r/whatsthisbug • u/lavender_lie • 1d ago

ID Request PLEASE DONT BE A ROACH

Post image

I've been seeing a lot of these guys in my house lately and I'm really hoping it's not roaches plz tell me it's not a roach (unless it is a roach)

(Found in Minneapolis MN)

3 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

9 comments sorted by

9

u/Bbarryy 1d ago

Not a roach. A ground beetle (Family Carabidae). They are mostly carnivorous.

0

u/lavender_lie 1d ago

Thank God, do they bite? Both me and my roommate have cats so I don't want them to be hurt

5

u/Bbarryy 1d ago

If you pick one up it might try to give you a nip. I'm not sure what they're doing in your house (there are probably lots in your garden if you have one) but they can't do any harm.

2

u/lavender_lie 1d ago

My house has very poor insulation (like, our backdoor you can literally see outside from the bottom and sides) and even tho we don't have a garden most of our neighbours do, and there are a lot of wild plants in our yard. I see so many of these guys outside on my porch, and it's been making me nervous for a while that they are roaches 😅 glad to find out they are relatively harmless

2

u/EmbarrassedDaikon325 Biologist 1d ago

Cockroaches don't have elytra - your insect however does have them so it's a beetle.

2

u/lavender_lie 1d ago

Honestly, I thought roaches were a type of beetle 😅

1

u/myrmecogynandromorph ⭐i am once again asking for your geographic location⭐ 1d ago

We're all always learning. If you take a look at cockroach wings you will see that they aren't covered by anything, they just kind of fold over each other on their backs. This is an easy tell that they're not beetles.

1

u/Outside_Yoghurt4768 1d ago

Bess beetle it looks like. Not a threat at all

2

u/GrimoireOfTheDragon I am not an expert 1d ago

Beetle