meet the assassin bug leaf-footed bug

Oops!  I stand corrected.  These are not assassin bugs.  In my defense, they DO look like the drawing in the book I used to identify them.  But they look even more like the photos of leaf-footed bugs I found via Google.  My bad.  Thanks, Scott, for shedding some light on the subject!  I’m going to leave the bugs alone for now, though, because I’ve never had more or prettier blueberries than I’ve had this year – I’m not changing a thing!

Scott, our commenter, sent me this link to BugGuide.net.  This link will take you to the beginning of the (real) assassin bug photos.

Yesterday on Facebook, I mentioned the assassin bugs guarding my blueberry bushes.  No one seemed to know what an assassin bug is, so I went out to take some photos to show you.  Because they are awesome, and you need to know about them.

Now, these are one of those critters that vary from area to area, so yours may not look just like mine.  They are a beneficial insect, meaning they eat the bad bugs for you so that you don’t need pesticides.  They will also bite you if you mess with them, but I have a healthy respect for them and I’ve never been bitten.  Thanks to them, my blueberries are clean as a whistle, except for the odd spider here and there (also beneficial).  Sorry my photos are a little blurry – these guys like to hide when you come around, plus it’s hard to get the camera to understand what needs to be in focus here.

Here’s an adult.  He flew over to a sad little muscadine vine to pose for me.  (Looks like maybe he needs to spend more time on it?)  The adults fly, but the younger ones do not.  I think they look like a stink bug who’s been working out.  Adult assassin bug

We’ll call this one a teenager assassin bug.  He has more the shape of an adult, but still has the spiny backside like the little ones.teen assassin bug

So I guess that makes these “adolescent” assassin bugs.  Congregating, as adolescents are known to do.  😉  They are orange-red with black legs.adolescent assassin bugs

And these are the little baby assassin bugs.  Same orange-red color and black legs, but smaller.  You’d almost mistake them for spiders.Baby assassin bugs

I couldn’t find any eggs, but they are kind of odd – the ones I’ve seen look like a 2″ long, 1/8″ wide raised stripe of mud.  I would not have recognized them as eggs if I had not seen baby assassin bugs coming out of it.

There you go!  If you see any of these guys, don’t squash them or spray them with poison.  They will help your garden if you let them!   In light of new evidence, might want to see if they’re chewing on your plants.

I should probably add that I’m not an entomologist.  Almost everything I know about assassin bugs past the initial identification has been by observation.  Ain’t that the truth.

Lessons learned:

  • Assassin bugs are still awesome.
  • These are not assassin bugs.
  • (me) Check out stuff better before you post it.
  • (you) Don’t believe everything you read on the internet.  😉