Identify this insect - 2022

How about this guy? Found on apple leaves.

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That looks like an Assassin Bug.Be careful,they can jab with their pointed mouth-part.They are an insect killer.

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@NJpete Wheel bug nymph! Lucky you! They are awesome predator insects. They eat all kinds of bad bugs. I have a lots of them this year. Just…don’t grab one. They have quite a bite. They go through several different stages, so they will look a bit different as they get older.

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This is an adult I found eating Japanese Beetles a few years ago. This year, the juveniles were catching them on my hazelnuts. image

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Wheel Bug is the more specific ID as they are a Genus in the larger Assassin Bug Family.

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This old thread shows the wheel bug as well they are very beneficial Good insects post

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Great! thanks for the photo of the adult. I will keep my eyes peeled for them Now I need to convince them to move over to the hazels when the grow up to feast on the J beetles there.

Wow… that’s a big bug! My little fellows have a lot of growing to do. Thanks for the tamu link. It seems to imply it is stink bug relative. 'Bout time some useful stink bugs came along. :wink:

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They are not close relatives (different Infraorders), but more like 4th cousins, twice removed.

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I already IDed this beauty (it’s a “red spotted purple” - was the namer of this butterfly colorblind? “orange spotted blue” might be more accurate). But I figured other insect aficionados might appreciate seeing it too.



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There are many online comments (including bugguide.net) taking issue with the common name of this butterfly, first described in the 1700s. Perhaps back then, ‘red’ was more commonly used to describe a range of warm colors, and blue vs. purple is very subjective.

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It definitely has a bit of purple near the wing tips. I wonder if maybe it has become less red over time for some evolutionary or environmental reason? Like those moths in the UK that got darker during the coal-burning era (the light colored ones were easier for predators to spot on soot-covered surfaces) and then turned lighter again when the air was cleaned up. Here’s an article about it:

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Does anyone recognize these eggs on my potted citrus tree (which is outdoors currently)? I don’t know if any spiders lay eggs like this (I usually think of them making egg sacs), but there is a spider hanging out nearby:


They are probably insect eggs,maybe butterfly/moth.Nice placement.

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This is on a handful of leaves on an [English|Persian|Carpathian] Walnut.

Butternut wooly sawfly perhaps?

Good call, Butternut Woolyworm.

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Egg clusters: either true bugs or some moth. Certain moths can lay 100s of eggs.

I would pinch those leaves off, put them in a container, and see what hatches, nymphs or caterpillars.

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Good idea… I had unfortunately already squished them though (they appeared to be eating the leaves). If I find any more, may just have to do that…

I did as you suggested and they hatched today. Definitely some kind of caterpillars, of a miniscule inchworm sort:

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Then moth eggs it was. And very likely a pest species.

Inchworms are larvae from geometrid moth eggs. Geometrid moths have thin, small bodies. More likely the big egg masses were from a larger moth, noctuid or other family.

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