Can anyone identify this moth or insect please.

About half inch long, bright orange, dart shaped two prominent round black spots,

Found on a lavender bush.

 

Looks like a Shield Beetle, but I can't find a species match.

 

Pentatomoidea @ Wiki

At this time of year, we occasionally see the green ones in the Wiki picture.

 

There were a couple of these orange ones.

 

Thanks acme, I will see if any better information comes along.

I spotted a pretty cool green one last week that I had never seen, but it was gone by the time I got back with the camera.

 

I searched a couple insect sites for you but didn't spot your critter. I may have missed it or maybe you could narrow it to a Genus or such a matter, so if you don't have this site on your radar here is a link.

 

BugGuide.net

I'm probably wrong, but it kinda looks like an assassin bug to me.

I think it is the Large Milkweed bug.

 

 

There is also a Milkweed Mimic Assassin Bug out there(whose search got me looking for what it was mimicking).

 

edit:

 

Boxelder bug can have a similar appearance as well.

 

and Corizus hyoscyami actually look even more like the photo. There are way too many bugs out there dressing up for Halloween.

Edited October 3, 201411 yr by Endy0816

Studiot, can you provide where, geographically, this assassin bug was found?

 

Studiot, can you provide where, geographically, this assassin bug was found?

 

 

Somerset, England.

It looks very similar to the fire bug, which is found in Europe. I will provide a link. It's not an exact match to yours but so far the closest thing I have found.

 

 

http://www.bumblebee.org/invertebrates/Hemiptera.htm

And here is another one to show that there is some variation.

 

http://depositphotos.com/25092683/stock-photo-firebug-pyrrhocoris-apterus.html

The one you have visually captured may be a mutant phenotype which would explain the red on the head and a few other differences.

Summer was still very much with us in September, and your link refrers to a firebug sighting in Devon, which is only a few miles away.

 

However your link did lead me to this alternative, which seems more likely since it refers to outer hair, which I think I can see from my photograph, although I could not now be certain to tell from memory

 

http://www.britishbugs.org.uk/heteroptera/Rhopalidae/corizus_hyoscyami.html

 

Many thanks, perhaps the search is near its end. +1

 

It may even be that these have another common name elsewhere.