Bugs

I don't mind bugs, really I don't. With the exception of large spiders, I'm not really freaked out by bugs.  However, if you are a bug in my house, I will smash you or get Bryce (the bug whisperer) to escort you out on a paper towel.
Apparently though, not everyone shares my immunity to bugs.  Case in point, a coworker of mine who has renamed these harmless creatures.  

I've always called them Slow Walker Bugs, but apparently that is incorrect as I found out through the magic of Google in an effort to find a picture to irritate my co-worker.  In fact they are actually called Western Boxelder bugs or Boisea rubrolineata:


Courtesy of http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/hemipt/Western%20Boxelder%20Bug.htm
"The Western Box-elder Bug belongs to the family of scentless plant bugs (Rhopalidae). It has a bright red abdomen and three red lines running lengthwise along the dorsal prothorax.
These bugs feed on box-elder, maple and ash trees; sometimes the adults eat fruit. They nearly always remain on female or seed-bearing trees, and seem to avoid male or staminate trees.
Box-elder Bugs overwinter as adults, often aggregating in dry sheltered places, including human dwellings. They emerge during the first warm days of spring, when they can be seen swarming in the air and crawling over vegetation in large numbers. Locally, the Box-elder Bug is especially abundant in the canyons bordering the Los Angeles basin. Adults can often be found in these canyons on warm spring days. "

But alas, these poor innocent creatures are hated by many and have been renamed by my co-worker as :

"Creepy ass window screen cleaners"
Boisea rubrolineata :  "exceptionally creepy shadow casters when sun shines through window screens"

Ok, I guess they are a little creepy...