We saw this bug on our deck last night. We have NO idea what it is. It is about two inches long, has this spiny crest on its thorax, and the mouth part looks kind of like a probiscus. Does anyone know what it is?
My brother Sean sent my pictures of it to Mike Whiting, an Entomologist he used to work with at Savannah River Ecology Lab. Here are Mike's comments:
"It is in fact an assassin bug, they call it a wheel bug because of the big keel on the back. They will give you a bit of a nasty bite, so your sister should beware. In South America, these guys carry Chagas disease, a disease that some people speculate Darwin caught while messing around with bugs."
We had one of these on our back door yesterday! We watched it crawl around on the screen while we finished our lunch. I had never seen one until your blog the other day! Right away I knew what it was thanks to you! YUCK!
5 comments:
I found out what it is! A wheel bug, part of the assassin bug family. Here's a link to read more about it:
http://creatures.ifas.ufl.edu/trees/wheel_bug.htm
I wish I had known I was going to be looking at a huge bug, I would've stopped eating first!
My brother Sean sent my pictures of it to Mike Whiting, an Entomologist he used to work with at Savannah River Ecology Lab. Here are Mike's comments:
"It is in fact an assassin bug, they call it a wheel bug because of the big keel on the back. They will give you a bit of a nasty bite, so your sister should beware. In South America, these guys carry Chagas disease, a disease that some people speculate Darwin caught while messing around with bugs."
Thanks, Izzos!
gross, gross, gross!
We had one of these on our back door yesterday! We watched it crawl around on the screen while we finished our lunch. I had never seen one until your blog the other day! Right away I knew what it was thanks to you! YUCK!
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