Buzz
Numerous insects are expert impersonators, often mimicking other bugs. Some of these impostors resemble insects that spread diseases or those that cause property damage, making it crucial to tell the real insects apart from their imitators. In most cases, a careful look at their appearance and behavior can help even those who aren't entomologists or bug experts recognize the genuine insect from its deceiver.
10. Bedbug Lookalikes
While it's true that the number of bedbug infestations is rising, this issue may appear more widespread than it really is due to bedbug impostors—bugs that look like, but are not, bedbugs. The presence of insects that closely resemble bedbugs can make an infestation seem worse than it is. By learning to tell apart real bedbugs from their impostors, we can avoid panicking if one of these impostors decides to temporarily share our bed.
Bat bugs, newborn cockroaches (shown above), wood ticks, carpet beetles, spider beetles, and fleas are often misidentified as bedbugs due to their resemblance in appearance or behavior. Although bat bugs primarily feed on bat blood, they will also target humans when bats are not around.
Bat bugs share a striking resemblance to bedbugs, making them convincing impostors. However, unlike bedbugs, bat bugs are typically found near bat roosts. Their head fringe hairs are also longer compared to those of bedbugs.
While adult cockroaches differ significantly from bedbugs in appearance, newly hatched roaches can easily be confused with bedbugs due to their similar looks.
The main differences between ticks and bedbugs lie in their habitats and feeding habits: ticks are outdoor creatures that attach to a single spot for feeding, while bedbugs are indoor pests that move around the body, feeding at various locations.
Carpet beetles, though shaped like bedbugs, are not flat and feed on fabric rather than humans. These insect impostors are attracted to our dead skin and often hide in or around our mattresses, leading to their occasional misidentification as bedbugs.
Spider beetles, though not flat, share a similar color to adult bedbugs. Both insects tend to hide in cracks and are nocturnal in nature.
Fleas, much like bedbugs, often live in carpets, bite, and feed on blood, typically while nestled in bed with their human hosts. Fleas can remain in an undeveloped state in carpets for months, only becoming active when triggered by pressure, carbon dioxide, or heat, progressing to their adult stage. Due to their similar behavior, they are sometimes mistaken for bedbugs.
9. Mosquito Lookalikes
Midges, crane flies (pictured above), and fungus gnats are occasionally misidentified as mosquitoes due to their similar appearance.
Mosquito bites are uncomfortable and can transmit diseases like dengue, encephalitis, filariasis, malaria, the West Nile virus, and yellow fever. This makes us understandably wary of mosquito bites. However, most mosquito impostors are harmless. (Fun fact: only female mosquitoes bite; males feed on honeydew, flower nectar, and plant juices.) The key is knowing how to tell them apart.
Thankfully, distinguishing between mosquitoes and their impostors is fairly simple. Mosquitoes bite, but most impostors don’t. However, midges do bite, although not in the same way mosquitoes do. Instead of using a needle-like proboscis, midges cut the skin like scissors and then lap up the blood. Only female midges bite, as males lack the strong jaws and instead feed on rotting plants and flower nectar.
While mosquitoes can transmit diseases to humans, mosquito impostors can’t. However, fungus gnats sometimes carry diseases that affect plants, and midges are capable of transmitting the bluetongue virus to animals.
8. Tick Look-Alikes
Just as ticks are occasionally confused with bedbugs, billbugs (shown above) are often mistaken for ticks. Recognizing the difference is important since ticks can transmit Lyme disease, but billbugs do not.
How can you tell them apart? While these bugs may look similar, the real distinction lies in their behavior. Ticks suck blood and, over several days, become swollen. Ticks are solitary creatures, while billbugs prefer to gather in groups. Ticks feed on humans and animals, while billbugs feed on grass.
7. Cockroach Look-Alike
While it might not boost their self-esteem (assuming bugs have self-esteem), water bugs are often mistaken for cockroaches.
Appearances can be misleading, as one insect closely resembles the other. The real difference lies in their behavior rather than their looks. Although cockroaches are fond of water, they are not aquatic like water bugs.
Cockroaches are scavengers, while their impostors, water bugs, are predators. Water bugs actively hunt and kill their prey, including mosquitoes. The giant water bug (pictured above), which can grow up to 10 centimeters (4 inches), also preys on “crustaceans, tadpoles, salamanders, fish, and amphibians.” These giants can feast on prey up to “50 times” their own size.
Both cockroaches and water bugs will hide when threatened, but water bugs are more likely to play dead than to flee. Additionally, unlike cockroaches, water bugs will bite, injecting “digestive enzymes” and extracting “liquefied tissue.”
Not all cockroaches can fly, but every water bug is capable of flight. The two insects also differ in their social habits: cockroaches prefer to stick together, while water bugs are solitary creatures.
6. Triatomine Bug Impostor
Unless we are entomologists or know one, most of us are likely unfamiliar with triatomine bugs. These bloodsuckers are commonly found in the southern United States and Latin America, typically around homes. They are notorious for spreading the parasite responsible for Chagas' disease, a serious and incurable illness that affects the heart and intestines. Fortunately, while there is no cure, there are preventive measures to avoid infection.
The wheel bug (pictured above) is often confused with the triatomine bug. Though the wheel bug feeds on other insects, it won't hesitate to bite humans, and its bite can be quite painful. The venomous saliva of the wheel bug, which is injected into the victim through a tube in its beak, breaks down its prey. The wheel bug then sucks up the digested juices into its stomach through another tube in its beak.
5. Brown Marmorated Stinkbug Impostors
The squash bug (pictured above) and several other similar bugs closely resemble the brown marmorated stinkbug, which often leads to confusion. However, there are distinct differences between the brown marmorated stinkbug and other stinkbug species.
What sets the brown marmorated stinkbug apart from its lookalikes is its pair of "wide, light-colored, banded areas on the antennae," its abdomen that extends "past the wings," showing "light-colored triangles" beyond the wing edges, and the presence of "only one small tooth along each leading edge of the thorax...just behind the eye." Furthermore, when disturbed, it releases a distinct odor reminiscent of coriander.
While the squash bug can be mistaken for the brown marmorated stinkbug, its body is longer, whereas the brown marmorated stinkbug has a more rounded shape. The Western conifer seed bug bears a resemblance to the squash bug and can also be confused with the brown marmorated stinkbug. However, the squash bug differs in color and features "expanded tarsi [leg segments] on its hind legs."
Various brown stinkbugs, often mistaken for the brown marmorated stinkbug, have differences in color and other characteristics. Some are smaller in size and feature dark hind segments. Additionally, half of their antennae are dark, and unlike the brown marmorated stinkbug, they do not enter houses.
Stinkbugs from the Brochymena species are about the same size as the brown marmorated stinkbug, but their antennae are marked with lighter spots rather than the dark bands of the brown marmorated stinkbug. What most clearly distinguishes the two is the presence of "pronounced teeth along the leading edge of the thorax behind the head and just ahead of their shoulders."
Two other stinkbugs that are often mistaken for the brown marmorated stinkbug are the Menecles insertus (which lacks a common name) and the spined soldier bug. Menecles insertus is smaller and lacks the distinct light-colored antennae banding of the brown marmorated stinkbug.
Anatomical differences and color variations are also present. The thorax of Menecles insertus is "more rounded," and it lacks the brown marmorated stinkbug's characteristic "marbled brown" coloration. The spined soldier bug is smaller and lacks the light bands on its antennae, but it shares the brown marmorated stinkbug's "marbled brown" color and has a dark brown spot on the "membranous part of the front wings" when they "overlap."
4. Periodical Cicada Impostor
In the world of science, almost every phenomenon gets its own name, and periodical cicadas are no exception. They're called "periodical" because, unlike most cicadas, nearly all of them in a given area mature in the same year. They spend years underground feeding on tree root juices, while annual cicadas surface every summer.
Despite the frequent mix-up, periodical cicadas are not locusts (pictured above). For one, periodical cicadas do not bite nor destroy crops in swarms. In fact, they even have a positive impact on both domesticated dogs and wild animals.
Dogs, drawn to their buzzing sounds, love chasing them, and a variety of other animals—including turkeys, raccoons, skunks, and coyotes—enjoy eating them. On a larger scale, periodical cicadas belong to the same family as leafhoppers, aphids, and scale insects, while locusts are actually a type of grasshopper.
Periodical cicadas have specialized abdominal tymbals (membranes) that allow them to produce a buzzing noise, unlike locusts, which don’t possess tymbals but are known for their buzzing sounds. While locusts swarm in great numbers, periodical cicadas may swarm but are typically not as swarming as locusts.
Cicadas have larger eyes compared to locusts. Their forewings extend beyond their abdomen, unlike the forewings of locusts, which do not. Cicadas also come in a much broader variety than locusts. Moreover, despite being hunted by animals such as turkeys, raccoons, skunks, and coyotes, cicadas live significantly longer than locusts.
3. Sphinx or Hawk Moth Impostor
The sphinx or hawk moth has its own doppelganger, but this one is not another insect—it’s a bird! More specifically, it’s a hummingbird (pictured above).
Much like the hummingbird, the massive moth hovers in front of flowers, dipping its long proboscis into the blossoms to collect nectar. The rapid fluttering of its wings even produces a humming sound, which is why it’s sometimes called a “hummingbird moth.”
The hummingbird moth is one of just four known nectar feeders in the world. The others include hummingbirds (which it is often mistaken for), certain species of bats, and hoverflies. Thankfully for gardeners, the hummingbird moth does not harm plants.
2. Bumblebee Impostors
Large, black-and-yellow carpenter bees (pictured above) are frequently mistaken for bumblebees. However, the shiny black tail section of the carpenter bee is a clear giveaway. Male carpenter bees cannot sting, while females can, but they rarely do unless provoked.
Once again, both looks and actions help distinguish carpenter bees from bumblebees. Bumblebees are covered in fur, while carpenter bees are almost hairless. Bumblebees make their homes underground, whereas carpenter bees prefer nesting under house eaves or inside trees.
Bumblebees are social creatures, while carpenter bees prefer solitude. Unlike bumblebees, carpenter bees burrow into wood, creating tunnels through materials like doors, windowsills, roof eaves, shingles, railings, telephone poles, and even outdoor furniture. They also leave unsightly stains from their droppings on these surfaces.
Over time, carpenter bees can cause significant damage to structures. If you spot them, be aware they could lead to property problems, while bumblebees typically don’t. Fortunately, a licensed exterminator can eliminate carpenter bees using insecticides and dust treatments.
1. Common Chinch Bug Impostors
It’s no wonder false chinch bugs are often mistaken for their common cousins. The two look similar and share similar behaviors. However, their food preferences differ. The false chinch bug enjoys munching on sorghum and weed seeds, while the common chinch bug has a much broader diet, including corn, rice, small grains, sorghum, and various grasses.
