Eastern toe-biter is nasty as name implies

Q: I found a big, 2-inch bug on my living room floor after my dogs were romping in the river. - Susan, Cottekill

A: Susan brought in the bug. It is an Eastern Toe-biter (Benacus griseus). The Toe-biter is one member of a small family of the insect kingdom's largest true bugs. Its cousins include the Giant Water Bug and the Ferocious Water Bug.

This aquatic insect (also called electric light bug) is up to two and a half inches long, dark brown and leathery. The hind legs, which are used for swimming, are flattened and have a hairy fringe. There are two breathing tubes at the rear end so that the insect can obtain air by raising its abdomen to the water surface. Eggs are attached in rows of about a hundred to plants above water.

Toe-biters eat insects, tadpoles, small fish and salamanders. As implied by their name, they can also give humans a hearty nip. Toe-biters also fly, and are attracted to light, hence their alternate name. Those powerful-looking front legs are designed to grab prey and pull it in close. The bug's sharp beak then pierces the victim, injecting a dose of fast-acting anesthetic saliva. It's small comfort for the prey, but still nice to know that they might not feel a thing as the toe-biter sucks the life out of them. The big bugs eat insects (including other giant water bugs), tadpoles, little fish, and salamanders. This is a serious predator. If it moves, a toe-biter will go for it, and this means you too. Underwater, they seize and stab bare human feet - it's all lunch to them. Since her dogs were in the water, it’s a sure bet this bug grabbed onto the fur and rode into the living room.

Q: There are maggots coming out of the chestnuts I gathered from my tree. - Charlie, Hurley

A: These are chestnut weevils. The quarter-inch lesser chestnut weevils emerge from the ground beginning in late May until July, about when the chestnuts bloom, but do not lay eggs until the fall. Egg laying begins when the nuts are nearly mature and most eggs are laid after the burr begins to open. Eggs are usually laid in the downy inner lining of the brown shell covering the nut. Eggs hatch in about 10 days and larval development is completed 2 to 3 weeks later.

Soon after the nut falls to the ground, the grubs chew a circular hole in the side of the nut to enter the soil. Most of the lesser chestnut weevil grubs over-winter the first year as grubs, pupate the following fall, and over-winter the following winter as adults. Some pass two winters in the grub stage and a third winter as adults before emerging from the ground. The life cycle is completed in 2 to 3 years.

Populations of chestnut weevil can be suppressed by good cultural and sanitation practices. In home plantings, nuts should be gathered daily as soon as they fall and stored so that emerging weevil larvae cannot enter the soil to re-infest. If all newly emerged larvae are destroyed for a period of 3-4 consecutive years, weevil populations can be reduced. While the American chestnut tree has been decimated throughout the United States, young trees still grow from stumps and seed and can produce viable chestnuts. Most succumb to the chestnut blight by the time they are 10 years old

Dona M. Crawford is the community horticulture educator for Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County.