Wheeled Assasin Bug

Brian S

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Just found this tonight. I forgot the scientific name can somebody help me out?
 

jdcarrel

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they just call em wheel bugs. Arilus cristatus is the latin name. I have had a few in my area. Caught only two of them before. One, bit me, so I don't really like them. :mad: Great looking bug though.
 

Brian S

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Thanks...and yes they DO have a painful bite for sure. I have been bitten myself a few times.
 

Galapoheros

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Brian S said:
Thanks...and yes they DO have a painful bite for sure. I have been bitten myself a few times.
I used to know someone who had a daughter that got bit and she ended up going to the hospital. I've always been curious about the symptoms from the bite and just how it felt. Would someone describe it other that it "just hurt"? Is it "dang" bad?
 

nomad85

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I caught one once, I was kinda scared of it, now i know why:)
 

Brian S

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When I have been bit it was painful for a few hours with minor swelling. It is comarable to a wasp sting.
 

jdcarrel

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Brian S said:
When I have been bit it was painful for a few hours with minor swelling. It is comarable to a wasp sting.
Mine was about the same. I think it was a little worse for the first few minutes, but the pain died off quick.
 

Alex S.

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Arilus cristatus, the largest known reduviid in North America. Also known to have one of the worst bites of any North American reduviid, because of its large size. Very nice find.

Alex S.
 

Beardo

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Awesome find Brian! I used to find these when I was little every now and then....the ones we have here in KY are HUGE lol. I haven't seen one in years though. I'd very much so like to find another one.
 

Brian S

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Thanks David,

They get huge here too, of course L'ville aint "too" far away lol. I am seeing alot of them around the house this year. They make interesting captives.
 

Scythemantis

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These guys have really distinct nymphs...they're bright, bright red (sometimes orange) and bent in a "U" shape. When I was little, they were incredibly common in summer and people called them "banana bugs" - even claiming that they ate bananas. People are pretty stupid. I thought they were a different species for most of my early childhood because I never found pictures of the nymphs in books. One summer I finally found one in between nymph and adult. Adults were always relatively rare, but now I see only one or two nymphs per summer.

I caught one once that wound up laying eggs. I tried to rear them, but they cannibalized one another despite my best efforts and despite every caresheet claiming that these are one of the few assassins that CAN be reared together because they supposedly DON'T normally do this. I was feeding them on fruit flies mostly, they were very tiny nymphs.
 
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Brian S

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I am keeping 2 together now and 1 is a nymph. They usually get along pretty good.
 

Alex S.

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Always keep assassin bug nymphs solitary. No matter what the species or what is said about their community potential, it is always best to keep nymphs separate if you want as many specimens as possible to survive until adulthood.

Alex S.
 

MattM

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Amazing little bug this. We don't have them over here, but I saw them on animal planet the other day, damn these things are fearless and agressive :worship:

So i'm kinda glad we don't have these things flying around over here! haha.
 
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