Samoa guide. 31. Bugs in your house.

Termites. There are usually two times when we notice termites in the house. The first is when a large swarm of them suddenly appears fluttering around a light bulb in the evening. These are male and female termites in love. What identifies them as termites is their large, equal-size pair of wings, and that they shed their wings after their nuptial flight. The second time we notice them is when we see the daily piles of their droppings on the kitchen counter or floor. At one point, their droppings in my house were so numerous, I collected them in plastic bags, with the idea that maybe I could market them as “South Pacific pollen” to some health food store in California.

Ambrosia beetles. These irritating little beetles appear in the early evening, fly towards the light, and crawl around on you like fleas in your hair. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, you are one of the privileged people whom these beetles do not bother. These wood-boring insects (Xyleborus sp.) are dark brown and 2.5 mm long. They are called ambrosia beetles because they carry a fungus (the “ambrosia”) that they use to inoculate the tunnels that they drill into a tree. The fungus grows in the tunnels and provides food for their larvae. After mating, the female beetles emerge and go in search of another tree to lay their eggs in.

Casebearer moth. At some point you may notice these odd little insects dragging around their flat diamond-shaped cases. These are the larvae of the small casebearer moth (Phereoeca sp.). The larva is visible when it extends out of the case, but it retreats into the case when threatened or turns around and pops out the other end. They plod on, as if they really had someplace to go. The larger cases are about 1-cm in length and are made out of silk fibers encrusted with debris such as sand particles, hair and insect parts. The larva lives and grows in the case for about 2 months, feeding on things like old spider webs, wool fibers, etc. After pupating, the larva develops into a tiny gray moth that measures about 5 mm from head to tip of wings. A female moth lives only a week and lays about 200 eggs.

Spiders (apogaleveleve). We have a variety of web-spinning spiders in the house, as well as hunting spiders that don't make webs but actively search for their prey. Some are quite big and may give you a fright, but none are known to cause us problems. Hunting spiders include jumping spiders (which hunt in the daytime and are common in houses), wolf spiders (not often seen in houses), and large huntsman spiders that are big enough to prey on large cockroaches.

Ants (loi). Ants occur everywhere in American Samoa. You may not notice them very much until you leave some leftover sweets or other food lying around and come back later to find it crawling with ants transporting it piece by piece or drop by drop back to their nest. One common species is the crazy ant, Paratrechina longicornis. They are black, about three millimeters long, and have long legs and antennae. They seem to be running all the time, and it’s amazing how fast they can appear by the dozens around some spilled soda or juice. When disturbed they run even faster, circling and zigzagging all over -- as if they really are crazy.

Bug eaters: geckos (mo’o). From the abundance of gecko droppings around the house, it’s apparent that the geckos hanging on the walls are eating lots of bugs. Think of these droppings as little blessings in disguise.

Centipede (atualoa). The large, 6-inch brown centipede (Scolopendra subspinipes) is well known locally but not commonly seen. It is quite fast and scary looking as it searches for things to eat at night. Occasionally someone gets bitten and it can be extremely painful. The local Emergency Medical Services responds to a few calls each month, particularly after a lot of rainfall has driven the atualoa to higher grounds. People vary in their response to a bite, but for most, there is not much that can be done about it, and the pain will usually lessen in a few hours.

Cockroaches (moga moga). At least give cockroaches some credit for inhabiting earth millions of years before we humans ever showed up. Nonetheless, it is their fate to be despised insects associated with filth. They are extremely hardy scavengers that will eat almost anything. One species living here is the large non-native American cockroach, Periplaneta americana. Their egg cases look like brown beans, each containing 10-20 eggs that hatch in 5-7 weeks. Their total life span is probably 2 years or so. Cockroaches are nocturnal, so if they are also seen during daytime, the house is probably heavily infested.

Ensign wasps. A wasp yes, but a good one, so don’t swat it. You’ll occasionally see these spider-like black insects flying around the house. They look like they were built out of parts that don’t quite match up. There’s a large head, and a boxy middle part (thorax), followed by a tiny posterior (abdomen) hanging off the back that bobs up and down like a flag being waved (the “ensign”). These wasps don’t sting people. Instead they use their “stinger” to lay their eggs inside cockroach egg cases. Before the young cockroaches can emerge from the case, the wasp eggs hatch first and eat all the cockroach eggs. All in all, these little “black flag” wasps probably kill a lot more cockroaches than we ever could with our spray-can insecticides.

Millipedes (anufesaina). Millipedes are neither insects nor worms but a different kind of arthropod. They differ from centipedes in being slower, rounder and in having two pairs of little legs per body segment. Our local millipedes grow up to about two inches long. They are active at night and feed primarily on rotting wood and leaves. They are generally harmless and curl up when threatened. However, anufesaina have defensive glands along the sides of their body that can produce foul and sometimes poisonous secretions, and they can cause a burn-like pain on your skin if you squash one.

There will always be some bugs in your house, so relax a little and get used to them. Before you know it, you will be sweeping termite droppings off your kitchen counter as if you didn’t have a care in the world. Several common household insects (beetles, moths, termites, cockroaches, wasps, ants) and other arthropods (centipedes, millipedes, spiders) are described below.