assassin or not ?

What is this ? a true bug i assume,...Heteroptera ?
but is it an assassin kinda bug or not ?

same size as platymeris,... Nigeria specimen

Well.... I'd have to say that is one of the coolest assassins I've ever seen. Can you take a picture of the proboscis? Usually if it is short it's an assassin or at least some other hemipteran. If it is very long/thin I would say it is some sort of stink bug or other plant liquid drinking species. Also, do you have more than just one?

Forgot to say, and this really is needless to say but don't hold them incase they are blood feeders...

Yeah, it's an assassin bug (Family: Reduviidae). You can tell by the transverse suture (groove) running from eye to eye on top of the head.

I'm not sure how they've organized them in Europe, since there are differences in how insects are catalogued in the US and Europe, and they've been changing things a lot, here, to reflect phylogenetic and evolutionary relationships as the result of PCR/DNA research. Here, they are/were Order Hemiptera, but there's a good chance they've adjusted it to Heteroptera or Rhynchota, to reflect the beak. Apparently, they used to like to separate true bugs (Hemiptera), from leafhoppers, cicadas, aphids,and scales, and list those as Homoptera. Then, the genetics came back and that got all screwed when they realized the scales, etc, were more closely related to Hemipterans. lol

how common are theses assasins in the bug trade for say someone in england

It is a reduviid. Not all species of reduviid are hematophagous (blood feeding), only those of the subfamily Triatominae. This species is not triatomine. The Heteroptera and Homoptera are both suborders of the Hemiptera. All predacious and blood feeding hemipterans, including the Reduviidae, fall under the Heteroptera, while the Cicadidae, Fulgoridae, Membracidae etc. fall under the Homoptera. All reduviids have a short 3-segmented rostrum (beak) and the front pair of legs, in most species, is shorter and bulkier (compared to the other two pairs), which aids in seizing prey. Another key characteristic is the ridge spanning the interocular area of the head that Horrido mentioned.

Alex S.

I had some, they looked a lot prettier than that pic, 20% smaller than Platymeris rhadamanthus (the smaller of our 3 captive sp.) but still very nice. They lived a year without any signs of eggs. I assumed they were both females but I only had two of the same sex and didn't have any to compare to see for certain.
Please let us know if you get them going!