red eggs on roses ID help

I hand picked red eggs off my roses and put them in a jar. They were small jewel like and close together. They are hatching a tiny red bug with black legs and antennea with a slightly darker head and a sharp behind. The body is ribbed and soft in this stage. I have been through my field guides and eliminated aphids on account of eggs, lack of right color and no goo or ants. Eliminated spider mites because they are clearly bugs not mites. In the jar they get larger - lighter in color and then die. There were also bronze jewel like eggs but they have not hatched. Can anyone give a cute where to start? Tried to take a picture but they are too small for my equipment.

Hi, what you described sounds like Assassin Bugs .. check out this link and see if they are:

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/598422/

If they are, they are good guys. Put them back on the roses.

X

Rats! I get to write this all over. First one got lost in cyberspace somewhere!

The link mentioned takes you to a thread about the immature leaf-footed bugs. They are bad guys. However, assassin bugs are good guys and look very similar when they are young. The egg case you are describing sounds like the assassin bug egg case. I would indeed put it back somewhere where the young nymphs will have something to eat (other small insects). They are dying because they have no food.

I will look for my photo of the egg raft and post it. It's not very good (I took it through the eye lens of my microscope) but you should be able to identify yours from it.
CJ
And I'll copy this post before I launch it!!!

Ah! Found a photo of an assassin egg case on the back of a leaf.

And here is a photo of a young nymph. Yours may not have the little black dots on the back.

Here's another shot of nymphs, shortly after hatching, with their egg case.

Here's a photo of the eggs and nymphs of the leaf-footed bug, Euthochtha galeator. This last one (leaf-footed bug) is a plant sucking bug, therefore considered a bad guy.

This is from a website that lets you use their photos for noncommercial purposes. They have been a blessing to me!!

Do the eggs you picked off look like either of these photos? Remember - the first ones are good guys, the last one is a bad guy.

This message was edited May 15, 2006 12:41 AM

they look like the ones on X's link and do not look like the others. Not yellow - no spikes

so they are assasin bugs - great - back to the garden with them

X's link are bad guys - leaf-footed bug nymphs. Don't take them back to the garden! Read the whole thread. "Watch the back legs. If the part that attaches to the "foot" gets larger - wider - that would indicate a leaf-footed bug nymph, and they suck the juice out of plants. You could also watch them to see what they "eat". They have straw-like mouth parts and if they stick it into the plant, that would indicate the dreaded leaf-footed bug. If they stick it into another insect - the beneficial assassin bug."
CJ


This message was edited May 15, 2006 4:32 PM

does not matter - guys in the jar died - took too long to sort it out.
Thanks for the help - this bug identification thing is hard.

I did see an adult assassin bug in the area not too long ago