An assassin, not a walking stick

Neither a stick insect, nor a trekking pole

Oct 13, 2024

I have occasionally seen these stick-looking-insects around and called them stick insects. It turns out, they are not walking sticks at all. They are a kind of assassin bug called a thread-legged bug. They look quite different from other assassin bugs I have seen. It might be Emesaya brevipennis but I’m primariliy basing that on it being the only species I see reported in NY State on iNaturalist. It’s more likely that that is the only species around here that is easily identified by a photo. None of my Emesaya observations have ever gotten to research grade.

*Emesaya* a member of Thread-legged Bugs Subfamily Emesinae.

I have also seen walking sticks here in New York, but not in a long time. I don’t have any photos in iNaturalist so here’s a photo by iNaturalist User Jacqueline Raiford.

Northern Walkingstick (*Diapheromera femorata*.) Photo byJacqueline Raiford.

Here they are side by side.

Walking sticks eat plants and thread-legged bugs eat other insects and spiders and sometimes steal prey from spiderwebs.

Other Assassin Bugs I have Seen

Jagged Ambush bug. I like these because they look like muppets, deadly muppets. I first noticed these in 2018 whle walking my cat and now I see them everywhere in the summer.

Pale green assassin bug. Another insect I never knew existed that I see everywhere now.

Assassin bugs that I haven't gotten very specific ID's on.

My 39 assassin bug observations on iNaturalist.

I was really suprised that my damsel bugs weren’t showing up in that list. I thought they were also a type of assassin bug. They aren’t.

Assassin Bug Eggs

Assassin bug eggs look like a a weird mid 20th century gelatin concoction.

Which is food for humans and which is assasssin bug eggs? It's hard to say.

Meanwhile back at the ranch

I should really be getting some laundry done and doing the stuff that society says I must to keep my ‘functioning member of society’ licence current. If you run into me in the near future and I am disheveled, please blame the thread-legged bugs for being so interesting.

That Which Rolls

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