# Can anyone ID this insect (picture link)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-insect-picture-link/69915
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 23, 2001, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-insect-picture-link/69915 "2001-06-23T22:34:19Z")
**Posts on this page:** 14
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2001, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-insect-picture-link/69915/1 "2001-06-23T22:34:19Z")
[Insect picture.](http://people.mn.mediaone.net/patti76/bug.jpg) I have found three of these in my house. They remind me of a box elder bug without the colors. They are slow and easy to catch, and don’t seem to fly. The photo is larger than life, it is actually about 1" long.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2001, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-insect-picture-link/69915/2 "2001-06-23T22:46:22Z")
It looks like a True Bug (Order Hemiptera) but I can’t tell much about it from the photo. Where do you live? (Entomologically, Hemipterans - and the related Homopterans - are the only insects properly called “bugs,” hence they name True Bug.)
Be careful about picking them up - some hemipterans can give a nasty bite.
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### Author:  [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2001, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-insect-picture-link/69915/3 "2001-06-23T22:54:07Z")
I live in Western Wisconsin, USDA zone 4a. Sorry about the bad picture, I only see these at night and I had to use my flash. I have never had these indoors before and I can’t find them in any of my insect books.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2001, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-insect-picture-link/69915/4 "2001-06-23T23:20:54Z")
Check out the [Masked Hunter](http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/milwaukee/urbanag/bugnet/outwoodies/assassin/assassin.html) on this page, an Assassin Bug. Looks pretty close to me.
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### Author:  [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2001, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-insect-picture-link/69915/5 "2001-06-23T23:22:37Z")
Looks like a [damsel bug](http://res2.agr.ca/parc-crapac/english/3electronic_publications/beneficial/betbugs.htm) (a predacious hemipteran - heed **Colibri’s** warning about the biting). I don’t know if they get that big, though.
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### Author:  [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2001, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-insect-picture-link/69915/6 "2001-06-23T23:26:26Z")
Id weigh in on the side of **Colibri’s** suggestion of an Assasin Bug ( it looks a little sturdy for a Damsel Bug ), but I’m still a little miffed at his **gn** onsense 😉 .
- Tamerlane
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### Author:  [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2001, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-insect-picture-link/69915/7 "2001-06-23T23:28:22Z")
On seeing **Colibri’s** picture, I’d say that he’s on target.
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### Author:  [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)
#### Post date: [June 23, 2001, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-insect-picture-link/69915/8 "2001-06-23T23:29:18Z")
Here’s [another link.](http://www.extension.umn.edu/projects/yardandgarden/ygbriefs/e608maskedhunter.html) Masked Hunters eat bedbugs, and they do bite.
**Tamerlane** , gnyah-gnyah-gyanh. 😛
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### Author:  [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-insect-picture-link/69915/9 "2001-06-24T00:17:39Z")
Thanks Colibri! It looks like a match. I have seen these in my garden too. I know I can always count on The Straight Dopers to give me the Straight Dope.
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### Author:  [@dopetalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dopetalker)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-insect-picture-link/69915/10 "2001-06-24T04:24:38Z")
It’s a driver ant.
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### Author:  [@Whammo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whammo)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-insect-picture-link/69915/11 "2001-06-24T04:31:51Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Colibri \*
> \*\*Check out the [Masked Hunter](http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/milwaukee/urbanag/bugnet/outwoodies/assassin/assassin.html) on this page, an Assassin Bug. Looks pretty close to me. \*\*
Damnit! I was going to say Assassin bug, Really! Why do I always come accross the questions I can answer so late? 🙂
I had a “Wheel Bug” (assassin) that I caught for a pet for awhile before I let it go. It looked evil and it was one bad ass mofo. I would grab a cricket in its 2 front legs and yank it into its piercing proboscus and eat it from the inside, thereby stabbing and eating it to death. It was wicked cool to watch.
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### Author:  [@Doug\_Yanega](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_Yanega)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-insect-picture-link/69915/12 "2001-06-24T17:27:12Z")
The photo is unambiguous as to determining Family. That’s an Assassin Bug. The lighting is bad, however, for telling which species, but it _could_ be a “Masked Hunter” (Reduvius personatus).
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### Author:  [@JillGat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JillGat)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-insect-picture-link/69915/13 "2001-06-24T22:02:11Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by brachyrhynchos \*
> \*\*On seeing **Colibri’s** picture, I’d say that he’s on target. \*\*
Colibri is an assassin bug?
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### Author:  [@DougC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DougC)
#### Post date: [June 24, 2001, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-anyone-id-this-insect-picture-link/69915/14 "2001-06-24T23:26:15Z")
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- Assassin bugs can fly, but they tend to be rather lazy about it most of the time, like praying mantises are. - MC