Speed, Be careful around that bug. I think they prey on hairy, freckled armed humans!!
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Ichneumon wasp, one in the Pimpla genus.
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Good guy?
Good guy. Very good guy.
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I have a few of these but I have not found any information on it. Does anyone know if it is a good guy or bad. Thanks, Bill
The above is in one of the tribes of the leaf-footed bugs, closer to a squash bug, a pest of vegetable plants.
Not an assassin bug.
Richard, I’m pretty sure that’s a plant bug, but I can’t remember exactly what type.
The bug on Speed’s skin is definitely an assassin bug. We get a lot of those here.
As an aside I’d to see someone start a weed identification thread. Of course it would be regional, but I’m sure there are some folks out there who are cracker jacks on weeds.
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Someone over at BugGuide.net confirmed Larry’s reply, it is Catorhintha apicalis aka Squash Bug. It is a ‘vegetarian’ although I’ve yet to locate any information on crop damage for this species.
I thought this was leaf footed bug…
Looks like a Lacewing to me. Another one of the “Good Guys”:
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Thanks Patty. This aphid madness on my Flavor Supreme is attracting all kinds of beneficials. And I didn’t release any of them!
It turns out that the name refers not to a single species, nor a single genus, but an entire family of true bugs: Family Coreidae - Leaf-footed Bugs.
This is a leather bug. Coreoidea
You are correct. Leaf-footed Bugs (Family Coreidae) are a subset of Leatherbugs (Superfamily Coreoidea).
My squash bugs are grey/blue grey filled with green juice, my squash!
According to BugGuide, there are 88 species in 33 genera north of Mexico alone. Sorry to hear they’re eating your squash. It appears that out here the particular species I saw (Catorhintha apicalis) likes to dine on local weeds (e.g., dandelion) more than imported crops.