Wood bug ID

[tlc1976]

I've been burning wood for 6 years and this is the first time it has brought bugs in the house. I guess it was a matter of time. I was pulling from this same stack last season and no bugs. This season they seem to be all over.

So does anyone know what this bug is? The body is about 5/8 to 3/4 long. Any ill effects or just a nuisance? Looks like I'm going to be dealing with it all winter because I'm not dumping the wood that I worked so hard to harvest.

I'm just thankful that I haven't brought in any Huntsman wood spiders yet, like we used to get when I was growing up. Scariest thing ever! I couple years ago I crushed two of them on my porch but that was the end of that.

 

[tb525]

That is a boxelder bug. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boxelder_bug
They are just a nuisance.

 

[Jeff S]

Wondered about these bugs myself,thanks.

 

[Gary_602z]

State Bug of Michigan!

Gary

 

[EatenByLimestone]

OMG you have a box elder bug!

No big deal unless you have a box elder around. Then you can bet there will be more. Like thousands more. They usually all come out at once and, as said above, are a nuisance.

Matt

 

[WhitePine]

OMG you have a box elder bug!

No big deal unless you have a box elder around. Then you can bet there will be more. Like thousands more. They usually all come out at once and, as said above, are a nuisance.

Matt

We had lots of box elder trees at our last house and have a bunch here too. At the last place, we had one year with the bugs all over the place, including hundreds in the house. The other years, we hardly ever saw any. I don't think we have noticed a single box elder beetle since we built the new house. They are definitely cyclic. Anyone know what triggers the cycles?

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Most cyclic things work off prime numbers. 1, 3 , 5, 7, 13 years for circadas, etc. It makes it hard for predators to match their cycles. I've never heard or read anything about box elders being like this, but I'm mostly kept out of the know on these things.

Matt

 

[tlc1976]

Thanks, good to know. I've been here for almost 14 years and no different trees outside and this is the first time I've seen these bugs. The wood they're coming from has been here a year and a half and I burned some of it last season. Maybe they stayed dormant last year.

So I googled box elder wood and I think it might be what is in the pile. I clearly remember all the "red stain" marks when I was splitting it. It seems like more of a softwood, and it is light for its size and starts faster than anything I have ever burned. But does not stink like I've been told about poplar and actually it burns pretty clean too. It's not so good for a hot all night fire in the dead of winter, that's what I save the ironwood for. But for small fires in the spring and fall I really like it.

 

[Backwoods Savage]

Thanks, good to know. I've been here for almost 14 years and no different trees outside and this is the first time I've seen these bugs. The wood they're coming from has been here a year and a half and I burned some of it last season. Maybe they stayed dormant last year.

So I googled box elder wood and I think it might be what is in the pile. I clearly remember all the "red stain" marks when I was splitting it. It seems like more of a softwood, and it is light for its size and starts faster than anything I have ever burned. But does not stink like I've been told about poplar and actually it burns pretty clean too. It's not so good for a hot all night fire in the dead of winter, that's what I save the ironwood for. But for small fires in the spring and fall I really like it.

Box elder is actually in the maple family and nothing at all like popple. Also, this is why sometimes you might see some box elder bugs in maple trees.

 

[EatenByLimestone]

Yup.

Acer negundo - Box elder
Acer Saccharum - Sugar Maple
Populus tremuloides - Quaking aspen (poplar)
Populus deltoides - Cottonwood

The leaf is split, but it has the same seed structure (samaras) that maples have.The easiest way for me to ID a box elder is the greenish/white waxy coating (called glaucous) on the ends of the branches. You can see it on the lower branch coming out of the trunk in this picture.

Matt