I think you have stink bugs, not assassins. Juvenile stink bugs look somewhat like assassins but you'll see them in groups; assassins work alone. Pick them off and toss into soapy water before they overrun your garden.

Let's take a look at what vstech (John) wrote. He said he observed assassin bugs in large numbers, that they seemed to be mating, and that they swarmed around really quickly when disturbed.

John, are you certain that they are assassin bugs. And by swarming I assume that you mean 'flying' which throws out the juvenile stink bug theory. Juveniles don't fly. We've all seen little hoards of juvenile assassin bugs, but I don't think I've seen the adults in large groups. But if these guys fly, they aren't a juvenile anything!

John, how about describing your critters? There are lots of different kinds of assassin bugs and they could easily be mistaken for something else. One of the seedbugs, for example.

they look like the pictured assasin buggs but they are all black. the long back leggs have flat plate areas on them in the thigh area. they do not have the wheels. when I said swarm, I don't mean thousands of them or anything, Just 4 or 5 on each head of the sunflower. they definately fly, I went to take a picture but they were all gone.
I will check tonight.
thanks,
John

what do you think?

{{gwi:152110}}

vstech

The bugs in the photo are leaffooted bugs and you should kill as many of them as you can as fast as you can. In my experience sunflowers will draw them in by the hundreds. They spend most of their time sucking the nectar, but when and if that runs out they move on to the tomatoes and peppers. If it hasn't happened already, you should soon start to see large numbers of juveniles - small bright red nymphs that travel in rather large groups. They are much easier to hand pick while they are young. Last summer I would kill about a half dozen adults each evening and dozens of the young ones when they hatched and I still never got rid of them. This year I did not plant sunflowers and I have only seen one or two adults all season. Other posters on other forums have indicated that the adults are very hard to control using organic methods. Good Luck.

Matt

this makes sense, now I know why they are not bothering the mbb. anyway, I will now get out the shop vac, and start feeding the ducks theese suckers! ahh gardening, such fun!

Here are some great pics of assasin bugs. I found 5 of them yesterday. 3 were on my okra stalking Japanese beetles and 2 were on my Russian sage mating. Later in the day, one had a Japanese beetle in it's...mouth?

I've never seen em fly but I've wondered how they get around. Bike?

Here is a link that might be useful: Assasin bugs