# What is this bug? (picture)



## beesohappy (Jun 3, 2009)

I found these under the telescopic lid and on the top inner cover, also hanging around some dead bees at the bottom of a stack of empty suppers. One of them seemed to have a hold of a bee. Do I need to worry about it?


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## megank (Mar 28, 2006)

If you meant to include a photo in your description, I don't see it.


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## beesohappy (Jun 3, 2009)

I'm trying to figure it out:s


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## Charlie B (May 20, 2011)

That looks an awful lot like what we used to call a "stink bug" but I can't say for sure. I'm always finding a few bugs, spiders and lizards in my hives but as long as they don't look like wax moths, SHB or varroa I don't worry about it.


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## RogerCrum (Jun 19, 2011)

Can't get a clear closeup on my cell but it looks like what we call box elder bugs. This time of year they are everywhere including a few hundred in the house. Do not bet the farm on my classification though.


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## stajerc61 (Nov 17, 2009)

Looks like a stink bug to me as well. Smash one and see if it stinks!


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## Fishman43 (Sep 26, 2011)

Looks more like a Box Elder bug (Boisea trivittata) to me


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## kangaroo (Oct 10, 2010)

It looks like an Assassin Bug.


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## scrapiron (Aug 18, 2011)

Its not a stink bug.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

Looks like a box elder bug to me also. slightly different pattern than what we have here but that would not be unusual.


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

I think assassin bug. They do look similar to stinkbugs. They kill their prey by sticking a mouth-tube through its exoskeleton and sucking out its fluids. They are usually quite timid and will abandon the prey and fly away if disturbed. Some can give a painful poke if handled. They won't kill enough to be a problem. I wouldn't worry.


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## BEES4U (Oct 10, 2007)

Assassin bug images
http://www.bing.com/search?q=ASSASSIN+BUG&qs=n&sk=&sc=8-12&form=QBHV&scope=ScopeParameter


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## beesohappy (Jun 3, 2009)

I think kangaroo hit it right on the head. Assassin Bug! It maybe good in other aspects but when I see it on my hive from now on I'm definitely brushing it off.


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## wildbeekeeper (Jul 3, 2010)

yup thats and immature wheel bug (assassin bug) i found an adult a couple of weeks ago on one of my hives


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## megank (Mar 28, 2006)

Yup..It's an assassin bug


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## Charlie B (May 20, 2011)

beemandan said:


> I think assassin bug. They do look similar to stinkbugs. They kill their prey by sticking a mouth-tube through its exoskeleton and sucking out its fluids. They are usually quite timid and will abandon the prey and fly away if disturbed. Some can give a painful poke if handled. They won't kill enough to be a problem. I wouldn't worry.


Sounds like my X


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## rtoney (Apr 20, 2011)

What you have the picture is a Box Elder


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## the doc (Mar 3, 2010)

possibly a pine seed eating bug if you live by pine forests. 

http://bugguide.net/node/view/56819

although i dont think they live out in cali but bugs are everywhere


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## rkr (Oct 30, 2008)

Looks like a box elder to me also. They show up at my house in the fall looking for a crevass to winter in.

RKR


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## bnm1000 (Oct 12, 2011)

Definitely not a box elder bug. I have both assassin bugs and box elder bugs at my house. This is a variety of asassin bugs. They are a predatory bug that sticks their probiscus in insects and devour the juices. You can tell by the shape of the head. If you had an underneath photo it would be clearer. the assassin bugs have a long probiscus that is folded down when not being used.


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## losloboid (May 28, 2011)

kangaroo said:


> It looks like an Assassin Bug.


I agree with Kangaroo, this is an Assassin Bug, found one in my son's bed one night and did a little research, not sure how they effect bees (good or bad).


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

losloboid said:


> found one in my son's bed one night and did a little research,


During your research you may have discovered that in S America, at least on variety are a vector for a serious disease. 
They are drawn to carbon dioxide and will poke folks while they sleep. I don't recall the details but the illness can produce life long problems. I don't know if its a concern up here or not.....


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## megank (Mar 28, 2006)

beemandan said:


> During your research you may have discovered that in S America, at least on variety are a vector for a serious disease.
> They are drawn to carbon dioxide and will poke folks while they sleep. I don't recall the details but the illness can produce life long problems. I don't know if its a concern up here or not.....


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


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

Ahhh yes megank...Chagas disease. Wikipedia says from the southern US to Argentina.
losloboid, you may want to read a bit about Chagas and make sure your son doesn't show symptoms.


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## losloboid (May 28, 2011)

beemandan said:


> Wikipedia says from the southern US to Argentina.
> losloboid, you may want to read a bit about Chagas .....


Thanks for the advise. Luckily Montana is not considered Southern US.


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## Mtn. Bee (Nov 10, 2009)

Looks like a new CA hybrid? 
assassin/box elder/stink bug combined!

Do they store honey and pollinate almonds?


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## cdanderson (May 26, 2007)

I think I have these... a wheel bug ! which is a member of the Assassin Bug Family. Yes they eat bees and I squish everyone I see with my hive tool. I'm told the bite is very painful !


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## Kieck (Dec 2, 2005)

Some of you got it in the right family, but there's some confusion over this specimen. It is an assassin bug, in the family Reduviidae, but it's in the genus _Zelus_. It's not a wheel bug, which is an assassin bug of the species _Arilus cristatus_. And neither this species nor the wheel bug serves as a vector of Chagas' disease, which is spread by so-called kissing bugs, also in the assassin bug family but in the genus _Triatoma_. _Triatoma_ feed on the blood of mammals, something like bed bugs do (but bed bugs are in a different family, the Cimicidae).


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## cdanderson (May 26, 2007)

Sorry, I must have gotten my posts mixed up. My bug isnt the same as yours !


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

Digging up a 3-year old thread ....

I saw a bug on my hive stand yesterday. Would have taken a picture but it had an accident with my Swiss army knife. It was a dark grey reduviid bug (about the size and shape of a stink bug) with a red border. It was holding a honeybee and sucking the precious bodily fluids from it.

Looked something like this one: http://www.wild-facts.com/2010/wild-fact-803-ninja-of-the-bug-world-assassin-bug/


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