ID’ing to the Point of Action

There are two common concepts when it comes to pest identification: (1) Proper ID is the first step of any pest management decision, and (2) Identification to the point of control (or identification to the point of action since control isn’t always applicable).

In theory and practice, both are logical, but how do you know when you have taken an ID far enough? This is where additional context is needed. Every account is different. Residential versus commercial matters. Market segment matters. Areas within an account are not necessarily treated the same, either. Time of year can change the equation, too. Everything is situational and subject to change with additional information. Let’s explore some situations and see how far ID needs to go.

Example 1: Big Ants. Let’s start with a simple example involving ants. You are called to a house in which the customer has complained about large ants showing up inside every couple of days. Upon arrival, you perform an inspection, collect a specimen and determine that it’s a large ant. End of story? Well, no, since that’s not enough information to proceed. You should at least put it under magnification and confirm that this is a carpenter ant, and not a field ant or anything else. Must you take the ID to the species level? In most situations, I would say no, it is not necessary, because how we inspect, manage and frame recommendations to the customer for pest carpenter ant species is functionally the same. This is a simple example of identifying to the point of control. (Or to the point of action, as I’d like to rebrand it since control isn’t always what’s necessary to solve a problem.) Outcome: Leave it at genus.

Example 2: Little Ants. This time a customer complains about seeing ants indoors. Upon inspection, you find a small two-node ant, and after analysis, you are pretty sure it’s in the genus Solenopsis. Is it a red imported fire ant (Solenopsis invicta), a thief ant (Solenopsis molesta) or another species? I would certainly like to know for sure before talking to the customer and determining next steps. Outcome: Take it to species.

Example 3: Big Ants in Packaged Food. Now let’s imagine a situation in which you service a food plant and a customer complaint has come in alleging the presence of large ants inside the packaged food. You receive the product and the ants and determine they are carpenter ants. Your work here is done, right? Well, let’s not jump to conclusions. Does the generic identification of Camponotus sp. give you enough information to determine what happened? On one hand, these are not stored product pests and are generally not found in places where food is prepared, packed or stored, so that does give you some actionable information, but more detail might be able to crack the case wide open. One thing I neglected to tell you is that the food was made and packaged in California and the customer complaint originated in Japan, where this product was also sold. Can you see where I’m going here? That’s right! The species found inside the food in Japan does not live in California where the product was manufactured, packaged and held until its trans-Pacific journey to Japan. Outcome: Take it to species and learn about the species in question.

Example 4: Just Go With Me. Let’s imagine that you have a pharmaceutical customer in which sensitivity is extremely high, and all pests must be identified and documented. Your customer sends you a sample of what is believed to be an ant, but a few seconds after putting it under magnification, you can see that it’s an ant-mimicking jumping spider. In this case, leaving it at order (Araneae) is probably good enough since this is not a structural pest. Outcome: Take your ID far enough to rule out a pest with implications for the customer.

Example 5: Small Cockroaches. A restaurant customer tells you they have seen a few “small” cockroaches in the front of house and dining rooms lately and, miraculously, they even saved one for you to identify. First glance and you can tell it’s in the genus Blattella. Call it a German and proceed with baiting and dusting? Hold on, now. Where do you live? Are you in an area with known Asian (B. asahinai) or field cockroaches (B. vaga)? If yes, it’s worth taking it to species, or at least confirming and ruling out the German cockroach. Outcome: Take it far enough to determine whether it’s a domestic or peridomestic species.

Example 6: Termites. A customer calls in to report a termite swarm happening in their living room. By the time you arrive, there are no longer alates around, but plenty of shed wings, and you confirm that these are termites. If this account is found outside of drywood termite range, you might not consider they’re a possibility and recommend a soil (re)treatment or installation of a termite baiting system under the assumption that a termite infestation must be subterranean. Even the most well-executed subterranean termite treatment just will not do anything to help in this situation. I have dealt with drywoods well outside of their range a few times, and it is absolutely worth consideration that this may be what’s going on, just to be sure. Fortunately, subterranean and drywood termites are easy to separate based on wing venation. The minute it takes to do this could be the difference in thousands of dollars spent on wasted treatment and loss of customer trust. Drywood termite species are generally treated the same way, so unless there are other factors at play, making a further determination of genus or species is likely not necessary to successfully eliminate them. Outcome: Get to group (subterranean, drywoods, dampwoods) and then determine if additional ID is needed.

NO HARD AND FAST RULES.

Author’s acknowledgement: Special thanks to Alicia Gettis, BCE, for help with this article.

The author is staff scientist at Ecolab and a member of the Urban Pest Management Technical Committee (UPMTC.org).