Summer 2010
Location: 19347
March 18, 2011 9:00 pm
I took half a dozen photos of this guy in Chester County, PA last summer (2010); he looked silvery sitting in full sun on a silver trash can full of birdseed.
Signature: Sue
Wheel Bug
Hi Sue,
Your Wheel Bug is an impressive creature, the largest Assassin Bug in North America.
Wow, maybe this is why I didn’t see any Japanese beetles this
year. Thanks! I’m looking forward to reading your book. 
Sue
Hi again Sue,
If you normally get Japanese Beetles, and you saw none in 2010, you are one lucky gardener. We have images in our Food Chain section of Wheel Bugs feeding on Japanese Beetles, but one lone Wheel Bug could probably not handle the hoards of Japanese Beetles that typically defoliate a wide variety of plants cultivated in the garden. Had you seen an army of Wheel Bugs, that would be a different story. There may be other predators, like insectivorous birds, that are contributing to the gardener’s war against Japanese Beetles. We hope you find the book The Curious World of Bugs as entertaining as Daniel intended it to be.
¶ Posted 19 March 2011 § ‡ ° Spider? Stink Bug?
Location: South Florida. Pompano/Margate area
March 12, 2011 6:37 pm
This little critter kept coming to visit a photography class we were having. It looked like a spider, except for the rear end, which was held up like a scorpion holds it’s stinger. One of the staff at the park told us this was a stink bug, but I don’t really see a shield shape.
Thanks for any help you can give me in identifying it.
This one was located in Pompano Florida at Fern Forrest Nature Center.
Signature: Anne
Wheel Bug Nymph
Hi Anne,
This is an immature Wheel Bug, Arilus cristatus, and when it is fully grown, it is North America’s largest Assassin Bug. When fully grown, it is easily distinguished from any other Assassin Bug by a coglike projection on the thorax. You can find numerous images of adult Wheel Bugs on our website, including this example dating back to October 2009. Wheel Bugs and Stink Bugs are both True Bugs in the suborder Heteroptera, so your observation has merit. Additionally, Wheel Bug hatchlings, like this grouping sent this past January, are frequently mistaken for Spiders. Wheel Bugs are one of our Top 10 identification requests, though upon viewing that tag, we realize that we have not added any new images of Wheel Bugs in years.
¶ Posted 14 March 2011 § ‡ ° Tagged: Top 10 Crazy bugs
Location: Spring, TX
March 7, 2011 12:52 pm
What are these? Help!
Signature: Mary
Wheel Bug Hatchlings
Hi Mary,
These are newly hatched Wheel Bugs. They are beneficial predators.
Thanks! Someone said they eat caterpillars. We raise butterflies. I’m not sure I’ll view them as beneficial. : )
¶ Posted 07 March 2011 § ‡ ° Looks like a mantis
Location: Middle Georgia (the state, not the country;)
February 26, 2011 2:52 pm
My boys found this in the bathroom and think it’s a baby mantis. I’m not so sure. It doesn’t have the large head or ”praying hands.” I’m letting them keep it in a bug motel until we identify it. Help!
Signature: Tricia
Immature Assassin Bug
Hi Tricia,
This really looks to us like an immature Assassin Bug in the genus Zelus. Assassin Bugs are predators so your inclination that it resembles a Mantis has some bearing. You can read more about Assassin Bugs on BugGuide and you can compare your individual to this image and this image also on BugGuide.
1
¶ Posted 26 February 2011 § ‡ ° Wheel Bug eating a Praying Mantis
Location: SE Kansas
February 8, 2011 2:51 pm
Found this wheel bug feasting on this praying mantis! I thought it was an interesting picture and I didn’t find one in the gallery. Thought you might like to have it!! I hope the picture quality is good because is was taking with my phone!
Signature: T
Wheel Bug Preys Upon Preying Mantis
Dear T,
Thank you so much for sending us this incredible Food Chain documentation between two predators. The muted tones of your image lends an almost painterly quality to the photograph. There is a bleakness to the landscape that is reminiscent of the staged clay animation dinosaur battles from movies long before the days of computer generated animation. We do have an example in our archives where the final outcome was different: A Preying Mantis feasting on a Wheel Bug from 2008.
4
What Bug Is This? It Bit Me Last Night.
Location: New South Wales, Australia
February 3, 2011 6:05 pm
Hi, was laying in bed last night and felt a sharp pain in the back of my thigh and grabbed this bug off me… I have no idea what it is. It left a nice puncture mark and came up in a big welt. Just curious about its identity.. I’m thinking something in the Assassin Family
Signature: Regards Hannah
Assassin Bug
Hi Hannah,
You are correct that this is an Assassin Bug in the family Reduviidae, however, the photo has not been taken from the ideal angle for identification. Your individual does not resemble the thicker bodied Assassin Bugs on the Brisbane Insect website, and it is impossible for us to determine if your individual is one of the more slender bodied Assassin Bugs pictured there.
Interesting bug with a very small head
Location: Singapore, tropical
February 2, 2011 1:58 am
Got this bug from the nature reserve in Singapore, a tropical island country. It has a very small head and a long ?nose.
Please kindly advise the name of it.
Signature: Photoskipper
Bloodsucking Conenose, we believe
Dear Photoskipper,
This is an Assassin Bug in the family Reduviidae, and it sure looks like the North American Bloodsucking Conenose Bugs in the genus Triatoma. According to BugGuide, the genus Triatoma is “Pantropical worldwide.“ BugGuide also notes that the Blood Sucking Conenoses are: “Hematophagous, feeding on blood from tetrapods. Most common hosts are mammalian but avian, reptilian and amphibian hosts are recorded. The most common wild hosts are wood rats (Neotoma) but other common ones include armadillos, opossums and raccoons (possibly also skunks); synanthropic species may feed on livestock (horses, cattle, chickens), pets and humans.” South American Conenoses are vectors for a disease known as Chagas Disease and BugGuide contains this remark: “Bite can cause severe allergic reaction in many humans. Bite and defecation into bite can transmit Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi, a protozoan. The most notorious vector is T. infestans, found in South America. The North American species are not normally thought to transmit the disease, though they can carry the parasite. The North American species do not normally defecate at the site of the bite, which is what actually transmits the parasite.“ This ECLAT website lists several Asian species. Bloodsucking Conenose Bugs are also known as Kissing Bugs because the nocturnal insects are alleged to bite human victims near the lips according to Charles Hogue in his book Insects of the Los Angeles Basin.
Bloodsucking Conenose, we believe
¶ Posted 02 February 2011 § ‡ ° Assassin Bug Nymph?
Location: Georgia
January 31, 2011 8:55 pm
There are so many of these bugs all over the tree in my front yard that my child plays on all the time. She is the one who found the bugs and showed them to me. Of course I’m not letting her play on it now, but I sure would like to make sure it isn’t poisonous. Many Thanks!
Signature: M. McCoy
Milkweed Assassin Bug Nymph
Dear M. McCoy,
You are correct that this is an Assassin Bug. It is an immature Milkweed Assassin Bug, Zelus longipes, and you can read more about the species on BugGuide. Though they can bite if carelessly handled, and the bite is reported to be painful, the Milkweed Assassin Bug is not venomous and it poses no threat beyond the initial discomfort caused by the bite. We generally refrain from giving parenting advice, however, we do tend to voice our opinion and we do not shy away from controversial topics from time to time. It seems like a positive characteristic that your child thought to question you about the insects she found at one of her favorite play sites, and negative repercussions might occur if she is forbidden to play there again. Why not just explain to her that if she is not careful, she might get bitten? That way you can teach her to respect and appreciate the natural world that surrounds her without punishing her for coming to you with her curiosity. There are much bigger threats out in the world than Assassin Bugs.
¶ Posted 01 February 2011 § ‡ ° 
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