Subject: ID of red and black ant-like insect
Location: Central Pennsylvania
May 27, 2013 9:11 pm
I found these insects hatching out of a grey paper-like cell type nest on our house siding here in central Pennsylvania today, May 27, 2013. I’m wondering if you can identify it.
Signature: Miriam Roush
Thanks for your consideration of my identification query. I have a bunch of friends on Facebook who are eagerly waiting for an answer, too, since I posted the photo there. Best wishes, Miriam Roush
Dear Miriam,
This is a photo of hatchling Wheel Bugs. Wheel Bugs are predatory Assassin Bugs and they are considered beneficial in the garden.
I have never even heard of wheel bugs until now.
Thank you so much for taking the time to identify these insects for me. I’m glad to know they’ll be little guardians for my plants and flowers!
I have seen those many times but never knew what they were. I’m curious if there are other true bugs that also look like that (bright red abdomen) early in their development. Seems odd that I would see young wheel bugs more often than I see other young true bugs.
We frequently receive identification requests for newly hatched hemipterans, but Wheel Bugs are among the most common. We believe Wheel Bugs attract more attention because as predatory species, the eggs are not laid on a plant for food, so the eggs are found on porch railings and other locations that causes them to attract attention prior to the hatchlings dispersing.