Your Friends, the Assassin and Wheel Bugs
The Assassin bug (shown above) and the Wheel bug (shown yesterday), while looking perhaps a bit scary, are actually beneficial insects.
The Assassin and Wheel bugs are true bugs. However, unlike many other bugs which feed on plants, these bugs eat other insects, many of which may be damaging to plants and crops.
They feed on soft insects, such as caterpillars, and are a good, natural way to reduce and control insect pests in the garden.
Of course, they are also aggressive creatures and may feed on each other. And, like the female praying mantis, the females have been known to eat the males after mating.
And, humans should beware too. While they are not known to attack people, they may bite out of self-defense or curiosity, and their bites are painful, so that is definitely something you want to avoid.
In other words, don’t squash them, but don’t get too friendly either!
They eat male after mating? Now, that is what I call Dead Sex.
Ahhhh … I like it over here today! Frankly, I am politcalled right out … “my new word”
Every other blog I have been to says the same same same thing today. Great photo Dan, is it a DCR original??
@bitting out of curiosity, who can really blame them!!
Yes, that’s one of mine, thanks! It’s slightly recycled. I used it last year in a post too.
Well, this here’s a politics-free zone. Mostly.
I brutally squashed one a few years ago because it crawled up my leg and gave me a cold chill. Its corpse emanated a bizarre but strangely not-so-unpleasant odor. It smelled like cross between orange colored circus peanut candy and a fresh pack of rubber kitchen gloves. I was going to eat it, but its fluids looked not appealing
Man, having one of those crawling up your leg would be really freaky. Do you regularly eat bugs, or was this an exception?
Yes, I regularly eat bugs…but only if they are plump and juice filled
beneficial insects or not, I would flip out if I ever SAW one!
LOL. My cat bites out of curiosity too. She’s trying to see if I’m in a playful mood! I still think these bugs look like they are going to start doing some construction work with those table saws on their backs.