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omg what is this insect on my plant @___@
- Thread starter amirborna
- Start date
It's a young assassin bug (or "wheel bug"). He's about to turn into an adult in that picture and will turn brown. When young they look like little scorpions - kinda funny since he's on a Scorpion plant!
They are very beneficial insects so be sure to not harm him - they walk around and DESTROY most pest insects. I'm in PA and there have quite a few this year.
Great picture BTW.
Also, if you piss him off enough, he will bite you and it hurts like a bee sting. They won't go out of their way to bite you however.
They are very beneficial insects so be sure to not harm him - they walk around and DESTROY most pest insects. I'm in PA and there have quite a few this year.
Great picture BTW.
Also, if you piss him off enough, he will bite you and it hurts like a bee sting. They won't go out of their way to bite you however.
ive seen these for sale on some web sites.
@___@ explain
You can buy insects to do your evil garden bidding.
Most have you sign a contract stating that you will cackle maniacally while releasing swarms of them though.
That's a really cool looking one. I have a whole colony of assassins in my garden, but they are not as mean looking as yours. I like the black/red color on him. There are a LOT of different related species, including the praying mantis, one of my all-time favorite local bugs.
I have also heard that they can bite you, but mine have crawled up on me several times while I am arm deep in my plants picking pods and they never seem agitated. I just grab a leaf or a twig and let them crawl up on it then put them back in the plant.
I have also heard that they can bite you, but mine have crawled up on me several times while I am arm deep in my plants picking pods and they never seem agitated. I just grab a leaf or a twig and let them crawl up on it then put them back in the plant.
That got me rolling at work.. Guy across the office is looking at me like I'm nuts... lol
It is NOT a wheel bug, notice the modified hind legs. It is hard to tell for sure if it is even an assassin of any kind. It may just be an immature of some kind of leaf-footed bug, which most are plant or seed feeders of little concern. It is possible it strayed from its normal host tree or shrub. Don't worry about it harming your plants even if it is a leaf footed bug and not an assassin.
millworkman
Extreme Member
Looks just like an immature assassin bug to me.
we have big hatches of those every year, same with the parasitic wasps, ladybugs, praying mantids, wolf spiders, camel crickets and earwigs... it kicks @$$ to have any of them but i consider myself very lucky
How did you get so close to take a picture of that mutant!? I woulda probably ended up getting bleech and killing the bug, and my plant...but I have a habit of over doing things :oP ... does this bug bit, sting, or pinch?! anyone know?
I dont do bugs well.. can you tell? Kinda contradictory to gardening arg.
xo nicole
I dont do bugs well.. can you tell? Kinda contradictory to gardening arg.
xo nicole
Being your neighbor across the gulf we get a lot of the same bugs... I had a pile of these on my rooster spurs a while back, as it turns out while similar to an assassin, they are somewhat different. Assassins have a white spot on their legs. leaf-footed bugs do not.
LFB (leaf footed bug) bits the fruit, injects enzymes that break it down, and then sucks out the resulting product. It kind of bleaches out the fruit... makes them ugly, affects the consistency around the bite (up to an inch)....Some people say they notice a different taste... I don't. I generally follow organic principals in my gardening, but I had to resort to chemicals to kill mine off. Well, it was a combination of things... I stripped all my fruit off all 400 plants (removed their food source), made sure the garden stayed impeccably weeded for a week, and when that didn't chase them all off, I sevin dusted...
As I recall once they mature, they sort of look like a brown stink bug. I've never given them the chance, but I suppose they can bite.
Here is some info on LFB From the university of Florida extension service: http://entnemdept.if...ffooted_bug.htm
Here is the UF extension service article on the Assassin bug (note the white spots).
http://entnemdept.if...us_longipes.htm
Anything that bites your plant opens you up to the possibility of infection. Especially when they hop from plant to plant... none of your plants may be sick, but who knows about all of your neighbors in the flight radius of the bug...
millworkman
Extreme Member
They can bite humans, and it is extremely painful. But that threat is dwarfed by how beneficial these things are to our plants.
Ah yeah, I should have noted that in large numbers they (LFB) are of concern, but one here or there is not much to worry about, just move it away from your plants. Thanks jsschrstrcks for the backup and resources. It is true, immatures of both LFBs and Assassins such as the Wheel Bug look very similar, but look more closely and pay attention to detail and you can start noticing some differences.
Ah, now that some references have been posted, that looks exactly like one of the leaffooted bug nymphs (Acanthocephala terminalis) in the link jsschrstrcks posted. The assassins in my garden are very similar, but not identical to the ones on the UF page (mine have lighter brown markings and a more pronounced arch in the back).
Brown recluse.