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ACE Prep · Module 8 of 11

Biting & Stinging Arthropods

Quick answerUpdated September 24, 2026

What does ACE module 8 cover?

This module covers pest identification, bite/sting medical importance, and control for bed bugs, fleas, lice, ticks, mites, spiders, scorpions, and stinging Hymenoptera (bees and wasps).

Key factApproximate exam weight: ~10%.

Reviewed by LTK editorial team

Must-know facts

  • Bed bugs: ~3/16 inch (apple seed size), mahogany, wingless. Painless bite. Hide in cracks/crevices during day — not just in beds. Survive 2–4 months without feeding. Heavy infestations may have distinctive sweetish odor.
  • Fleas (Siphonaptera): laterally flattened, wingless. Complete metamorphosis. Only the adult lives on the host. Larva must feed on dried blood (flea feces) to develop. Disease vectors: plague (rat flea), tapeworm (Dipylidium), FAD.
  • Ticks (Ixodidae — hard ticks): 3-host life cycle (American dog tick, lone star tick, black-legged deer tick). Brown dog tick prefers dogs and structures. Vectors: Lyme disease (black-legged tick/Ixodes scapularis), Rocky Mountain spotted fever (American dog tick), tularemia (lone star tick).
  • Brown recluse spider: fiddle-shaped mark on cephalothorax, 3 pairs of eyes in semicircle. Nocturnal hunter. Necrotic venom. Most common in central and southern US.
  • Black widow spider: neurotoxic venom, hourglass marking on abdomen, irregular cobweb. Five US species (Latrodectus). Found in outbuildings, storage, older structures.
  • Hobo spider: funnel-web builder. Common in Pacific Northwest (WA, OR, ID, UT). NOT considered a medically significant spider for necrotic bites.
  • Scorpions: 8 legs, 2 claws, segmented tail with stinger. Nocturnal, fluoresce under UV/black light. Neurotoxic venom. Arizona bark scorpion is most medically important US species.
  • Yellowjackets (Vespula): social, annual colony (<2,000–20,000 workers), primarily ground nesters, aggressively defend nest, most problematic in fall. Paper carton nests.
  • Bald-faced hornets (Dolichovespula maculata): aerial carton nest, 200–400 workers.
  • Paper wasps (Polistes): open umbrella nest, exposed brood chambers, fewer than 200 workers. Less aggressive than yellowjackets.
  • Honey bees: perennial colony (10,000+ workers). Protected pollinator. Failure to remove a wall-void nest = comb melt, honey fermentation, secondary pests (carpet beetles, wax moths, cockroaches, rodents).

What the exam likes to ask

  • Bed bugs hide throughout the room — not only in beds. The ACE exam tests this misconception directly.
  • Flea larva cannot live on the host — only adults parasitize the host. Larva lives in carpet/bedding and feeds on flea feces.
  • Black widow = neurotoxic venom. Brown recluse = necrotic venom. Hobo spider = NOT a confirmed necrotic spider.
  • When bees nest in a wall, never just spray — failure to remove the comb leads to secondary infestations and structural damage.

Field takeaways

  • Bed bug treatments must be thorough (not just mattress-focused) and often require multiple visits.
  • Tick season, species, and disease risk vary by region — knowing what species are local helps set accurate client expectations.
  • Never treat a honey bee swarm in a wall void without planning comb removal — it creates a worse problem than the original infestation.

Listen, watch, read

Podcast

Biting and Stinging Pests Inside Your Walls

Hidden biting pest biology — identification, harborage patterns, and targeted control for stinging and biting species.

Slide deck · 13 slides

Arthropod Diagnostic Blueprint

View the slides

The Threat Matrix

7:10

Module 8 quiz

26 questions. Answer them all, then grade to see the reasoning.

  1. Q1Which finding is the most reliable confirmation of an active bed bug infestation?
  2. Q2A flea larva differs from an adult flea in that the larva
  3. Q3Which spider is most associated with neurotoxic venom in the United States?
  4. Q4Which tick is the primary vector of Lyme disease in the eastern United States?
  5. Q5Failing to remove a honey bee nest from a wall void can lead to
  6. Q6Scorpions can be detected at night using
  7. Q7An unfed adult bed bug is best described as
  8. Q8Which finding is the strongest evidence of a bed bug infestation?
  9. Q9Bed-bug-like insects with long fringe hairs on the pronotum are biting people in a bedroom under an attic that houses a bat colony. What is the best plan?
  10. Q10A family comes home after two weeks away and is immediately bitten by many fleas. What is the best explanation?
  11. Q11The flea most often found on both cats and dogs in the United States is the
  12. Q12Applying methoprene or pyriproxyfen to carpets as part of a flea program mainly
  13. Q13A large honey bee swarm is hanging in a cluster on a shrub in a client's yard. What is the best advice?
  14. Q14Which chigger life stage feeds on people?
  15. Q15A customer whose doctor diagnosed scabies asks for the whole house to be sprayed. What is the best response?
  16. Q16Which louse lives and lays eggs mainly in the seams of clothing and can transmit epidemic typhus?
  17. Q17Unlike most hard ticks, which tick can complete its whole life cycle indoors in homes and kennels?
  18. Q18Which feature most reliably identifies a recluse spider?
  19. Q19A shiny black spider with a red hourglass under its abdomen hangs in a messy, irregular web low in a garden shed. It is most likely a
  20. Q20A pale yellowish spider hides by day in a small silk sac where a wall meets the ceiling and hunts at night without a capture web. It is most likely a
  21. Q21Which U.S. scorpion is the most medically important and is known for climbing walls and hiding indoors in the Southwest?
  22. Q22A large black-and-white wasp is going in and out of a gray, football-shaped paper nest high in a tree. It is most likely the
  23. Q23A single, open paper comb with exposed cells hangs from a stalk under the eaves. It was built by
  24. Q24In the temperate United States, what happens to a typical yellowjacket colony in late fall?
  25. Q25Yellowjackets are using a gap in siding to reach a nest in a wall void. Why should the hole NOT be sealed before the nest is eliminated?
  26. Q26Which tick is linked to alpha-gal syndrome (a red-meat allergy) and to ehrlichiosis, and the adult female has a single white spot on her back?

0 of 26 answered

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