Bloody hell! WHAT is this bug?!

[bertha katzenengel]

It's about an inch long. It was crawling up my garage door frame (Southern Maryland). I couldn't find it on whatsthatbug.com

Be sure to look at the Bug Video

Edited to add these stills. The second was slightly out of focus; I sharpened it a little but it's still not great. I wanted you to be able to see the ridge-back thing.



What I really wish you could see is its head. It actually looks like the folded front leg of a preying mantis, and its eyes & antennae are where the knee would be. :scared:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

1. I don't know, but you are braver than I am for filming it.

I would have screamed, flailed about, and run away. Overall, I would have acted nellier than a twink at a pride parade.

[bertha katzenengel]

2. YOU? Flailing? I don't believe it for an instant.

Unless of course . . . oh, never mind. :blush:

But I can't see you acting nelly.

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

4. Sad, but true.

I once wrestled a German Shepherd to the ground after she lunged at me. I've snorkeled with sharks.

Big scary looking bug or spider of any size?

I turn really, really nelly.

The only bugs I'm not freaked out by are crickets, which I have to handle often because of my pet lizards.

[bertha katzenengel]

8. I'll flail if they land on me.

I was shooting a preying mantis once, and it jumped from its perch onto my face and I did the bug dance. When I calmed down I had to tell Mrs. V. to breathe -- she'd been laughing so hard.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

3. That's CREEPY.

I would have killed it a long time ago. :scared:
Duckie

[bertha katzenengel]

13. Noooo!

No matter how creepy they are, I try not to kill them. Two exceptions:

1. if they've already been wounded (like the luna moth my mofo cat disabled & brought into the house)

2. if they're roaches :scared:

[Bucky]

5. Looks like a stink bug to me

But is it the same size?

[bertha katzenengel]

12. dunno . . . what's known as a stink bug on the east coast may not

be the same thing we called a stink bug on the west coast - which itself may not be a stink bug.

Confused? You won't be, after this edition of Soap. (boy, you gotta be of a certain age to get that)

[Flaxbee]

20. oh jeebus, Soap was one of my all-time favorite shows!

I used to beg my parents to let me stay up and watch it, and now I have the theme song in my head. It was funny and gentle at the same time.

I agree re the killing bugs thing - only if wounded, if a roach, or maybe if it's a spider or fly or something that bit me and my first reaction before thinking was to smack it. I also have little mercy for mosquitos.

And re the bug in the photo: weird. Neat looking with that black shield thingie on its back.

[Elidor]

24. Me too!

It came on at 11:30 on school nights when I was in junior high, and I'd turn out the lights in my room and pretend to be asleep, but I was glued to a little portable tv with the sound turned down low, loving every minute of it. It was a struggle to muffle my hysterical laughter. That was the funniest damned sitcom of all time! Fernwood 2Night or Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman usually followed it at midnight. No wonder I was sleepy all through junior high.

http://www.televisionheaven.co.uk/soap.htm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kICr7XY9A2o

[Karenina]

29. I grew up in Maryland

and we called those stink bugs. They and pill bugs were ubiquitous. No cause for concern.

[ironflange]

6. Here's what you do

Go to http://bugguide.net/node/view/15740 and click on ID request. You have to register (free). They helped me ID this critter I saw a while back:



Good luck!

PS. How's it going with the diabetes?

[bertha katzenengel]

7. Jerusalem Cricket?

Diabetes: ok. I have to redouble my efforts to watch my carbs. What that means is, I have to eat less. Harrumph.

Thank you for asking, IF. :hi:

[ironflange]

10. Nope

It's called a Wind Scorpion, it's related to those camel spiders they play with in Iraq. It was in the morning, and this guy was burying himself in the sand to keep cool. They're nocturnal.

Diab: I'll PM you.

[bertha katzenengel]

17. I did it -- thank you! Here's my bug on that site:

http://bugguide.net/node/view/78422/bgimage

[Generic Brad]

9. It's an alien drone

I'm not a bug expert but I did stay at a Holiday Inn last night.

[bertha katzenengel]

11. Heh

:hi:

[RevolutionaryActs]

14. I don't know, but it scares the crap out of me!!!

:scared:

[Floogeldy]

15. I take 'em fried and chocolate coated.

:9

[bertha katzenengel]

16. Sounds delicious!

:yoiks:

[Bossy Monkey]

18. Kinda sorta maybe might be...

Picture here looks a good bit like yours, identifying it as a Western Conifer Seed Bug: http://www.inlandforest.com/p10-stinkbug.html

This site says they're invading the NE, but the picture they identify as one looks more like a regular stink bug (also called shield bugs):
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/true_bugs_4.html (4th one down)

[Castilleja]

19. A wheel bug, or something like that

I will check.......

Done, yes, it is a wheel bug. They can bite, but are beneficial bugs. Apparently, they are huge! :D

[Katina]

21. haven't a clue but....

how did the interview go? Did you need the word art "trick" for it?

[gr8dane_daddy]

22. That's easy...

That's the Guatemalen Death Beetle of Madagascar.









(No, not a rip off from south park guys)

[Floogeldy]

28. You idiot!

Guatemala and Madagascar aren't even in the same state anymore!

[Shine]

23. OK, thanks. Now I'm gonna have nightmares.

:scared:

Not really, but dang that bug is freakish looking!

:hi: Bertha!

[marzipanni]

25. Your Wheel Bug is interesting! Cool Bugguide link that Ironflange posted.

A few years ago my son and I found the molted "skin" of a cicada on the side of my mom's garage. I just looked it up in the Bugguide-
http://bugguide.net/node/view/29512

[RevCheesehead]

26. Ewwwwwwwwwww.

:puke:

All I can say is, get one of your cats after it. :hi:

[Richard Steele]

27. I betcha that's some member of the "Milkweed bug" family.

it doesn't look quite like the ADULT MB's I've seen,
but it looks EXACTLY like some of the tiny juveniles
that have hatched on our ivy from time to time.

The body profile, the leg proportions & positioning,
not to mention that weird little head! I bet searching
for "Milkweed Bug" will eventually turn up a positive
ID on your new little friend.

[begin_within]

30. Here is the answer my friend gave to me about this bug.

I asked a friend of mine who is a biologist to look at your pictures. He sent me this reply:

"This bug in the picture looks like a Triatomine Bug, sometimes called a Kissing Bug, that is a vector for Chagas's Disease. Not a good insect! Look on this web picture for some more pictures:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassin_bug