assassin bugs
awild | May 4, 2010They looked like little flowers, or miniature suction cups, but yesterday's mystery was neither. Here's a more recent view:
Arilus cristatus, a newly hatched wheel bug nymph with eggs
Ted MacRae of Beetles in the Bush picks up 6 points for guessing that they were Reduviid eggs, and MarekB gets 4 for nabbing the genus and species. Plus, one point goes to Chris Grinter who surmised that these might be hemipteran eggs.
By late summer this little buglet will have grown into a wheel bug, a massive assassin as large as my thumb: