Japanese Beetle
      The Japanese Beetle, Popillia japonica is 3/8-1/2" (8-12 mm) long. They have an oval, sturdy body that is bright metallic green, with elytra mostly brownish or reddish orange. On the underside of their body there is grayish hair and 5 patches of white hair along each side of abdomen with 2 white tufts at tip. The male has pointed tibial spurs and the female's are rounded.

• Food Adult damages leaf tissues and ripening fruit of more than 200 plants, including vines, flowers, shrubs, and trees. Larva feeds on roots, especially those of grasses, vegetables, and nursery plants.
• Life Cycle Elongate, yellowish-white eggs are deposited on soil, 1-4 at a time. Fully grown larvae overwinter in soil and pupate in the spring. 1 generation of adults emerges in summer when blackberries ripen. In the North, cycle takes 2 years.
• Habitat Open woods and meadows.
• Range Maine to South Carolina.
• The Japanese Beetle was introduced accidentally in 1916 on iris roots imported from Japan and has been a major pest for years. Its numbers have been reduced by the controlled use of parasitic tachnid flies and tiphiid wasps that prey on beetle larvae.

Black Rat
Description: Brownish or grayish above; underparts grayish to whitish, but not white. Scaly, sparsely haired tail uniformly dark; longer than half total length. Prominent ears. L 12 3/4–17 7/8" (325–455 mm); T 6 3/8"–10 1/8" (160–255 mm); HF 1 1/8–1 5/8" (30–40 mm); E 5/8–1" (17–27 mm); Wt 4–12 3/8 oz (115–350 g).

• Similar Species Norway Rat has tail proportionally shorter (less than half total length). Rice rats have tail darker above than below. Woodrats have white underparts.
• Breeding Breeds year-round; several litters per year, each of 2–8 young; gestation 21–26 days.
• Sign Similar to sign of Norway Rat.
• Habitat: Mainly around seaports and buildings; sometimes in natural habitats.
• Range Southern and coastal U.S.; inland in West, as far north as w Nevada; east of Rockies to e Arkansas, w Kentucky, n Alabama, n Georgia, and most of North Carolina and Virginia. Most abundant in South, along Atlantic Coast north to e Maine, and along Pacific Coast to extreme sw British Columbia.
• The Black Rat occurs in a great many varieties and races, or subspecies, of which few are actually black, despite the common name. Believed to have come from Southeast Asia, this species spread through Europe centuries ago, long before the arrival of the Norway Rat. It appeared in Central and South America in the mid-16th century, evidently carried there aboard Spanish ships; it arrived in North America with the early colonists at Jamestown in 1609, and gradually spread across the continent. Formerly much more common, it has often been displaced by the slightly larger and more aggressive Norway Rat; this may be because the Black Rat does better in tropical climates and the Norway Rat in temperate climates, rather than because of overt competition. As Black Rats are far more common than Norway Rats on ships, they continue to be reintroduced at seaports. Excellent climbers, in the South they live in the upper stories of buildings; they also make nests in tangled vines and in trees. Omnivorous but partial to grain, the Black Rat does enormous damage in docks and warehouses, contaminating with its droppings what it does not eat. Like other rats, it carries a number of diseases, including bubonic plague, which is transmitted by its fleas. Snakes, owls, dogs, and cats are its chief predators.
  
  California Harvester
  The California Harvester Ant is also known as Pogonomyrmex californicus, which are part of the family Formicidae (Ants). Members of this Family are less than 1/16-1" (1-15 mm) long and are usually a black, brown, or reddish color.
  • They have a complex social structure usually consisting of a wingless worker caste composed entirely of sterile females and a reproductive caste made up of winged, fertile males and females. But some species do not have a worker caste, and some reproductives do not have wings. Ants have a slender "waist," or pedicel, of 1 or 2 beadlike or scalelike segments between the thorax and abdomen.
  • Ants live in colonies in underground tunnels or in galleries in dead wood. From time to time, winged males and females emerge from the nest and perform a brief mating flight. After mating, the males die, and the females lose their wings and return to the ground to start a new colony.
  • Workers gather food, maintain and defend the nest, and tend eggs, larvae, and pupae. Most species are predators or scavengers, but a few harvest seeds, visit clusters of aphids to eat their sweet secretions, raise fungus for food in small underground gardens, or eat leaves cut from plants.
  • Some species produce eggs, which are eaten by the queen and workers. When disturbed, most ants are capable of "biting" or "stinging" people.
  • Warning These ants are capable of delivering a sting which does not hurt at first, but can result in intense pain and swollen lymph nodes, particularly if the victim is attacked by a number of workers.
    
    
  Long Legged Ant
  The Long Legged Ant is also known as Aphaenogaster cockerelli, which are part of the family Formicidae (Ants). They are 3/8" long depending on the caste, with 2 sharp diverging spines on the rear of the thorax. The Long Legged Ant is usually a reddish black color.
  • The Long Legged Ant's food consists of small insects.
  • The Queen excavates brood chamber in soil and lays a few eggs. Queen regurgitates food to larvae until they can spin cocoons and transform to adults. Then workers hunt for food, expand galleries, feed queen, and tend eggs and young.
  • They can be found in Arid plateaus at elevations of 2,690-5,380' (820-1,640 m), from California to Mexico.
  • The sharp spines on these ants may be nature's way of protecting their narrow "waist," or pedicel, from attackers.