I found an earlier post debating whether this is an immature assasin bug (good) or an immature leaf footed bug (bad). I've had them all around my garden all summer but this is the first time I've seen a crowd of them in any one spot. Can anyone confirm which this is?
Hi Thea! I think those are most likely Leaf-footed bugs, it's hard to tell when their tibia hasn't enlarged. But, the Leaf-foots are gregarious whereas the Assassins aren't unless they are newborns, those look a little older.
The Leaf-foots are supposed to excrete a foul smelling gunk when disturbed...you could go try that for us. I don't know if the nymphs do....could you do that for us? LOL
Also, the Leaf-foots have a 4 segmented beak, you might have to get real close for that one...we'll be anxiously waiting for what you find out!
Oh my goodness Fly, what an assignment!!!!!! I'll do my best, but if you don't hear from me again you'll know the tribe got the better of me, with their foul smelling gunk and their beaks..... They may not like me peering that closely at them, with my magnifying glass!!
Haha......good luck! Don't forget the goggles!
Those look suspiciously like assassin bugs nymphs (good guys). If there are only two dots on their backs - I'm wrong.
You can also look for what they are eating. Is their needle like mouth part (proboscus or beak) stuck into the plant? Bad guys.
AIso, the assassin bugs (good guys) have short proboscuses (or is that probosci)? Here's a link to an assassin bug nymph. Notice the beak and its shape? Leaf-footed bugs have longer and thinner beaks. http://bugguide.net/node/view/85103
Looks like a herd of Leaffooted Stinkbug nymphs. They travel in "herds."
This message was edited Oct 23, 2007 4:27 PM
This one is an assassin bug nymph. It has the shorter proboscis. The others may be leaf-footed stinkbugs because of the aggregation. But at this instar, I would think the widening in the tibia would be noticable. Therefore, I recommended the other tests: number of dots on the back, and whether or not they were eating the plant.
Since this was posted a week ago, thea should know for sure by now.
Thea, can you still see them?
Upon closer inspection, they do look like they are a respectable distance from each other, unlike the leaf foots that don't seem to care if they have their own personal space.
I think CJ may be right and they are Assassin nymphs.
Thanks ya'll!! We've had my brother in law from CT here for a few days, and he thinks I'm nutty enough as it is, I didn't want him to catch me out in the garden with my magnifying glass trying to identify my little orange creatures! But he's gone now, and I've just been out there checking them out, and I think that they ARE assassin bug nymphs. The only black dots they have, and they're not really dots, are meeting around the critters' waists (waists???? well you know what I mean, where they would wear a belt if they had belts). I see more black dots on the illustrations of leaf footed nymphs than I see on my guys. I cannot for the life of me see their little proboscises, even with my magnifying glass!!! But I don't see any leaf sucking going on. I DID have plenty of the darned leaf footed bugs around all summer, and those flat bugs that I think are stink bugs, they ruined my tomatoes, so I MUST have their nymphs around somewhere, but these are not them, I'm pretty sure.
