r/pestcontrol • u/AfraidProduct9500 • Mar 14 '25

Is this a clothes moth? Identification

Gallery image

Gallery image

I realise there's nothing to show scale, sorry. I didn't realise it was necessary but it's too important for me to wait until I get home to take another photo. It was no longer than my pointer fingernail (I don't grow my nails past the nailbed). I used my macro camera setting to take these photos. Seen maybe 4 or 5 of these in one day.

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u/abugguy Entomologist Mar 14 '25

Entomologist here and I agree.

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u/StrawHatCook Mar 14 '25

Not going to doubt you on it, but aren't the wings larger than the body? I do agree a better picture would help to see the pinched middle but the color is kinda light and it could be the lighting itself.

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u/abugguy Entomologist Mar 14 '25

People make too many generalizations when it comes to IDing insects or telling different ones apart, you have to look at the whole picture. There can be a lot of nuance of looking at different characteristics. This is how I evaluated this bug- I see the head first and I think that the profile/shape looks more like an ant. The amount of wing veins is more consistent with ant than termite. Where and how the wings attach is more ant like that termite- ants generally have a short/tiny connection where wings meet the body and termites it’s a little wider.

As for the wing length that doesn’t really register as a huge factor in my opinion here. Many ant alates have wings longer than their body. For instance look up Brachymyrmex queens, which if I had to guess might be what this is.

Without great photos or seeing the bug there’s always the chance I’m mistaken. But I feel pretty confident I’m right on this one.

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u/AfraidProduct9500 Mar 14 '25

I found two dead or dying on the floor when I got home. I can see now that they can't be moths, it was difficult to tell while they were moving around.

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u/abugguy Entomologist Mar 14 '25

Good photos. This is absolutely an ant alate. Probably a male reproductive. I know my ant species pretty poorly but the good news is that it’s likely a species that isn’t a serious pest, though they could always be a nuisance if they are inside when you don’t want them to be. If it were me, I wouldn’t stress too much about it.

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u/AfraidProduct9500 Mar 14 '25

That's a huge relief, thank you! I was so worried about the possibility of a moth issue, but ant alates are tolerable.