What is this bug I found on my maple tree in Pennsylvania
- Thread starter white specter crayfish
- Start date
I believe that is a "nasty" Assassin Bug. They bite!
Assasin bug, supposedly they bite, but I've never been bitten and I've handled bunches, they are cool little guys who get their name by spearing other bugs
oh dear I had no idea they were an assassin bug, he is welcome here by me though because we have a lantern fly issue https://www.agriculture.pa.gov/Plan...omology/spotted_lanternfly/Pages/default.aspx and they are killing our tree, thanks for helping me identify him
Yep an assassin bug specifically a wheel bug Arilus cristatus. They aren't any more likely to carry disease than any other bug but their bite is supposed to hurt for a couple weeks.
Hello; Read an article about this a few weeks ago. Wish I could recall the particular disease but cannot right now. It was about dangerous bugs and insects. Also not all individuals of a species will be disease vectors. Some mosquitoes but not all and so on.
I think you might be thinking of a close relative, called a kissing bug. Looks just like assassin bugs. They will draw blood around people's mouths whilst sleeping (hence the kissing moniker).
I believe the disease is called chagas disease. And I think the way they test for it is by having a clean control kissing bug bite the suspected infected person, then test the bug's feces for chagas.
But, I could be wrong about everything.