Reduviidae: Assassin Bugs Hello again! As spring has officially begun, I was going through my photos and thinking about what I really enjoy seeing the most and lan...

New blog post: jadesjars.blogspot.com/2026/03/redu... #bugsky #reduviidae #assassinbug

Every stem is a watchtower. Fun fact: That needle-like mouthpart isn’t just for biting. It’s a multipurpose syringe for injecting enzymes and sipping the result like a smoothie. Nature really said no leftovers. #AssassinBug #Reduviidae #MacroNature #InsectPortrait #Veinbug

Every stem is a watchtower.

Fun fact: That needle-like mouthpart isn’t just for biting. It’s a multipurpose syringe for injecting enzymes and sipping the result like a smoothie. Nature really said no leftovers.

#AssassinBug #Reduviidae #MacroNature #InsectPortrait #Veinbug

A stocky insect with a black body and brown abdomen resting on a leaf. The head is narrow, with a proboscis curving under the body. The side of the body is wedged shaped.

An Assassin Bug, genus Sycanus, spotted at Ulu Sembawang Park Connector, Singapore, on 8 March 2025. One of the larger assassin bugs that I've seen locally.

On iNaturalist [ www.inaturalist.org/observations... ].

#iNaturalist #Nature #Singapore #TrueBugs #Hemiptera #AssassinBugs #Reduviidae

a large assassin bug on a dead tree. it is mostly black, with a large white stripe across the center and orange spots around the margin of its abdomen. the back femur or 'thighs' are red Microtomus purcis, northern VA

this lil buddy's ready for halloween
#insects #bugguide #reduviidae

A bug with a dark body, brown abdomen and dark wings. It has an elongated dark head with a sharp, jointed proboscis below the head.

An Assassin Bug, genus Sycanus, spotted at Ulu Sembawang Park Connector, Singapore on 8 March 2025. A bug armed with a sharp proboscis.

On iNaturalist [ www.inaturalist.org/observations... ].

#iNaturalist #Nature #Photography #Singapore #Insects #TrueBugs #Hemiptera #AssassinBugs #Reduviidae

“Spy vs. Spy, Assassin #bug vs. Soldier bug" I didn’t see how one stealthy #predator caught the other, but the outcome was photogenic. Perhaps declining Autumn numbers of #caterpillars & other small prey make this inevitable? #Reduviidae #Podisus #Hemiptera

[Champaign Co., Ill. USA. 14 Oct 2025]

A large tan-colored, orb-weaving spider with red legs is struggling with a partially silk-wrapped wheel bug. They are dangling in a tattered web against a black background

A large tan-colored, orb-weaving spider with red legs is struggling with a partially silk-wrapped wheel bug. From this angle, the spider is almost completely eclipsed by the struggling wheel bug. They are dangling in a tattered web against a black background.

A large tan-colored, orb-weaving spider with red legs is struggling with a partially silk-wrapped wheel bug. They are dangling in a tattered web against a black background

“Who’s in charge now?” If asked, I’d affirm the wheel bug, #Arilus cristatus, as the top predator in my yard. A recent encounter w/ one of the many cross #orbweavers, #Neoscona crucifera, in my yard reminded me that the tables can, and do, turn. #Arachtober #spider #Reduviidae #Araneidae #arachnid

An amorous trio of two males and 1 female gray-colored wheel bugs with red antennae and beaks hang together off of the left side of a brown and dried purple coneflower against a black background.

Three’s a crowd! The wheel bugs (#Arilus cristatus) in my garden seem confused about how many individuals are needed to start a family. They worked it out about an hour after my photos and the “third wheel” hit the road. #Reduviidae #AssassinBug

[Champaign County, Illinois. USA. 19 September 2025]

Jen's fabulous pics/post reminded me I recently encountered two spined assassin bug nymphs on separate Queen Anne's lace seed heads, only feet apart.

It was spikes all around!!! I couldn't help but be enamored with the texture of these scenes 😍

#Reduviidae: #Sinea
Raleigh, NC, USA

Large gray wheel bug perched on a goldenrod stem with its red antennae extended outward to the left. A cog-like extension rises from thorax, this wheel is the source of the common name.

#Predator & Emperor of my garden, #Arilus cristatus, the wheel bug (Family #Reduviidae), prowls the vegetation looking for a meal!

A photo of a brown assassin bug on the white plastic siding of a building, illuminated by flashlight

Another photo of a brown assassin bug on the white plastic siding of a building, illuminated by flashlight

Another photo of a brown assassin bug on the white plastic siding of a building, illuminated by flashlight

#reduviidae #hemiptera #insects #bugs #photos

A photo of a young pale green assassin bug nymph crawling on a similarly green plant between two leaves

Zelus luridus!

#reduviidae #hemiptera #insects #bugs #photos

A photo of a spiny black, white, grey, and orange Pselliopus genus assassin bug nymph on the brown center of a yellow flower

Another photo of a spiny black, white, grey, and orange Pselliopus genus assassin bug nymph on the brown center of a yellow flower

Pselliopus genus assassin bug babies continue to be the most clowny lookin' guys in the world!

#reduviidae #hemiptera #insects #bugs #photos

Anyone able to confirm (or otherwise) this assassin bug as Coranus woodroffei? From Allerthorpe Common @yorkswildlife.bsky.social reserve today. #heteroptera #ukwildlife #reduviidae

Spidery-legged assassin bug with mottled orange abdomen, dark legs, and a large fearsome proboscis resting on the underside of a leaf where an earwig is resting.

Spidery-legged assassin bug with mottled orange abdomen, dark legs, has reached around the leaf and stabbed the brown earwig with its proboscis.

Spidery-legged assassin bug with mottled orange abdomen, dark legs, and a large fearsome proboscis is climbing through down a leafy goldenrod stalk with the lifeless body of its ear wig prey dangling from its stout, orange proboscis.

Spidery-legged assassin bug with mottled orange abdomen, dark legs, climbing through down a leafy goldenrod stalk with the lifeless body of its ear wig prey dangling from its stout, orange proboscis.

I had the good fortune to stumble upon a wheel #bug nymph that was stalking an #earwig, with predictable results! #Predation #Reduviidae #Dermaptera

A macro photo of a brown and black assassin bug from a 3/4s angle. The bug has a small brown head with large black round eyes on either side, it's long piercing mouthparts can just be seen curving down and held under its body. Its legs are long and slender, and brown with black bands. The body is a stretched ovate shape and is mostly black with black triangle marks in the middle

I am pleased to announce that later today there will be a report on the local operations of the Assassin's guild.

And by Assassin's Guild I mean #Reduviidae 😁

Oncocephalus geniculatus

#fujifilm X-S10, #Laowa 65mm #Macro

#MacroPhotography
#photography
#Invertebrates
#insects
#AssassinBugs

This episode we discuss the #Reduviidae family, colloquially known as assassin bugs. There are many different kinds and all of them are cunning hunters that turn their prey into Capri Suns and some turn them into fashion. ⬇️

Macro image of a green assassin bug, Zelus luridus, on a curled green leaf. Its body is long and narrow with faint yellow stripes along the sides. The bug has reddish eyes, slender limbs covered in tiny spines, and a delicate, camouflaged appearance. The photo is highly detailed, showing fine textures on the bug's exoskeleton and leaf surface.

An extreme macro image of the front leg of a Zelus assassin bug, zoomed in to show a dense covering of translucent, gland-tipped hairs called sundew setae. These hairs glisten with droplets of a sticky secretion that helps the bug trap small insects. The leg itself is slender and yellow-green, and the fine detail reveals both the texture of the hairs and their distribution along the surface. The background is a soft, smooth blend of greens, keeping focus on the unique trapping adaptation in sharp clarity.

Some assassin bugs hunt with glue instead of force. Zelus species have sticky hairs on their front legs that snag small prey like flies or wasps. Once caught, the bug pierces the victim and drinks it down.
I've photographed the glue here.
🧪🌿 #Reduviidae #Invert #bugsky #hemiptera #entomology

A macrophotograph of an egg mass laid by a likely Zelus assassin bug, shown on the surface of a bright green leaf. The egg cluster has a dome-like, jelly-textured base in translucent reddish-brown with vertical striations. Perched on top is a compact, hexagonal arrangement of tiny cylindrical eggs, pale beige to amber in color, each with a distinctive circular cap. The overall appearance resembles a glossy, caramelized dessert, like a flan or crème caramel, sitting starkly against the vibrant green leaf veins. Tiny leaf hairs and surface textures are visible, adding contrast to the smooth, almost glassy quality of the egg mass. This is a common presentation for eggs in the Reduviidae family, particularly among ambush predators like Zelus species, known for their role in controlling pest populations.

For this Easter Sunday, everyone’s posting eggs, so here’s mine: probably a Zelus assassin bug egg mass. It looks like a forbidden flan, and with today’s egg prices, it’s almost tempting to eat this instead of flan.

🪲🪳 #Reduviidae #bugsky #Invertebrate #entomology #hemiptera 🌿

Another bug hunt … #phylogenetics #evolution #Reduviidae

#Reduviidae #AnimalArchitecture

Knowledge of insect species distributions is very patchy. In this new contribution we provide six new generic and 17 species records for various Netropical countries for assassin bugs #Reduviidae #Heteroptera
mapress.com/zt/article/v...

Insect completely covered by small brown particles. Only the tips of the antennae are exposed.

Inside this camouflage suit made of bark dust and frass is a juvenile masked hunter (Reduvius personatus). If you maintain an active population of bed bugs (or bat bugs) in your house be on the lookout for these predators. #hemiptera #reduviidae #insect #entomology #bedbugs

Image of jagged ambush bug on goldenrod

These jagged ambush bugs (Phymata sp.; #Hemiptera: #Reduviidae) are amazing hunters and their camouflage game is usually on point. They can catch some pretty big prey with those raptorial forelegs.

A shiny yellow and brown, wasp-like assassin bug resting on a leaf. It has jabbed and killed a much smaller trap-jaw ant using its proboscis and is feeding on it.

A shiny yellow and brown, wasp-like assassin bug resting on a leaf. It has jabbed and killed a much smaller trap-jaw ant using its proboscis and is feeding on it.

I hope today that you are the assassin #bug and not the ant.

[the ant took a beak in the knee]

#Reduviidae #Agriocoris flavipes
Soltis Center, Costa Rica (August)

Slim assassin bug.

#macrophotography #assassinbug #reduviidae

Acecho de depredador / Predator stalking
La chinche asesina (#Pselliopus sp.) familia #Reduviidae, orden #Hemiptera. #Guatemala #nature #naturaleza #wildlifephotography #naturephotography #macrophotography #fotografiamacro #entomology #entomologia #Insectos #Insects #PotreroCarrillo #Jalapa

Largest synanthropic species I've found in the house: Reduvius personatus

#Reduviidae #hemiptera #heteroptera #entomology