I used to get those on my orange cosmos, it was funny because they completely matched the flowers. I think they are the nymphs of some type of assassin bug. They are sorta like praying mantis in that they will eat all kinds of bugs good or bad. They do a good job on those bad pests though so I would keep them. Here is a website.
~SJN

Here is a link that might be useful: assassin bugs

I think they might be red aphids and if they are you don't want them on your plants. I noticed some on my asclepias the other day and I've been squishing them. I really hope they are aphids and not assassin bugs. Assassin bugs are great to have in the garden and I'd hate to think that I've been killing them.
Karyn

Thanks for answering ya'll...I forgot to mention that they are probably about the size of a fire ant. Is this the size that both of you have seen? I searched around on the net a little bit and only found one picture that matches up. And it's funny because the guy is calling them "assassin bug aphids?"! He's also got the name Reduviidae there, but when I do a search for that name I don't get any pictures that are even close. Hmmmmm...

Here is a link that might be useful: assassin bug aphids - Reduviidae

SJN called it... They are some kind of assassin bug.. I thought maybe the Wheel Bug but they aren't solid red...I sure wouldn't kill them...

www.whatsthatbug.com/assassin

I just looked up what's on my plants on "what's a bug" and mine are definitely red aphids. The ones on my asclepias are all red without the black heads and are shaped a bit different then the ones in the link Chena posted. I was so upset thinking that I killed assassin bugs! lol
Karyn

I had a bug you might like to have killed karyn! A huge black widow right outside our back door. She made this huge web close to the ground at an angle so the cickets could jump right into it. It was attached to the wooden
fingerlime citrus pot which she hid out in during the day. Pretty slick huh.. I really didnt want to kill her either because we have soooo many crickets and I'm sick of em.

Did you know crickets eat dog and cat food? I swear, I went out back and this giant cricket had a piece of cat food hauling it across the porch! freaky!
So I ended up killing Ms Madam Death even though I really didnt' want to because that is where the kids go out to play on the porch and I could just see her laying a million eggs. I know there is gonna be a cricket population explosion now lol. Gonna have to get some diatomatic earth or whatever its called.
~SJN

SJN wins today's Name That Bug contest. Be on the lookout for the prize patrol in your area!!! I don't like killing anything either. Except for those little black sugar ants that are about to take over the world around here. I have managed to keep them out of the house this year by feeding them ant bait twice a day...I wonder if the assassin bugs are helping me take care of those. Karyn, I am glad your bugs did turn out to be the aphids. Chena, I copied and pasted your link several times but keep getting "page not found". I want to see. Must be my computer acting up today. WAAHHHH!!

They are not any kind of aphid. Aphids are smaller have more delicate legs, do not have the bend in the abdomen and would not be on that part of the leaf, they woud be clustered around the stem. They resemble wheel bugs, Arilus cristatus, one of 3,000 species of assassin bugs. There is a lot of variation in them. So much so that it is hard to believe they are related at all.

Wildflower copy this part of the link and it should come up.
www.whatsthatbug.com
Karyn

SJN~~ I can only laugh... I use to relocate everything...I keep a house spider in the kitchen just so I can watch it catch flies.. cracks me up.. I would relocate the snakes even the poisionous ones to keep from killing them..HMMM.. I'm over it..LOL your here your dead...I will move the non-poisionous snakes but other than that.. I have a machete and a gun ...no problem using them.. armidillo's run for your life...LOL

OOPs I killed some a few weeks ago, I tried to search what they were and kept getting mixed results. So I watched them and they seemed intelligent and would look at me and then move away. The tomato plants they were on were less heaththy than the others.

Sorry

I actually saw a predatory wasp the other day. I was so excited  GET those mites  GET those white flies and aphids!

What do I see him carrying away? A stunned spider bigger than he was. He tried to fly off the leaf with it and ended up doing a spiral down into the grass because it was too heavy - he couldnÂt fly with it.

Just sighed. . .. . .dumb bug. . .not thaaaaaaat one  youÂre not supposed to take HIM  youÂre supposed to get the thousands of OTHER bugs! Grrrrrr. . . .guess that wasp forgot to read that part of the manual. . . . .send him back to training.

And last nite, numerous brugs in bloom now. Guess who has found them? Honey bees. Stuck my nose in a blossom only to hear the blossom "buzzing" and went WHOA! 5 Bees buzzing around the plants  and they were being a bit over protective, not letting me near some of the Brugs. . . .the inmates are running the asylum. . . .

lol- techno,I hate to see the mantis' and other 'good' bugs get the spiders. The best spider/bug catcher I ever had was a orb weaver. It made a huge spider web from the monsteras to the bananas-probably spanned at least 2 feet. It kept catching all the hummingbird moths though... :( Poor things!
Gosh I haven't seen bees here all summer. There were lots of them this spring trying to drink outta the hummingbird feeders but now they all disappeared.

rotfl...at the thought of Chena chasing those rascally snakes with her machete :P I usually let housespiders alone unless they get out of hand. They eat the ants and fly that get in. I dont even kill the scorpions here unless they get into the house-then I either have to relocate them or kill em. It's funny I'm not really afraid of poison snakes, scorpions, or spiders but show me a huge roach or palo verde beetle and I will scream so loud you'll go deaf!
~SJN

I think I saw the adult form of this assassin/wheel bug a couple of weeks ago. It was really wild looking in person... Thanks again for the links and info everybody. About the snakes...I just cannot deal with them. They are everywhere this year. I would never get close enough to one on purpose to kill it and wouldn't be able to do that anyway. If I'd seen any that were poisonous that might be a different story, but I'm fairly sure all I've ever seen were the good one's. Has anyone ever tried sulfur to run them off? I havn't researched it yet to see if it would be harmful to anything but sure would like for them to slither off into someone else's yard!