NE Flordia Stumper
Location: Fleming Island, FL
February 6, 2012 7:27 am
I’ve lived in Florida (Insect Mecca) for many years…but this is a new one. I live in Fleming Island, FL about a mile west of the St. Johns River. I started noticing these on my two collies after they would play out back. I have a small fenced in yard that backs up to a field of an elementary school.
The insect has six legs, and very in size from 1/2” to 1” in body length.
The best I could guess was some sort of Wheel Bug Arilus cristatus Nymph.
Hopefully you can give some assistance.
Signature: Joe Summanen
Milkweed Assassin Bug Nymph
Hi Joe,
You are on the right track, but not exactly correct. This is the nymph of a Milkweed Assassin Bug, Zelus longipes, and like the Wheel Bug, they are both in the Assassin Bug family. Milkweed Assassin Bugs are important beneficial predators, but if they are carelessly handled, they can deliver a painful bite.
Thanks Daniel!
Unfortunately, I was bitten once. Ouch. That’s what caught my attention.
Much appreciated.
Joe
¶ Posted 06 February 2012 § ‡ ° Unknown insect
Location: Grand Island, NE
February 4, 2012 5:46 pm
My wife found this insect in her bath towel. It left what appears to be a single puncture in her skin. We just want to know what it is.
Signature: John
Masked Hunter nymph, Unmasked
Dear John,
This is an immature Assassin Bug, but we had to do a bit of digging to identify the species even though this is one of the most common Assassin Bugs on our website. This is an Masked Hunter nymph, though it is a bit atypical since Masked Hunter nymphs are generally covered in lint an debris that acts as camouflage for them. We are guessing this individual is newly molted and it hasn’t yet had any lint or debris stick to it yet. Masked Hunters are often found in the home, and we generally inform people that they are beneficial as they will eat other problematic insects and they are especially fond of hunting Bed Bugs. Masked Hunters do not normally bite humans, but they will bite if carelessly handled or provoked. Sadly, the accidental encounter your wife had resulted in a bite. The bite is not considered dangerous, though the discomfort may last a few days. Adult Masked Hunters are glossy black winged insects.
1
¶ Posted 05 February 2012 § ‡ ° Possible Phasmid?
Location: Upstate New York
January 24, 2012 12:11 pm
We saw this guy in our hedges last summer around mid July. It had two tiny wings and could fly, but not very fast. It also had tiny vice-like forearms, similar to a mantid. I tried looking this up online but can’t seem to definitively identify this bug.
Signature: lureah21
Thread-Legged Bug
Dear lureah21,
Though it somewhat resembles a Phasmid, it is not. Your observation of the raptorial forelegs was keen, identifying this as a predator and not a vegan. Your insect is a True Bug in the Assassin Bug family. It is subclassified as a Thread-Legged Bug in the subfamily Emesinae. We believe it is most likely in the genus Emesaya, possibly Emesaya brevipennis which you can find on BugGuide.
Thread-Legged Bug
Thank you for your response, that does appear to be the bug we saw.
Tracy
¶ Posted 25 January 2012 § ‡ ° Unknown night bug
January 23, 2012 1:11 pm
Dear Mr. Bugman,
I’ve spent some time trying to identify this bug but have been unsuccesful so far.
I’ve spotted it in the middle of a warm summer night in the Netherlands. It did not react to the flashlight of my camera. It seems it has underdeveloped wings and a weird set of ’teeth’ originating from the top of its head bending towards the bottom of its body.
Thanks for the awesome website, keep it up!
Signature: Thanks, Frank
Assassin Bug
Dear Frank,
We believe this is an Assassin Bug, a predatory True Bug in the family Reduviidae. Unless we are sorely mistaken, the underdeveloped wings are an indication that it is an immature specimen. We would not entirely rule out that this is a member of some other Heteropteran family though.
Do you know what this is?
Location: Martin, Western Australia
December 2, 2011 3:46 am
Hi,
I found this bug/insect/alien on my bed and I’m just wondering what it is. It seems to have feathers on its back legs and can do somersaults if it has to.
Do you know what it is?
Thanks
Signature: Hannah
Unidentified Leaf Footed Bug
Dear Hannah,
At first we thought that this was a Leaf Footed Bug or Big Legged Bug in the family Coreidae, but we couldn’t find it pictured on the Brisbane Insect website. Additional research led us to a listing in our own archives that identifies this as a Feather Legged Assassin Bug or Ant Assassin, Ptilocnemus lemur. We had originally misidentified that submission as a Leaf Footed Bug as well. There is some helpful information on the Myrmician website. Here are photos of mounted specimens from the Agriculture Western Australia website. Larena Woodmore also has a very nice photo.
1
Whats this bug?
Location: Charleston (James Island), South Carolina
December 21, 2011 10:30 am
Saw this in my bed this morning and I have never seen it before. I just moved to Charleston,SC so maybe its something native? It had an oval slender red body with long legs? It kind of looked like a red ant with spider legs? Could you tell me what it is
Signature: Curious
Assassin Bug Nymph
Dear Curious,
This is an Assassin Bug nymph, most likely the Milkweed Assassin Bug. It is an outdoor predator that was probably accidentally trapped in the home. Though Milkweed Assassin Bugs do not normally bite humans, they will bite, quite painfully, if carelessly handled.
1
¶ Posted 21 December 2011 § ‡ ° Blue-Black-Golden Bug
Location: India, Khajuraho, Garden of Taj Chandela
December 19, 2011 8:49 am
Date: 7. Nov. 2011, 2:00 p.m.
Wonderful Blue-Black-Golden Bug sitting in the garden.
Can anybody help to identify this insect?
Thank you very much,
Juergen J. Mueller
This is an Assassin Bug, but your photo is too small to post.
Signature: Juergen J. MuellerAssasin Bug
Location: Location: India, Khajuraho, Garden of Taj Chandela
December 19, 2011 2:04 pm
Thank you,
hier is a larger photo from the Assassin Bug for posting.
Date: 7. Nov. 2011, 2:00 p.m.
Juergen J. Mueller
Signature: Juergen J. Mueller
Assassin Bug from India
Hi again Juergen,
Thank you for sending a larger photo. We have posted your request. The detail in the larger image may help us identify the species of predatory Assassin Bug.
Karl provides an identification: December 29, 2011
Re: Assassin Bug from India – December 19, 2011
Hi Daniel and Juergen:
I believe your Assassin Bug belongs to the genus Sycanus (Reduvidae: Harpactorinae). There are at least 18 species listed for India and many look quite similar, so getting a species identification is going to be difficult. You can check out these images of S. collaris from Thailand and S. croceovittatus from Hong Kong and Russia (?). Both species look quite similar to your Assassin Bug and both also occur in India. The concern I have is that most, but not all, Sycanus species display a fairly prominent scutellar spine (sticking out from the middle of the back) and I don’t really see one in the posted image. Apparently the spine is sometimes missing from individuals of ‘spined’ species (I can’t see one on the bug featured in the Hong Kong link, above, either). It could be one of several species that have a reduced spine or none at all. Perhaps it is there but not visible due to lighting or the angle of the shot, or it may have lost its spine. I hope this helps. Regards. Karl
¶ Posted 20 December 2011 § ‡ ° Little Red Six Legs :
Location: Cobb County, GA (Powder Springs)
December 6, 2011 1:42 am
I go hiking often so odd bugs, plants, flowers and animals are something I am usually used to. I often snap pictures of them, and I use them often on my blog and my photo sharing sites. I love photography and being able to capture a moment to last a life time. This one particular bug that I captured the last hike (last week), I can not figure out what it is despite hours and hours or research.
This bug was in park that is used for it’s hiking trails. It has many acres and the only buildings are an old barn and an abandoned house. This bugs bright colors instantly attracted me. While I release the copyright to you… I release it only to you. I just want to know what this bug is, what it does. I have been wondering for days whether or not this thing is more harmful or helpful and why I haven’t seen more of them.
Signature: Concerned Hiker
Assassin Bug Nymph
Dear Concerned Hiker,
This is an Assassin Bug nymph, most likely in the genus Zelus. We have taken the liberty of cropping your photo and moving your copyright information to better fit the format of the images on our website.
You can remove the copyright completely if you wish. I have more than one image of this creature, if you want them as well, let me know. Are they harmless? What do they do?
Thanks, but changing images in posts is time consuming, so we will just let it remain as is.
¶ Posted 06 December 2011 § ‡ ° 
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