed and produce large amounts of sticky honeydew.
The cotton aphid, also called melon aphid, is a rather small aphid that ranges in color from yellowish green to greenish black. Both winged and wingless forms are produced. The winged individuals are somewhat slender and are not as robust as the wingless form.