Do you have any tips for telling leaf footed bugs and assassin bugs apart? They tend to look pretty similar to my eye. Is it just the fancy boots?
The leaf-like widened hind tibiae on leaf-footed bugs are sometimes a good indicator because assassin bugs don't have them at all. So if they do have them, they're a leaf-footed bug. But there are quite a lot of species of leaf-footed bugs that don't have them either, so a lack of them is not a good way to distinguish one from the other.
In addition to the fancy feet, leaf-footed bugs usually have thicker antennae with four rather visible segments. Assassin bug antennae tend to be more thread-like, often with a bend in the middle.
Both have tube-like piercing mouthparts, but assassin bugs have a thicker, shorter proboscis that's very obvious, whereas leaf-footed bugs tend to have a longer, thinner one that they fold neatly under their body and it's often not very visible without flipping them over to have a look.
Leaf-footed bug (Leptoglossus occidentalis):
Assassin bug (Zelus longipes):
(Photos are cc0/free use)
Obviously there are so many species with such a variety of morphology, there will always be exceptions, but those are at least a starting point.
101 notes
·
View notes
juice box: a Zelus luridus assassin bug drinks the life out of a little parasitoid wasp.
the first legs in Zelus and some other assassin bugs are covered in glue-tipped hairs, which help hold onto tiny, fast moving prey. other species—I think a Southeast Asian genus—collect sticky tree sap and apply it to their legs!
485 notes
·
View notes
I've received so much encouragement from my first post, I like to believe it's because that Aproida balyi looked so polite in her photos. in continuing the theme, I offer you some assassin bug faces:
Gnimatus wallengreni above, Pristhesancus plagipennis below! From the same tribe, Harpactorini.
i just think they look very friendly, nice boys with long snoots 👍
278 notes
·
View notes
Wheel bug
By: Leonard Lee Rue III
From: Wild, Wild World of Animals: Insects & Spiders
1977
90 notes
·
View notes
Ambush bug (a type of assassin bug) in the genus Phymata. These predatory insects hide on or under flowers, waiting to attack unsuspecting pollinators.
74 notes
·
View notes
I remembered I had this account, heres Apiomerus crassipes posing all nice from yesterday
236 notes
·
View notes
Pepsis-mimicking katydid and assassin bug in Nicaragua
317 notes
·
View notes
[PHOTOS TAKEN: JULY 17TH, 2023 | Image IDs: Two photos of an orange, black, and white pselliopus assassin bug nymph on the tip of a human finger, with blurred bushes in the background /End IDs.]
Wasn't even trying to handle this guy! It just happened to crawl on while I was tending to plants-
87 notes
·
View notes
I saw. SO MANY BUG today. (Sorry in advance for bad phone camera quality and shaky hands)
Male March fly!!! (Thanks to @microecobus for the ID!)
Baby sawfly!
Tiny assassin bug!
Flat bug (actually what they're called) and a zebra jumping spider!
Better look at the jumping spider!
Male California glowworm (species of firefly where only the babies and wingless females glow)!
Aphids!
Spittlebug (hiding in the foam on the leaf)!
And last but not least, a huge male snakefly (females have long ovipositors)!!!! So cool to find this one, I've only seen one in person once before in my life!
That's not counting the crane flies, honeybees, ants, little round orange mite, various flies, brown marmorated stink bug (of course), tiger butterfly, boxelder bugs, and tons of little parasitoid wasps I saw pollinating. An excellent bug day for Rev!
142 notes
·
View notes
Another cool assassin bug ref sheet for @mysterious-luck
59 notes
·
View notes
124 notes
·
View notes
hi i wanted to show u a fun assassin bug :) we call them chinches here in argentina!
handsome bug! in the northeastern US we get these Pselliopus—I wonder if yours are in the same genus
134 notes
·
View notes
Assasssin bug nymph / family Reduviidae
23 notes
·
View notes
Asassin bug (Phymata sp.) preying on a wasp
By: Edward S. Ross
From: Insects Close Up
1953
31 notes
·
View notes
JuneBug: Celestial Wheel Bug - Solar Variant (Arilus cristatus)
63 notes
·
View notes