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Orthemis ferruginea
about 2cm long, bright orange, has small wings and could fly.
found in the garden while I was pulling weeds.
Perhaps. In general, assassin bugs are pretty clumsy fliers, I never see them fly very far. Usually they stalk around on plants, looking for food. Or they just wait around and see what comes to them.
That looks right to me. Thanks! =] I thought it might be an assassin bug of some kind, but I wasn't sure.
I saw it flying a few minutes after I had taken the photos, it is possible that the one I saw flying was a slightly more mature creature of the same species, it looked very nearly identical and I assumed it was the same one. It didn't fly far, only hovered between some bushes; perhaps it's wings aren't fully functional yet.
It's some species of assassin bug, family Reduviidae. Are you sure it has wings? They look like they're just wing pads right now, which would make it a juvenile, not a full adult.
Going from that assumption, I think I found a matching species. I'll post a link so that you can look over the pictures for yourself. Zelus longipes is a southeastern species, and Zelus is a very common genus in the US.
Spotted on Aug 3, 2011
Submitted on Aug 3, 2011
+3
