Common names: Assassin Bug, Giant Wheel Bug, Wheel Bug

Order Heteroptera, family Reduviidae, many species

Adult--3/8" to 1 5/8"

Various colors and sizes, look like skinny stink bugs or leaf-footed bugs. Abdomen often flares out beneath the wings. Head is elongate with a groove between the eyes. Short curved rostrum (swordlike snout) fits in groove under body. Strong front legs to hold prey. Adults can give you a painful bite if handled but rarely do.

Eggs usually laid singly or in clusters on branches, in crevices, and under stones and the like. Nymphs are often brightly colored. Incomplete life cycle--with normally one generation per season. Will hibernate in all life forms--eggs, nymphs, and adults.

Habitat: Many ornamental and food crops.

Feeding habits: Eat adults, nymphs, and larvae of many plant-eating insects. Like to eat troublesome insects from mosquitoes to large beetles. Favorite foods include aphids, leafhoppers, beetle larvae, caterpillars, and small flying insects.

Economic importance: Control many troublesome plant-eating insects.

Control: Spiders and themselves. The young feed on each other. None needed, highly beneficial.

Assassin bugs in the genus Triatoma, called kissing bugs, bite people at night. They are blood feeders.