The bug looks like some sort of a leaf footed bug nymph crawling over another one that perhaps he has just killed and sucked the juices from.

The second photo really has me puzzled. At first it looked like some sort of gall growing in the leaves, but I've never seen anything exactly like it. Can you get more pictures taken from different angles?

miradus01, I've never seen ragweed that has fern like leaves and flowers below the leaves. I'm so used to the ragweed that gets 5-6 feet tall. This pictured above only gets about 18-24" tall. Those flowers are brutal on your hands, that's for sure! Thanks for the id.

roselee, that is one bug! I poked it with my gloved hand to see if it was 2 bugs. That strange looking tree is in houston so when I go to visit my daughter again, I'll get more pictures. There were 2 trees there and both of them were covered with this.

There's a lot of different subspecies of ragweed. The ones we get here in West Texas have yellow seed heads that poke up off the top. The goats love them so I "harvest" a few buckets out of the garden every morning to toss into their pen. Makes weeding more fun when I feel like I'm harvesting.

Lorelei, you sure don't give out easy photos to ID ... LOL I'm intrigued about the bug. How about putting it on the Insect Forum and see what they say?

I've always thought about that ferny leafed plant as a wild carrot but never did any research or had it ID'd. Lots of them come up in my yard. The leaves are similar to some ragweeds. I guess you'd have to let one bloom to know for sure.

I'm eager to know what those things are on the tree in Houston too. Don't we love a mystery!

Just had a thought. Maybe the insect has just molted and it's old skin is still hanging on somehow. According to the internet - scroll down a bit - leaf footed bugs molt several times and only get wings and the leaf like appendages with the last molt.

The bug ... I can't tell. Would have needed to look at it closer. Visible in the photo are 6 legs on one side, so if bilateral symmetry holds true then this critter has 12 legs. Unusual, to say the least. If bilateral symmetry does not hold true then it's possible you have an alien organism crawling around out there. The molt theory is much more likely than a previously unknown 12-legged insect.

Since the emergent portion appears to be facing the wrong direction, and I've never heard of any insect reversing itself inside of its own skin during molt, I'm wondering if it's not a predation event. Some insect laid an egg inside of a praying mantis which then hatched and the larva devoured the mantis from the inside before emerging to go off and lay eggs of its own.

Savage garden indeed!

I spent an inordinate amount of time yesterday, and again this morning, going through my "Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Insects and Spiders". And could find absolutely NOTHING in there that even remotely resembles this critter! Nothing with 6 pairs of legs. Nothing with this body configuration. Nothing with this pattern of coloration. Very strange, indeed!! !

I do hope you will put this on the insect forum, I'd love to see what they say.

Rusty

Assassin bug?

Some species will use the carapace of victims as hosts for their nymphs.

I'll put it on the insect forum and see what I find out.

I think that weed is Torilis arvensis. Google it and look at the photos. It blooms in the spring, ragweeds as far as I know bloom in the fall. It's a very common invasive.

Also check out Torilis nodosa for the weed plant.

We always called the weed, wild parsley and if you have pets, argh!

The seeds heads stick to everything!!!

It is the Torilis nodosa. Thank you! Now on to that strange insect.

I posted the insect on that forum and was told it was an assassin bug having lunch.

Lorelei, thanks for posting the picture to the Insect Forum. The posters who hang out there to answer questions pretty much know their stuff. Here are some more comments. Seems you got a rare shot with that picture!

Now if we can solve the mystery of those little pod looking things on the trees ...

What kind of tree are they on?

The latest is that it's an assassin bug molting. Jolana, I don't know the tree those strange pods are on. It's in the Houston area and I was visiting. I'll try to take some more pictures next time I'm there. But they were tall, perhaps 20 feet.

Hahaha, alien pods, lol

Your second pic is of leaf galls. Galls are caused by a variety of insects, mostly tiny solitary wasps I believe. The insect inserts its eggs and a bit of some other material into the appropriate plant species and plant part and this results in a signature abnormal growth on the plant. I have seen that type of gall commonly on red bay. To my knowledge there is no effective control for gall forming insects and they don't seem to do much or any permanent harm to the host plants. A common gall in my yard is about the size of a large grape, it's perfectly round and hard, grows on live oaks. If I open a young green gall there is one small larva in the center. Over the past two weeks the red squirrels have been harvesting these galls, chewing them open and, I suspect, eating the larvae. My patio and driveway are now littered with the remains of these harvested galls.

I thought galls too but I couldn't identify the parent plant. If it's galls, I'd say leave them alone. They will probably hatch out some form of braconid and those are almost universally beneficial. Seeing a gall like that in my garden makes me happy. I only ever see them on weeds though, not the veggies.

That is amazing....I have seen many a gall in my years but have never seen this type

I would love to know the name of the tree

I thought a gall as well but was used to those round galls on the live oaks. I'll be there again Memorial Day weekend so I'll take more pictures of the tree and the galls. It was COVERED in the galls.

Oh good, thanks

Eric made an id on the tree and gall. Here is the link: http://forums.gardenweb.com/discussions/3097028/odd-galls-tree?n=1