A new report studied the arthropods in 50 homes near Raleigh, North Carolina. Amazingly, they found a total of 10,000 living and dead arthropods and their parts in the 50 homes totaling nearly 750 species of insects, spiders, mites, centipedes, millipedes, pill bugs and related creatures. Each home averaged about 100 species of arthropods.
The researchers were also surprised to find how widespread arthropods were in homes—only five of the 554 rooms inspected did not contain any arthropods at all. Of the insects, there were more different kinds of flies and beetles than anything else.
Not all of the species found actually live and multiply in homes—some die fairly soon after wandering in from outdoors, or are brought in on cut flowers or something else and don’t survive long. But some multiply indoors and cause damage, and all add to the house cleanup needed.
This study showed that there are a far greater number of species of creatures in homes than was expected.
