Wheel Bug (Arilus cristatus)

Order: Hemiptera (he-MIP-ter-a) (Info) Family: Reduviidae Genus: Arilus Species: cristatus Profile: 4 positives 2 neutrals No negatives Regional... This bug has been reportedly found in the following regions: Malvern, Arkansas Molino, Florida Woodstock, Georgia Coatesville, Indiana Farmersburg, Indiana Flora, Indiana Macy, Indiana Rushville, Indiana Lawrence, Kansas Osage City, Kansas Benton, Kentucky Millersville, Maryland Marietta, Mississippi Cole Camp, Missouri St. Robert, Missouri Stoutland, Missouri Canton, North Carolina Charlotte, North Carolina Raleigh, North Carolina Cincinnati, Ohio (2 reports) Bethlehem, Pennsylvania Bridgeville, Pennsylvania Macungie, Pennsylvania Millersburg, Pennsylvania Montoursville, Pennsylvania Pikeville, Tennessee Allen, Texas Cibolo, Texas Fort Worth, Texas (2 reports) Houston, Texas Snyder, Texas Onley, Virginia Sterling, Virginia Strasburg, Virginia Member Notes: Rating Author Comment Positive jtr2888 On Aug 8, 2006, jtr2888 from Bethlehem, PA (Zone 6b) wrote: This insect is a predator that eats other insects. I have a quite a few of them inhabiting my yard. They get fairly large, one to one and half inches or so. The ones I have seen are grey/black with some brown on their wings. The nymph is bright red and black. A Wheel Bug's mouth is like a syringe. It plunges it into its prey and eats kind of like a spider. I'm not an expert, this is just based off of what I've read and seen. I don't mind them as they eat the Japanese Beetles that try to snack on my rose bush. I wouldn't pick them up. According to the insect guides I've checked, they will bite if harassed. I've never been bitten, but I have heard it’s like a bee sting. In my experience they are not aggressive, and fairly tolerant of me. I've gotten within a few inches to take pictures. They always just ignore me. At most, they slowly walk away. Positive melody On Sep 16, 2006, melody from Benton, KY (Zone 7a) wrote: Pretty fierce looking, and downright scary, Wheel Bugs are one of the most intimidating insects in the garden. They look like something out of a 1950's horror movie, or a prehistoric jungle. They are one of the Good Guys, eating other insects and preying on some of the most destructive inhabitants in the garden. Positive SimbiDlo On Sep 14, 2007, SimbiDlo from Snyder, TX wrote: Great to have in the garden, but it is a good idea to leave them alone, their bite HURTS like you know what, and this is from experience. I was bit on the tip of my finger and my entire hand felt on fire and went numb afterwards, I had mild swelling and pain for about three days afterwards and the little dot where it bit stayed for months! Positive redmoran On Jul 9, 2008, redmoran from Osage City, KS wrote: Here in my part of the country(east central Kansas) we call it Assassin Bug. They certainly hunt down and destroy a lot of harmful insects, and possibly some beneficial ones also. Thankfully they don't go after us humans, because I have been bitten a few times in my life, and it is extremely painful, with a burning sensation similar to a wasp sting, but without the swelling that I experience with wasp and bee venom. Neutral n3yqx On Aug 10, 2008, n3yqx from Bridgeville, PA wrote: We're just south of Pittsburgh, PA...Saw one of these bugs in the trash can on my porch and it had been kind of 'hanging out' for the past few days. It must have slowly made its way across my porch because my dog found it, needless to say the dog, Pete (who's only 13 weeks old) ended up with it in his mouth before I realized what he had. The bug bit his lip & it's now swollen about 3 times as big as it was before he was bitten. I had never seen one of these before and after I managed to get the thing off of Pete it ended up being flung into the grass. Took me 15 minutes to find it so I could get a good look at it to try and identify the type of bug it was...anyway, I ended up here. From everything I have read the bite just hurts like...well, you know what. If anyone has any suggestions about what to do to help Pete feel a bit better, please let me know.... Thanks. Neutral jmarsz On Sep 26, 2008, jmarsz from Rushville, IN wrote: I was just bitten by this creepy bug while working to frame my garage. I flung it away and came back after rinsing the bite under cold water and applying much pressure beneathe the bite, as I had no idea what this thing was. It is now in a ball jar and it is very mean looking. I wanted to note that as I was capturing the bug and for a while in the jar, the end of his butt was red. he has stopped struggling and the butt is not red anymore. After shaking him around a little, it appears that his butt turns back o red, or glows like the end of a cigarette. The previous posts are right in that this bite hurts! Thank you for identifying this thing.

By jtr2888 By jtr2888 By jtr2888 By LynnBia By ctindell By sallyg By jndell There are a total of 24 photos. Click here to view them all!