I tried to take pictures but they just won't come out clear. Here is the description:

6 legs. About 1/2" is the biggest one I have seen. Kinda thick looking near the head and the butt is narrow, almost pointed. It is mostly black except for a yellow or orange square on the back portion. The body of it looks like it is covered with hair that has been gelled an spiked up.

I have seen them in my flower beds, potted plants and even crawling under water in my pool. I just learned that they bite. One got me two days ago and one got me today.

Anybody ever seen one or know what it is?

Do they have sort of longer thin black legs? Sounds sort of like something that occasionally rides into the house on my dogs, and then stings the crap out of you if you touch it. Little spindly looking black and orange bugs. Hurts like a mofo for about half an hour. Worst than fire ants, but not quite as bad as a yellowjacket sting.

Does it look like a big hairy ant? Could be a cow killer:


http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/cimg344.html
http://www.whatsthatbug.com/velvet_ants.html

The bites don't hurt near as bad as a fire ant or a wasp. But they do hurt. And the one that I got 2 or 3 days ago still itches like crazy every once in a while and is all red.

Not the cow killer/red velvet ant either. Not that big.

I have decided that I hate them.

Google a harlequin bug and let's go from there.
....never mind


[This message has been edited by sunchaser (edited 3/30/2007 3:47p).]

FS .... Your description is fairly close to a bug we used to see in west Texas on cowtrails after a shower ... Us kids had a name for it of "Cow Killer"." It appeared to be some sort of ant, it was hairy and was a fast mover on the ground (no wings.) We avoided them completely because of the scary description of stings by older and wiser kids.

This is a picture I googled. It is fairly close but the ones I recall were mostly black and had red-orange spots on the top of the thorax and abdomen.

We call those velvet ants or red ants...nah, this thing is different.

I'll go check my back yard and try to take a pic of one if I find it. Those bastids really hurt when they bite, which seems like every time you touch one..

Probably an Assassin Bug nymph. They grow into those big ugly gray flying bugs that buzz when they fly. I always called them blister bugs b/c they'll put a big blister on your bare skin if you squash one.



Or maybe a sawfly? They're a member of the wasp family. They'll do some damage to your house.





[This message has been edited by tx4guns (edited 3/30/2007 5:40p).]

I'd guess blister bug too.

Six legs? That doesn't help identify too much.

THat's the ******* that got me...

I thought it might be an assassain bug, but the adults didnt' look right...never thought of nymphs...

They have a nasty bite.

They are beneficial bugs b/c they eat the bugs that destroy plants, but I don't like them. I usually put some dust on em and whack em.

six legs

Those *******s do have a nastyl ittle bite

Not any of those bugs either. Itt does not have wings, and its legs are not very long. I said it had six legs because I knew if I didn't, people would start saying "scorpion" or Black Widow" or "Pit Bull". I have been on a bunch of websites that have pictures of hundreds of bugs and still have not found this thing.

We have a bug in the Victoria area that is somewhat close to the description, but nothing close to these pictures. Just started seeing them the past couple of years, and I grew up in this area (I'm over 40). Little f-ers will literally rare up at you if you reach to them. If you stretched them out, leg spans would be about the diameter of a dime to a nickle. They are along the edges of my roof at times of year, and if they get on my tomatoes they end up leaving yellow spots as they ripen.

Could this be what you are describing, and/or does anyone know what they could be?

Having been the entomologist with a large pest control company in DFW, I can assure you nothing is more fruitless than trying to identify an insect from description alone. "It was icky looking and had two funny looking things on it's head...."

There is another species of Velvet Ant in Texas, it is smaller, less colorful and has a couple of square white or yellow marks on the gaster.

Was the "bite" from the head or rear end?

[This message has been edited by 87Flyfisher (edited 3/31/2007 8:21a).]

Definitely not any type of ant or wasp. And the bite that really got me was on the back up under my shirt so I can't be sure how it bit me. The one that was on my arm yesterday I am pretty sure that it bit with its mouth. Not positive because I was thumping it off of me as soon as I saw it.

Maybe a robber fly?



[This message has been edited by MemAg92 (edited 3/31/2007 11:22p).]

FS....It looks like you are going to have to take one for the forum. Get a good ditigal in your right hand....sun behind you. Extend your left arm. Get a picture right before, during and after the bite/sting. Don't wince.

Post pictures...

I can empathize with FS and his bug caper.

It was a "time long ago and far away," specifically west Texas in the 1940s. Rural life was different then, houses built about 1900 were pier and beam constuction over deep sand. Chickens were allowed to free range in the day time, penned only at night to deter coyotes. A frequent irritant was an old hen who would decide she wanted to go "settin' " and would find a way under the house to establish a clutch of eggs with plans to start her own brood.

Such an event occurred at our house and being about 8 at the time, I met the requirement of being small enough to crawl through the sand in the tight space under the floor joists, yet big enough to fight off a mad hen attack which was likely to occur.

It was dark and slow going as I propelled myself through that dirt, shirtless and shoeless, guided only by memory of about where I expected the nest to be.

Then IT happened. About five pokes of what felt like a red hot branding iron on the softest, tenderest part of my belly. I let out a squawl like a panther, reversed course, and headed for my entry hole at flank speed ... bumping my head on every floor joist on the way out.

When finally caught by my older brothers down about the cowlot, after scraping off the dirt/sweat coating of my belly, examination revealed five welts each about the size of a creek wasp sting. I dove into the horse trough for some relief.

When I emerged after a while, still bawling like a just weaned calf, the entire family was ganged around the trough ... all asking the same question, "What happened to Frankie???"
Then the question passed around about what IT might have been. The older members guessed "Stinging Lizard (that is what we used to call Scorpions) but no one could explain how one could be working his tail in the sand, and some suggested the dreaded "Cow Killer."

We never came to concensus on the culprit ... but I guarantee no one ever ever crawled under that house again in search of a settin' hen nest.

[This message has been edited by fossil_ag (edited 4/1/2007 10:20a).]

Predaceous Stink Bug?

FS, hope you find out what it is!

Suggestion, why don't you use the pics of the previously suggested candidates to narrow down the field? (Nope, doesn't look like an ant, and it doesn't have a segmented body. Nope, doesn't have wings. Nope, doesn't have big "bug eyes." This isn't it, but it's the closest thing posted yet. etc.)

That might help focus the collective wisdom of the Texags Outdoorsers.

All righty. It is definitely not any type of ant, wasp, bee or fly. It is not any sort of blister bug either. They do not have wings.

They do not seem to be very aggressive because I have picked several of them up and they did not bite my hand. They are also smaller than I originally thought. The two I have in a jar are only about 1/4" long. I have also just observed that they have some sort of "suction cup" type device on their asses. They can stick to the glass of this jar.

Picture would make it easier

FSGuide, is this it?



I think one poster posted a picture of an assassin bug nymph. Well this is another one.

quote:

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I have also just observed that they have some sort of "suction cup" type device on their asses.

---

Chupacabra - no doubt



[This message has been edited by Zone416 (edited 4/2/2007 1:18p).]

I am an entomologist and will ID these creatures if you send me the picture. My email is nlriggs92@yahoo.com.

I forgot the "92" in my email.



[This message has been edited by Antman92 (edited 4/2/2007 1:25p).]

We called those "Follow-bees". They sting and hurt pretty bad. I got nailed by one when I was about 12 trying to put him into an antlion den.

quote:

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6 legs. About 1/2" is the biggest one I have seen. Kinda thick looking near the head and the butt is narrow, almost pointed. It is mostly black except for a yellow or orange square on the back portion. The body of it looks like it is covered with hair that has been gelled an spiked up.

---

WTF is that?

Sunchaser, That is it. Anybody have an idea what it is???

Yes and for $1000 cash I'll tell you where to get the antedote for it's slow acting poison...

Just kidding...I don't have a clue...My lab was checking it out on the driveway and it looked like what you were describing...

ttt

Now that we have a picture of it, what say you TexAgs?