What in the heck is this bug?!

Is it poisonous? I am in rural bay area Virginia. I think I have seen one before, but it was not this big. It bit my mother's hand clean off, but she got better and doesn't really remember the bite. I remember for her. It was painful.

if you can get to the co-op at your local university i bet the can direct you to the right people. that's what i usually do with my bugs

It's a seed bug.

Which part of Virginia are you in?

aginthelaw said:

if you can get to the co-op at your local university i bet the can direct you to the right people. that's what i usually do with my bugs

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Dang thing granted me three wishes to let it go, so I launched it into the vacant lot next door. I was hoping it was common enough someone would recognize it.

Body about inch and a half, the way the pics posted, that is about the size of it, maybe images make it 15% larger. That is part of my hand at the bottom of the image, and you can see my thumb print in the glass bottom right. Hard to see in the images, better in the top image (pic taken through a mason jar), where the legs come together it looked like half a gear sticking out of its back.

bigburly912 said:

It's a seed bug.

Which part of Virginia are you in?

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I live somewhere between the York River and Mobjack Bay, north of the Severn River. idk what to call this area. Tidewater seems to refer to Norfolk and VA Beach.

Checked wiki, and shape is close enough to seed bug... colors are all wrong, but the shape definitely matches. Thank you.

It's a western conifer seedbug to be more exact

I'm not sure why it's so grayish. There is a dirt seedbug but it doesn't seem to be that long. Of course that could be distorted somrwhaf from the picture


https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Dirt-Colored-Seed-Bug


Always use above site for bug identification. I've only caught one error in the Virginia bug section.

chillinn said:

Dang thing granted me three wishes to let it go, so I launched it into the vacant lot next door. [...]

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So what did you use your wishes for ? :huh:

bigburly912 said:

I'm not sure why it's so grayish. There is a dirt seedbug but it doesn't seem to be that long. Of course that could be distorted somrwhaf from the picture


https://www.insectidentification.org/insect-description.asp?identification=Dirt-Colored-Seed-Bug


Always use above site for bug identification. I've only caught one error in the Virginia bug section.

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Thanks. It was found indoors, and I suspect it had been in the utility room awhile before getting into the bedroom adjacent to it where it bit my mom. Maybe it hasn't seen much daylight in a while, which I think might cause bleaching.

Kestrel said:

So what did you use your wishes for ? :huh:

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Zebralight is going to make me a few discontinued models.

bigburly912 said:

It's a western conifer seedbug to be more exact

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Wiki says only the "assassin bugs" bite. But it looked nothing like the assassin bug on wiki, and it definitely bit her. Looks like a western conifer seed bug, but for the colors.

Looks like a seed bug to me. Could possibly be some type of kissing bug but I don't think so.

chillinn said:

Wiki says only the "assassin bugs" bite. But it looked nothing like the assassin bug on wiki, and it definitely bit her. Looks like a western conifer seed bug, but for the colors.

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And the wiki is wrong. Seed bugs bite but not on purpose.


https://entomologytoday.org/2017/03...of-a-western-conifer-seed-bug-biting-a-human/

Some of the varieties of leaf footed bugs look similar to that. I don't think they typically bite though.

The general expertise level around here seems pretty high.

I don't know anything about bugs (except maybe computer ones) but enjoy all the fascinating topics that crop up.

After looking at more pics, I don't think that is a WCSB. In addition to the wrong coloring it looks like the rearmost legs do not have the flattened leaf like appearance. I think we have WCSB here, I am sure I get them in the house from time to time. I scoop them up and put them outside.

I wish imgur would not downsample the images. It looks like a seed bug now to me but for the color, which is mostly grey but for the very back end, which is shimmering gold. None of the images on wiki show the half gear looking thing I tried to describe, which can only be best seen in profile. All the half dozen pics I took were through that mason jar, so there is distortion in all of them, but even considering, they came out pretty well for how fast I took them while my mom was yelling in pain and at me. (I am caring for and advocating for my mother now, and we're petty much attached at the hip... didn't want it to sound like I was 14... because ironically middle schoolers push me around, if that gives some idea of apparently how young I look, which is really getting old).

Definitely a type of assassin bug and yes, they bite.

Arilus Cristatas or the Wheel Bug.

F89 said:

Definitely a type of assassin bug and yes, they bite.

Arilus Cristatas or the Wheel Bug.

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Closer match than Seed Bug... note the half gear thing sticking out the back, which I bet is how it got it's name. Colors closer, also. wiki images.

chillinn said:

Closer match than Seed Bug... note the half gear thing sticking out the back, which I bet is how it got it's name. Colors closer, also. wiki images.

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Those pics certainly highlight the wheel. The bug you photographed and which also unfortunately bit your mum is most certainly an Arilus Cristatas.

Awesome! Case closed. Couldn't really notice a wheel at all in the original pictures. Glad you figured out what bit your mom. Now for some vigilante justice. : D haha