Identify this bug

April 12, 2024 8:41 PM

Just back from 2 nights at a hotel in San Diego and fearing the worst. Any alternatives as to what this bug could be?

3 images: images

posted by gatorbiddy to Science & Nature (15 answers total)

I don't know what bug that is, but I think you can be pretty certain that it is not a bedbug. The body/thorax is too elongated for that. Bedbugs are rounder, even in the nymph stage.

While I am not an entomologist and could possibly stand to be corrected, I am, sadly, someone who has hard earned experience fighting an 18 month battle against bedbugs in my building. I will never fully recover.
posted by brookeb at 9:32 PM on April 12 [5 favorites]

I have no idea but it's 1000000% not a bedbug if that's what you were fearing.
posted by acidic at 9:33 PM on April 12

Seriously, google what bedbugs look like, I have rarely seen a bug that looked LESS like one.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:53 PM on April 12

Response by poster: Nymph bedbug pictures look similar to this. Not adult. Though I agree they don’t have as long of a body. There were a dozen or more bites involved in groups of 3. This guy came out from behind a cell phone case after returning home.
posted by gatorbiddy at 9:56 PM on April 12

They look like lice to me
posted by jordemort at 10:33 PM on April 12 [4 favorites]

More bedbug photos than you ever want to see. Don't click before bed.

Again, body shape is very different and the bedbug darkens after feeding.

If you are worried, run all your clothes through a very hot dryer, vacuum out your suitcase and then throw away the vacuum bag immediately (outside of your home), but things that can't be washed in a freezer for a few days

But I think you are finem
posted by brookeb at 10:42 PM on April 12 [1 favorite]

Could be lice. How big are they?
posted by mr_roboto at 11:22 PM on April 12

Not a bedbug. Maybe termites, but hard to say with blurry photos. Keep any others you find and try to get sharper photos to be certain. You can take a photo through reading glasses or a magnifying glass if you're having trouble getting a phone cam to focus properly on small critters.
posted by SaltySalticid at 4:36 AM on April 13 [2 favorites]

I pay for one of those bug identification apps and it generally does a great job and I ran all three pictures through and it identified the same bug every time:

Eastern Subterranean Termite.
posted by kbanas at 4:38 AM on April 13 [5 favorites]

I'll add that it's possible but unlikely that termites hitched a ride from your hotel. If so, they pose no risk, because they won't have the queen. But more likely is they were already there, and you should be on the lookout for tell-tale signs of sawdust and mud tubes, and probably alert your landlord or pest control people. (Now that I'm fully awake and see the app agrees with me, I'm more confident these are termites. Sorry.)
posted by SaltySalticid at 5:04 AM on April 13 [6 favorites]

It is possible that you encountered bedbugs in the hotel AND that the bug you've photographed is just some other random bug. Termites do not bite humans.

About the bites, did each group of three form a line, with the individual bites separated by 2 to 4 inches? (Asking because that pattern is characteristic of bedbugs.)
posted by heatherlogan at 6:48 AM on April 13 [2 favorites]

I could be wrong but that looks like a termite to me.
posted by azpenguin at 8:15 AM on April 13

Bear in mind that dry wood termites are endemic to Southern California. They've been known to burrow into shelves and furniture, so it's possible to encounter them indoors.
posted by SPrintF at 8:28 AM on April 13

I might be wrong but it looks a little bit like a silverfish bug to me. They are usually found in bathrooms. They are small and harmless but can eat linens and food. Silverfish are attracted to moist humid areas. San Diego just went through torrential downpours so it might be that the hotel went through an unexpected silverfish infestation and one may have hitched a ride.
posted by ichimunki at 3:39 PM on April 13 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: Ok thanks all. Sounds like the 2 might not be related. We’ve taken all the luggage/laundry precautions so we’ll just cross our fingers at this point.
posted by gatorbiddy at 9:48 PM on April 13