A few pics of my Garden Defense Force
1) Assassin on a flower
2) Assassin and his latest victim
3) Assassin hanging out
1) Assassin on a flower
2) Assassin and his latest victim
3) Assassin hanging out
-
Do you need help identifying a 🌶?
Is your plant suffering from an unknown issue? 🤧
Then ask in Identification and Diagnosis.
Assassins!
- Thread starter PepperWhisperer
- Start date
Nice pics 
Chris and three cheers 
for NOT using insecticides !
Chris and three cheers for NOT using insecticides !
They are first or second instar assassin bug nymphs, about 3-4 mm long. They will eventually grow up to about 3 cm and turn more brown with black wings that fold back against the body. They are a relative of the praying mantis and eat just about any kind of insect, hence the name. These guys keep my aphid population in check, and occasionally snag a mosquito.
I've never heard of anybody selling them like ladybugs, but they should. They are a predator to all kinds of crop pests.
I've never heard of anybody selling them like ladybugs, but they should. They are a predator to all kinds of crop pests.
AlabamaJack
eXtreme
and from personal experience, the WILL bite you and it HURTS!!!
^^^ I've wondered about that. Sometimes while working on my plants I will find one has crawled onto me but so far no bites. I usually get a twig or a leaf and get them to crawl up on that off my arm so I can put them back in the plants. I tried just blowing them off but those legs have a very strong grip! In pic #2 you can really get an idea of the size of the jabbers these guys are working with, not something I want stabbed into me.
Ya be careful these have horrible bites apparently with reports of them being 10x worse than a hornet sting and remaining an open wound or blister or something for several months...
HOWEVER.... Do you have alot of these running around? Where ar you located?
HOWEVER.... Do you have alot of these running around? Where ar you located?
I am in Texas, the varieties with the really horrible bites don't live in this part of the world as far as I know. There are at least 8-10 that size in my pepper trees right now, they eventually start to leave and I usually only see one or two by the time they are fully grown.
A few more now that they have grown a bit. It was harder to get good shots, they were a lot more shy and kept running away from me.
Hmm, I had these eat my pods last year. Anyone else have that problem? They basically stripped the skin off them until I killed em all. This year the caterpillars are eating them. My defenses are various types of spiders, lol. Man there are tons of spiders this year!
Edit: Opps, they were probably some other kind of nymph I had last year. They look so similar. Do these assassin bugs eat caterpillars? I could use more defenses than spiders (they must be slacking!) .
Edit: Opps, they were probably some other kind of nymph I had last year. They look so similar. Do these assassin bugs eat caterpillars? I could use more defenses than spiders (they must be slacking!) .