Cool! Always wondered what those bugs were! Thanks for the pics!

Terrific photos! Thanks for posting all of them. I see them now and then in my garden and am never sure if I should consider them good or bad, so I just let them be. Great photos, thanks for highlighting this critter!

Take care,
Grant

They are good guys!

Do these come in black? My dog was playing with a black bug that looked like this in the house, then I found a couple more. Was wondering if I had a hatch of them somewhere.

Thanks! Tracy yes there are assassin bugs that are black, but any bug like this that you find in the house should be removed. Assassin bugs bite, and one type actually spreads disease. I hope that's not the kind you found but check the picture in the link below.

These are generally good in the garden. They eat caterpillars and other insects that eat plants, but as you can see from the picture, they also will eat others that you want in the garden, like little pollinator bees. This one kept my eggplant clear of caterpillars. Now that it's gone, hopefully some of the bees can have a chance to pollinate the flowers now!

But they don't belong in the house, and shouldn't be handled.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kissing Bug