Help! This tiny bug just bit me! What is it?

February 21, 2021 2:11 PM

This is the best magnified picture I could get, it's stuck on blue painter's tape. It's between 2 and 3 millimeters long.

I've been getting very occasional itchy bites. I finally caught one of the buggers in the act and slapped a piece of blue painter's tape on it. Then I did my best to use a microscope app.

I'm in Savannah, GA, USA, in a 100+ year old house. The bite it left is about 5 mm across and itches. I have no pets.

posted by mareli to Science & Nature (6 answers total)

Best answer: Looks like a trap-jaw ant (Odontomachus). Certainly some member of hymenoptera, the insect order that includes ants and wasps.
posted by pipeski at 2:16 PM on February 21, 2021

Best answer: Agreed, looks like an ant to me- and they can leave very itchy bites.
posted by coffeecat at 3:05 PM on February 21, 2021

Best answer: In the South, biting ants aside from fire ants are often referred to as “bull ants” or “boll ants,” but this is a generic label, not a species. There are a number of possibilities including the Florida carpenter ant (usually reddish legs or reddish abdomen in larger members of the colony), black fire ant (which has not been reported in GA), or asian needle ant. A pictoral display of SE ant varieties is here.
posted by sudogeek at 4:32 PM on February 21, 2021

Best answer: Corrected link is this. Sorry.
posted by sudogeek at 6:25 PM on February 21, 2021

Best answer: Unless you're allergic, you'll be fine. "She's" an ant. Set her free.
posted by dobbs at 6:40 PM on February 21, 2021

Response by poster: Wow, I learned a lot about ants today, thank you!
posted by mareli at 7:38 PM on February 21, 2021