Mystery solved. The bug I photographed is an Ambush Bug

[alfredo]

I figured it was a carnivorous bug by the shape of the forelegs. It's a good bug to have in your garden.

http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/19066/ambush-bug

[Curmudgeoness]

1. Well, that is a new on on me.

I had no idea what it was. Cool bug!

[alfredo]

2. I found it on the site, Bug of the week.

[Curmudgeoness]

4. Amazing that the "bug of the week"

turned out to be your bug. Or did it have a search capability for all the bugs posted to date?

[alfredo]

7. I was looking through Google images for "bugs with spiny forelegs" when I

found an image that looked familiar.

Finding the right search term was the hard part of this search. I'm usually very good at terms, but this one was difficult. I searched types, but no dice. I got close with the Assassin bug, but they didn't share enough similarities. I tried colors, then body parts. The forelegs were the biggest mystery, but the best clue. They appeared to match other predatory bugs. Even though the word Spiny didn't fit, it worked.

[Scuba]

3. Was he laying in the weeds?

[alfredo]

8. He was hiding near the top of a peppermint plant.

[intaglio]

5. Just be glad it wasn't the giant dobsonfly

World's largest aquatic insect specimen found in China

[alfredo]

9. But, how does it taste?

I saw a Great Black Wasp a couple days ago. It's a beautiful creature.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

6. Ambush Bug was one of my favorite comic book characters as a kid.

Originally, he was just this dopey wannabe superhero with no powers and a lame costume who would do cameo appearances in other comics, but later on, he got to 'break the fourth wall' and move in and out of comic books and play around with continuity.

[alfredo]

10. That's a new one for me.