[tazmazz59]

Hello,
I hope you can see this photo, I have seen a lot of bugs in my time but this one baffles me. First of all it has big bulging eyes and a bee like torso, it also has fly or locust type wings that come back to a point, it has 6 legs plus 2 long legs in the back, it also has a stinger on the end. It seems very aggressive and flys very fast. Also when I took the picture it is able to turn its head left and right. It can see you from 6 feet away and when you move your hand towards it it takes off and flys at you then land on another tree. I know you probably will not have an answer for this. It is a cross between a spider, a bee, a fly.

Thanks,
Eric J Mazzi
[email protected]

[N0help4u]

Looks like it might be a locus
It is in the cicada family

[WVHiflyer]

NOhelp means locust. I think this is the year for the 17-yr ones...

Try this site - I know it sez spider outreach but it covers a lot:

Cornell Entomology at Ithaca - Spider Outreach



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[gnahcd]

It is NOT a locust or cicada. The picture is a bit fuzzy, but I believe you have a robber fly (family Asilidae). It is a very interesting bug. It is predaceous on other insects which accounts for the aggressive fast flying intelligent behavior. Pictures of this bug frequently show it feeding on other bugs. Check out these two websites:
Robber Fly with Soldier Beetle - Laphria affinis - BugGuide.Net
HRs RNA Robber Main page

[gnahcd]

... and locusts are short-horned grasshoppers, in the family Acrididae.

[gnahcd]

Oh, and... Short-horned grasshoppers (family Acrididae) belong to the order Orthoptera, to which the crickets, and other grasshoppers belong.
Cicadas are in the family Cicadidae, order Homoptera, to which the aphids and plant hoppers belong.

[N0help4u]

If it is fuzzy then it maybe is a bumble bee
Bumble Bee on Flickr - Photo Sharing!