I keep two species of African assassin bugs and recently collected two of what I'm sure are not assassin bugs, but actually nymphs of Western conifer seed bugs (supposedly-herbivorous leaf-footed bugs). In a moment of combined laziness, convenience and curiosity (last week) I placed some house flies in with them (easier than going outside for pine cone seeds which I can only guess they feed on (hence their name)). Well, guess what happened? They fed on the flies! A few hours ago I fed them small roach nymphs. Same result! I can't confirm at the moment that they are actually coriedae, but I'm 90% sure I've ID'd them correctly. These bugs are predatory. I guess I better get some pine cone seeds and see if they feed on them.
Well Peter, I haven't seen your bugs (pix please!), I haven't sniffed them to see of they have a "piney smell," you are familiar with identifying insects (you used some kind of key?), and you certainly live in the right part of the country where Western conifer seed bugs dwell, though I haven't seen them farther north than the central California coast myself, but I'd still bet, sight unseen, that this is not the right identification.
An insect that bores into pine seeds and dissolves the tough seeds inside so that it can ingest them, has a very special proboscis and must secrete "dedicated" enzymes to dissolve the seeds. In its natural environment, there is an ample supply of vegetable food and no need for the insect to learn how to "pinch hit."
Your bugs behaved (surprise!) like a typical assassin bug, recognizing its moving prey as food, stalking it and capturing it, a most complex behavior that requires correct neural recognition pathways, coordinated grasping limbs and and the strength to overcome its struggling prey. It also needs specially adapted mouth parts and enzymes to liquify its prey before sucking it up. Once swallowed, the gut will have to contain apropriate enzymes and flora to digest animal protein, very different in almost every way from a pine seed.
So I'm afraid that I can't buy your identification without coroborative evidence and a note from their mother. My double sawbuck says that they won't touch the conifer seeds!
Really interesting and fun, though, and I hope that you are out, even now, searching for those connifer seeds!
At worst, an adult bite will be comparable to a bee sting.
