We recently received a question via the All About Worms Facebook page about some “tiny” insects in a reader’s upstairs bathroom. The size of the insects is emphasized, and the reader reports that they can hardly be seen by the naked eye. As a point of reference, she says that they are smaller than a sesame seed, which certainly makes them very small, even in the insect world. The reader also reports that the insects are striped, and that they have a couple of hairs that visibly extend from their back ends, which stand in contrast to the little hairs that cover their bodies. The reader wants to know what she is finding, and she also wants to know why they are in her bathroom.

We received a strange email from a reader recently concerning some small black insects that are currently all over his house. Here is his entire message: “I have small black tiny insects all over my house. These are usually found in a bag of rice but right now are all over the house.” The message is straightforward and casual in an unusual way, and you’ll also notice that no question is asked. Did this reader merely want to inform us of his situation, or is he perhaps wondering what he found? We’ll assume the later and try to make some sense of the tiny black insects in our reader’s house.