Every person encounters insects in some form or fashion each year. The majority of confrontations are disregarded due to the fact that they are inconsequential. According to the Extension publication, "Insects in Kansas", not more that 15 or 20 species of insects are responsible for 75 percent of all the financial loss to the people of Kansas. Although this information is well aged, the numbers probably have not increased significantly. However, some insects are or have the potential of being harmful in some manner. They may adversely affect our homes, food, field crops, gardens, lawns, health or health of our animals. Control of such pests is often essential. But in order to control a pest it is imperative to accurately identify the insect causing the problem. We must first know what we are dealing with before we can determine how to deal with it! This identification process is often difficult and time consuming. In some cases a reliable identification can only be made by a taxonomic specialist familiar with a very specific group of insects.

The goal of the Insect Diagnostic Laboratory is to provide a prompt yet accurate diagnosis of insects and insect related problems. Identification to order, family, genus or species level is made depending on each individual case, and control methods may also be provided upon request. The Insect Diagnosis Laboratory can also provide assistance with identification of non-insect arthropods, such as spiders, ticks, mites, centipedes, etc.

The services of the Insect Diagnosis Laboratory are open to any Kansas resident through their local county Extension office. In many cases the county Extension Agent will be able to identify the insect and provide you with the appropriate management information. However, if they can't identify the insect on their own, they can mail the insects to the Insect Diagnostic Laboratory.    -

Extension Entomology Diagnostician, gotbugs@ksu.edu .

To submit a sample, complete the appropriate form listed below (these are writeable PDFs, you need adobe acrobat to view) and take the sample to your local County Extension Office. 

Addresses of Kansas Extension Offices can be found on the web at http://www.ksre.ksu.edu/main/directory.asp.

More information on our Insect Identification Service can be found inthe publication Insect Identification Service  EP-162 (April 2009).