Is This An Assasin Bug?

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SoFlaCommercial West Palm Beach, FL(Zone 10b) May 31, 2011

Hey DGr's:

I'm in zone 10a.

Take a look at this bug. I Googled "red bugs with white stripes", and after three useless pages, found a link to assassin bugs. they're red with white dots. I don't know how this picture is turning out, but the bug I got off my aphid-laden hibiscus bush was red with white stripes. it has black area where I'm assuming the wings would be.

the website I got the info from (answers.com) lists assassin bugs as beneficial - that true? if that's the case, I will transplant it to my veggie garden.

I need to know what this is before the squash bug in the container decides to make it a meal.

btw - I used my kids' 'bug sucker' from Discovery Channel.com - for smaller bugs, it gobbles them right up. :)

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SoFlaCommercial West Palm Beach, FL(Zone 10b) Jun 01, 2011

Just bumping this thread up....

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SoFlaCommercial West Palm Beach, FL(Zone 10b) Jun 02, 2011

I should add that I found this in zone 10a, on my red hibiscus bush.

I did see a similar bug in this thread: http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1186593/

I just don't know which bug it is.

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SoFlaCommercial West Palm Beach, FL(Zone 10b) Jun 03, 2011

bump....

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aquilusdomini Jackson, MI Jun 07, 2011

it's hard to tell from the picture but going by the shape of the bug, it does look like it's in the assassin bug family. indeed they are beneficial (they call them assassin bugs for a reason) so feel free to put them in the garden. whatever you do though, don't ever smash one. we have a type of assassin bug up here in michigan that's brown and they smell terrible if you smash them (i used to be freaked out by them when i was a kid and would kill them, that's how i know). and the bug in the thread you linked wasn't part of the assassin group and those turned out to be bugs that would damage plants.

Assassin bug info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduviidae

it mentions blood sucking assassin bugs that can cause heart problems, but that type lives in south and central america and i have not heard of blood sucking assassin bugs living in north america.

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SoFlaCommercial West Palm Beach, FL(Zone 10b) Jun 07, 2011

In another thread, someone posted a link to a page with boxelder bugs. The photo was EXACTLY like the bug I had. The bug I caught was apparently a nymph (hard to imagine a baby bug being an inch and a half long).

But thank you, aquilusdomini.

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