Wheel Bug – Identification
![wheel bug | Walter Reeves: The Georgia Gardener](https://t9e4s3i5.rocketcdn.me/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/wheel-bug-600x800.jpg)
Q: My husband sent me some cameraphone pictures of a very weird insect. He and his friends are calling it “the bad-ass bug”. From what I can gather through the pix he sent, it kind of resembles a praying mantis, but is has what looks like a saw blade on its back.
A: I think your husband and his buddies found a wheel bug. They are indeed fearsome-looking. Wheel bugs are members of the beneficial assassin bug clan. They normally prey on aphids, bean beetles, sawflies and sometimes lady beetles.
Wheel bug saliva contains a poison that kills its insect victims but their mouth is big enough to inflict a painful bite on human skin too. If your husband gets bit, he will holler like a struck dog!