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photos showing an adult carpet beetle from the top and side. You can see a small, round/oval beetle with patterns of small orange, white and black scales

NC "Spring" Signals Indoor Carpet Beetle Activity

You may be noticing numerous, small (~2-3 mm), round critters crawling along window sills lately -- I know I have been! If so, they are likely carpet beetles (Dermestidae: Anthrenus sp.).The ones…

Photograph of Dr. Charles "Chuck" Hodges at his desk in front of microscopes

Chuck Hodges Second Retirement

It is with immense gratitude that we wish the remarkable Dr. Charles "Chuck" Hodges a very happy "second retirement". His formal retirement was 34 years ago from the U.S. Forest Service.Much of his…

Various molds and yeasts growing on culture media

PDIC Discontinuing Household Mold Identification Service

Beginning January 17th, 2023, the NC State Plant Disease and Insect Clinic (PDIC) will no longer be providing identification services for molds found in homes and other buildings. We understand this…

A heavy-bodied, black spider with shiny legs.

Local Spiders Confused for Deadly Relatives

I've been getting a few emails and calls about large, menacing-looking black spiders that are often confused for exotic, and sometimes deadly, Australian Sydney funnel-web spiders (Atrax robustus).…

A nursery web spider (Pisaurina mira) resting on a tree branch in the sun

Late Spring Spiders Common but Not Dangerous

We've been getting a lot of inquiries about spiders hanging around and coming inside homes lately. Some have been mistaken for brown recluses (Loxosceles reclusa) despite this species being extremely…

A bee in the genus Andrena poking its head out of a tunnel it made in the lawn of an urban yard.

It's the Season for Busy Ground-Nesting Bees!

As the weather warms up, insects and other animals are becoming more active. I wrote the other day about social wasps waking up, but here I'd like to talk about another close relative you may see in…

A large, red and yellow European hornet waits on the side of a tree.

Wasp Queens Waking Up After Winter Slumber

It's feeling a lot like spring out there! As the warm weather bring feelings of joy from longer days and more time outside, it also means that insects and other arthropods are waking up and becoming…

A brown millipede, the greenhouse millipede

Heavy Rains Bring Masses of Millipedes

Recent heavy rains across the state have resulted in invasions of yards and homes by what some might call "worms," but are in fact arthropods called millipedes. These many-legged creatures are…