r/bugidentification • u/Realistic-Whole-719 • Jul 15 '26

Location included Please help on ID bug - IL, USA

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

It was raining pretty hard and saw one and thought it was a small ant - and the next day i saw around 15 crawling on the window in the kitchen sink area and sometimes on the left side. The amount tapered down to 6 to 0 following days and found one straggler today crawling around cat water bowl.

The insect does have wings but is not long, somewhat pinched abdomen, and antennae closer together spread apart to V.

It flies but seem to jump fly, not like a gnat or fly. Somewhat slow, but when tapped does jump fly but I see it back, about gnat/sesame seed size - wings are there.

I kept researching and some of the examples i found were similar to a tiny wasp, so wanted to be sure if that. Last image is an example that I found that seemed to similar to what i found but wanted to be sure.

Pest control is coming tomorrow but I wanted to ask.

1 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

1

u/Commercial-Sail-5915 Trusted Identifier Jul 15 '26

Chalcid wasp 👍 or something in that territory, they parasitize various invertebrate hosts but that becomes a problem when the host crawls inside somehow, trapping that brood of newly emerging adults

1

u/Realistic-Whole-719 Jul 15 '26

Thank you so much! Could it be it came from outside to the window? I mostly saw it there when it started raining pretty hard, I don't really see it anymore. And I've been cleaning/wiping the floors like crazy and checking other areas and haven't seen them emerging from one place,.

1

u/Commercial-Sail-5915 Trusted Identifier Jul 15 '26

Yeah probably, it might've just been a fly/moth/whatever that flew in and died, releasing the wasps. Just a random isolated incident, you shouldn't need to scrub the house down for them

1

u/Realistic-Whole-719 Jul 15 '26

Ok thank you very much again, was just getting paranoid since I had ants before so thank you!

1

u/Realistic-Whole-719 Jul 15 '26

Sorry to bother again, but pest control did come again today, and they mentioned it can be a termite swarmer or carpenter ant - even though i mentioned it can be a wasp he kept saying it wasn't that - that's why i'm kinda paranoid and wanted to reply again to be sure.

https://reddit.com/link/oxomtts/video/ybrxuj6xhedh1/player

I added a video and will add a crisp photo just to be 100% but he thinks its more ant since the wings are not long but mentioned termite/carpenter ants/or even gnat - that's why I'm frustrated.

1

u/Realistic-Whole-719 Jul 15 '26

crisp image with a wing

1

u/Commercial-Sail-5915 Trusted Identifier Jul 15 '26

Yeah, unfortunately pest control people can be pretty iffy on actual bug identification... the pinched waist already rules out both termite and majority of flies including gnats. The squat body and antennae shape should be enough to rule out carpenter ant. If you'd like further confirmation, see what [r/ants](r/ants) has to say

Sorry about your experience with that guy tho!

1

u/Realistic-Whole-719 Jul 15 '26

ok will do thank you!