Woodland Roach?

SeaTam

Ootheca
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My husband is convinced that this is a cockroach, but it doesn't look like any species that is supposed to live in the Seattle area. We've had them since the neighbors who kept bags of garbage outside moved. We rarely see them in the house, but they LOVE the wood pile and wooden fence. They are also small, the biggest we've seen are about 1/2 inch long, and this one is 3/8 inch. Any idea what it might be? Beetle of some sort?

 

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No, it's not a roach. It's some kind of true bug, probably a rhopalid or coreid. They have piercing- sucking mouthparts that they use to drink fluids out of living plants or their seeds. They're not household pests and are quite harmless.

 
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Thanks guys! I followed your leads and a few more to discover that they are Rhyparochromus vulgaris, an emerging pest in the Pacific Northwest.

 
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