Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Another Unknown Bug

Click on the image for a large view
Another unknown bug, but first here is what I've found out about the last one.
The last post "What Is This?" is a post that more people responded to then anything else. Quite a few know what this bug is. It is called an Assassin Bug. An appropriate name, because it truely seeks out and assassinates other insects and even goes after animals larger than itself. What I thought looked like a tooth, is really a segmented tube for feeding, called a rostrum. They use the long rostrum to inject a lethal saliva that liquefies the insides of the prey, which are then sucked out. Some people thought it was a "Wheel" bug, but if you Google wheel bug, you'll see it looks similar, but, instead, the wheel bug has a circular wheel like protrusion on its back. One of the 7000 species of these bugs is the "Kissing" bug. This gruesome bug has been known to suck blood from the lips of sleeping humans or around the eyes. Even with all this going against them, they are considered benifical, because they control unwanted insects. Benifical or not, I'm not touching one of these guys. Check out this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iqhp69whyEE


Joe Porter sent this note and picture of another weird looking animal: This was the neatest little creature I have seen in a long time.. We were on a QRP radio outing weekend at Twin Bridges, Oklahoma and as one of my radio buddies started to get in his truck he spotted this little jewel on the door glass. It looked like a fancy caterpillar.

Does anyone know what this is?


2 comments:

  1. When I was 16 on a trip to the mountains with some friends, we saw one that look just like that but it was black and orange. On a dare I put it in my mouth and it stung my tongue, it hurt for hours.

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