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Need a little help in the bug department! Well in the evening when the indoor lights are on these little flying redish/brown hardshell bugs fly into the light then seem to look like they are committing suicide to the counter then off they go again. They tend to attache themselves to moist glasses as well. Well we have lots of them and they have to go! I could ship them off to the nearest water station!! I know bad joke!!!!
Would love to know how to get rid of these bugs for sure.
Morningstar
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If they're sort of cylindrical beetles, they're probably powder-post beetles, the same family as the coffee berry borer. I get them occasionally in my house as well. Most of them bore in wood or seeds, but usually not in fully dead wood like houses, so I don't know what they're doing. Maybe just coming in to lights.
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Powder post beetles are more noticed at night in late summer, as more short lived adult beetles are emerging from larval state. (they tend to make a plinking noise when they bounce off of light bulbs...)
They are found in many dead HARDWOOD species, along with bamboos & such, just not usually in dead soft woods like structural pines & firs (reason we did not bring our teak... PPBs LOVE teak, so though it is termite resistant, you will still have insect damage in furniture & such...) (it is really hard to find a wood species that none of the insects here will devour... )
U of Kentucky has a good info sheet:
http://www.ca.uky.edu/entomology/entfacts/ef616.asp
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We get a surfeit of gnats and even smaller thingies that come through the screens at night. We have greatly lessened the problem by switching to yellow lightbulbs from April to October.
If these new invaders are attracted to the light, perhaps switching to yellow will help.
So far, I have not been able to find yellow compact fluorescent bulbs; but, with the law against incandescent bulbs going into effect, they may become available in the near future (well, we can hope).
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We use the yellow CFL bulbs in our lanai lighting. They are available at Home Depot. They do not seem to keep the bugs that Morningstar refered to away though.
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Okay still have tiny little hard shelled suicidal flying maniacs!!! So doing experiment. I filled a bunch of bowls full of water and soap and see if I can help them just a little to achieve their goal! So then I can see them in their full costume, to find out what they are!!!! Thanks everyone for your help!
Morningstar
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Actually, I had my common names mixed up and was thinking of ambrosia beetles (Scolytidae); we don't have any wood pest anobiids in Hawaii, though there are some lyctids (true powder-post beetles). But it's probably more likely to be this guy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasioderma_serricorne
