Armed with an exoskeleton, a stinky smell and sometimes even a pair of pinchers, these Okanagan bugs are the talk of the town, according to one pest control expert.

- This story was originally published Sept. 18, 2021.

Grasshoppers and leafhoppers are both benefitting from the hot and dry summer of 2021 in the southern Interior.

Most insects prefer damper conditions than what Kamloops and the Okanagan have been experiencing this summer, but some bugs fare much better than others when conditions are dryer than normal.

There's an odd fascination around here with creepy crawlies. Pay attention to any community forum long enough and you'll see someone post a photo of some critter that looks like something rejected from a Star Wars reboot, while everyone else either freaks out or tries to identify it. Perhaps it's because the Okanagan is mostly populated by people transplanted from elsewhere. 

The wet, cool spring in Kamloops and the Okanagan this year has provided a prime set of conditions for an active mosquito season in your neighbourhood,

VERNON - It's creepy looking even by insect standards, but it can't bite humans, is very small, has a rather bizarre mating practice, and is living right here in the Okanagan - and causing quite the stir.

NORTH OKANAGAN - At first, Danielle Shetler thought the mass congregation of ladybugs at her new Spallumcheen home near Vernon was a sign of good fortune.

People with a fear of spiders will be glad to know there is another insect in the Southern Interior that actually hunts those eight-legged insects

Each year once the snow melts and the sun comes out, mosquitoes hatch and begin flying their way around the Southern Interior.