CLOSED: Please Help I.D.

I often find myself having trouble differentiate between the two types of bugs. 1. Milkweed bugs. 2. Assassin bugs especially the nymphs.

Could you offer some tips how to tell the differences between the two? Thanks

There should be no confusion between nymphs of milkweed bugs (see http://www.photographyontherun.com/MilkweedBugNymphs.aspx) and those of assassin bugs. I suspect that you may be confusing newly hatched nymphs of leaf-footed bugs, especially those in the genus Leptoglossus (see http://www.austinbug.com/hempics/lept-sp2.jpg), with those of the milkweed assassin bug (see http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/beneficial/bugs/zelus_longipes10.jpg). Leptoglossus nymphs have dark mid-dorsal gland openings that are lacking in the assassin bug nymphs. Also, once they have left their hatching site, assassin bug nymphs usually are solitary whereas leaf-footed bug nymphs may be found in groups, especially when feeding.

This message was edited Jul 31, 2013 1:50 PM

Both images look like assassin bugs. I don't have any technical terms for you, but the young assassin bug nymph carries his body in a 'U' shape, walks with his little butt held up high. The milkweed bug nymphs are fatter and not 'U' shaped.

But just to confuse you even more, there is a milkweed assassin bug which mimics the milkweed bug.

The milkweed bug is Oncopeltus fasciatus an herbivore.
The milkweed assassin bug is Zelus longipes.
The horned assassin bug is Repipta Taurus.

Some assassin bugs carry Chagas disease.

Hah, so you are suggesting these maybe that of leaf-footed bug nymphs? Please help clarify the term "...dark mid-dorsal gland openings...." what are those in lay term? And where can one see these on the bugs? I can differentiate dorsal and ventral, but have no clue as what mid-dorsal gland is. Many thanks.

Point is taken, these guys are feeding in group, thus not one of the characteristic of assassin bug nymphs.

The gland openings can be seen as the black spots on the abdomens of the Leptoglossus nymphs in this image - http://www.asergeev.com/pictures/archives/compress/2009/800/jpeg/01l.jpg
"Mid-dorsal" simply means being in the middle of the back (dorsum). I apologize for the link provided earlier (http://www.austinbug.com/hempics/lept-sp2.jpg) now not appearing to work.

Chagas disease. Yike! I'm running as fast as I can. Isn't that some kind of protozoan parasites? From South America? I'm running, I'm running.

Risk from Chagas' disease in the USA is very low. See http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/chagas/ for links to detailed information.

yup, just got back from the CDC website.
thanks Flapdoodle.

Okay, I've a lot to learn. Question please, since the Chagas disease is transmitted by some of these assassin bugs. It's a vector implying it passes the parasites via bites, puncture wound through the skin. Will their toxin residual be harmful if ingested? Say, the bugs fed on my melons, then I picked the melon and eat it, will that be harmful in the long run?

Thanks all. Greene33, thank you for the additional info. on those 3 different bugs. I'll research and learn more about them. The milkweed bug, the milkweed assassin bug, and the horned assassin bug. We crossed posted yesterday. Now I've a little more time to "digest" additional information regarding these intriguing bugs.

The Chagas disease organism, a trypanosome protozoan, is transmitted through the feces of the bug, not its saliva. When a triatome assassin bug feeds on blood, it defecates on the skin of its victim. As the bite site itches, it is natural to scratch at it. When this occurs, some of the bugs feces, along with the parasites it contains, gets rubbed into the bite wound. Also, the vectors of Chagas' Disease are obligate blood feeders that would not bite melons or other fruit. Plant feeding by assassin bugs of any kind appears to be very rare - http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0085-56262012000400014&script=sci_arttext

I only mentioned the Chagas disease because there is a large influx of people coming from Mexico and other countries where the disease is more common.

The CDC refers to Chagas as one of the 'neglected' diseases and figures there are 300,000 persons already infected and living in the US. In many cases US doctors do not even test for Chagas.

I recall people making jokes about the unfortunate buy few immigrants who came from Haiti and brought with them something called AIDS. Did we think that disease would confine itself to the original population of immigrants? No one is laughing about AIDS now.

Thank you Flapdoodle for the additional info. I'm going back to school; and loving it. There are a lot of reading assignment here. It's all welcomed, however. Thank you.

greene33, AWARENESS is key! God bless you for sharing yours.

It is true that there may be some risk of acquiring Chagas' Disease from blood transfusions, but donated blood has been screened for Chagas disease in the U.S. since 2007. And blaming Haitian immigrants for bring AIDS to the USA is a bit of a stretch -
"...a 15-year-old black male from St. Louis who was hospitalized in 1968 and died of an aggressive, disseminated KS.(13) His tissue and serum specimens were HIV-antibody positive on Western blot and antigen-positive on ELISA. This appears to be the first confirmed case of HIV infection in the United States. The patient had no history of travel out of the country, so it is likely that some other persons in the United States were infected with HIV as long ago as the 1960s, if not earlier." - http://hivinsite.ucsf.edu/InSite?page=kb-01-03#S1.1X

Just to clear things up, I did not blame the Haitians. I was only relating my experience with the casual attitude that young people had when they were first hearing about the disease. Just because science and research are knowledgeable about a disease, does not mean that the average idiot, excuse me, teenager has a clue. Some information takes a long time to trickle down to the masses. It was the young people around me who were making the jokes about AIDS- not me.

Well folks, it sure has been an interesting dialogue. I appreciate all the information given regarding various blood born diseases that afflict human. In reading your comments, it reminded me of a quote, author unknown. Ask NOT what disease a person has, but what disease has the person. For no one specifically asks FOR any type of illness...

Also, did you know Chagas disease is a cause of certain heart failure? A type of extrinsic cardiomyopathy, just like alcoholic cardiomyopathy in human (a type heart failure that's inadvertently acquired)? Like I've mentioned before awareness is key. With that I'll close out this post with thanks to both greene33 and Flapdoodle for your input. Special thanks to Flapdoodle for the non-working link on the Leaffootedbug, which in turn lead me to further research, and observation of various bugs found in my garden.

Yesterday, at day ends I noticed this bug with its long snout (probosis?) I quickly jumped into a conclusion that it maybe a 'good bug' that eats other insects in the garden. But then at close observation, I noticed its flattened hind legs. Then I asked myself could this be the mother bug of the little nymphs found nearby a couple days past? So happens, the first group of nymphs were scattered by a heavy rain earlier in the day. But look, what I've found, that same evening, another group of newly hatched bugs on an ornamental shrub. And with a little more reading, I concur, these are Leaffooted nymphs and one adult atop a young shoot of a plant. Mystery solved!
1. The adult Leaf-footed bug (Leptoglossus phyllopus) It's a tongue twisting scientific NAME!
2 & 3. The two-day old nymphs found after a heavy rain.
4 & 5. Photos of another group of nymphs newly hatched (as evident by a string of bead-like egg sacs under the leave). I apologize the pictures are not in the best quality, and clarity.