Thread-legged bug - Stenolemus lanipes (10 mm)
Location: Durham NC (USA)
I found this specimen in a spider web on the crawlspace door of my house. These are odd bugs, and do not seem to be very well known. Members of this genus prey on web-building spiders--they "hunt by either stalking or plucking the web of a spider in imitation of trapped prey (Wignall & Taylor 2010)"
Same individual/observation as imported from Flickr via the Encyclopedia of Life:
https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/4494545
https://www.inaturalist.org/photos/4494546
Images included here as well.
Species of this group are poorly known, so am including detailed references.
References
Hoffman (2006). Assassin Bugs of Virginia (Heteroptera: Reduviidae). The Insects of Virginia (15). Notes only this species from VA, also NC, SC, FL, MS. Linked at:
https://www.vmnh.net/research-collections/vmnh-scientific-publications/the-insects-of-virginia
Thread-legged bug - Stenolemus lanipes (~10 mm)
Location: Durham NC (USA)
I found this specimen in a spider web against the siding of my house. At first I thought it had fallen prey to the spider, but when I prodded it gently, it moved. It hung more-or-less upside down in the web, and when I came back a few hours later, it had moved. Also posted at:
bugguide.net/node/view/332551
Third image here is ventral view, as it was hanging upside-down in the web.
Viny plant clinging onto fencing
Red coloration on limbs and face. High domed carapace. Turtle was well camouflaged against leaves of the trail path near the fence around the BFL. It was solitary and making its way northward on the trail and quickly tucked itself into its shell when approached.
Several of these were hovering very steadily over the trail through a swamp on a cool spring morning at Howell Woods, Johnston County, NC (USA). They made no effort to perch and bite when I approached, so I thought they were males. Eyes looked wrong for those, but perhaps it was just the angle of the photo. An expert on BugGuide confirmed that this was a male. Looks to be:
Hybomitra lasiophthalma (male, ~14 mm)
bugguide.net/node/view/17585
Also posted at:
bugguide.net/node/view/2234636
Edit. Tough group, but it seems to key to this species using:
Goodwin and Drees. 1996.The horse and deer flies (Diptera: Tabanidae) of Texas. Southwestern Entomological Society, 1996
key to males, p. 79
Link available at:
https://bugguide.net/node/view/632941