Who Am I ?? - (enlarge)

Yes, patience and persevering, I guess that pays off the most in the end!!!

I have been trying to hand hold as much as I can. I was truly perplexed when I saw the front pinchers, didn't have a clue as to what it was, thankfully Line Martel told me it was a Jagged Ambush Bug, then I looked it up online and there it was!!!

Debra - I wish I had more flowers, probably could find even more strange bugs!!!

Ruud - Yes, it sure is a strange looking bug, but so many are when we see them so close!!! many thanks for your visit!

Great image!

Here in upstate NY, there's a species of ambush bush that's very effectively camouflaged on goldenrod blossoms.  You don't want to handle them, because they do have venom.  They can bring down wasps and bees more than twice their size.

My attempt to attach an image didn't seem to work. I have some in a folder named "On Goldenrod - Life, Death, and Sex."

Regards, Tom/photodb/photo?photo_id=14987961

Hi Tom, I looked at the images in your folder and that's the one! at least I'm pretty sure. Funny thing, there was a bee on another liatrus flower just over from this stem in the garden and it was just laying still in between a couple of buds. It was there for over 5 minutes and I wondered if this bug had stung it or something. Next time I looked, there were 2 bees flying around  the stem, and one could have been the large bee I saw. (it would have been easily 10 times or more the size of this bug!) I wonder if it could have stunned it??? I have quite a few shots of the bug in hiding with the bees all round it. I will try to post one after this comment.

Thanks for your info Tom, always good to know. I did read that some of them and the Assasin Bug will sting humans and many are very allergic to them.

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Excellent macro shot! He is really very unusual!

Yep, he sure is. I'm on the look out for them all the time now, don't want to get bit!!!