{"id":6792,"date":"2009-09-29T14:55:29","date_gmt":"2009-09-29T19:55:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/?p=6792"},"modified":"2017-06-15T09:13:12","modified_gmt":"2017-06-15T14:13:12","slug":"ambush-bugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/bug-of-the-week\/ambush-bugs\/","title":{"rendered":"Ambush Bugs (Family Reduviidae)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Greetings, BugFans,<\/p>\n<p>Ambush bugs wear the name \u201cbug\u201d proudly and legitimately. They are members of the order Hemiptera (half-wing), which means that their forewings have two different textures&mdash;the proximal half (closest to the body) is leathery, and the distal half (away from the body) is membranous, like a fly\u2019s wing. Hemipterans have a \u201cbeak\u201d for sucking, and this beak is tucked in under its \u201cchin.\u201d In newer field guides, Hemipterans (the True Bugs) have been lumped with the nearby Homopterans (Cicadas, leafhoppers, aphids, scales and spittlebugs), a merger that the BugLady is resisting.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsOne.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsOne.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"700\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6793\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsOne.jpg 500w, https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsOne-214x300.jpg 214w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>They are described in <em>The Insect Guide<\/em> by Ralph B. Swain as \u201ca small group of oddly-shaped insects.\u201d What they do well is predation, and to that end, ambush bugs are equipped with a few adaptations that allow them to prey on insects much, much larger than they are:<\/p>\n<p>First, they have Arnold Schwarzenegger biceps; their front femora\/legs are very muscular.<\/p>\n<p>Second, like those of a preying mantis, each front leg ends in a hook (tibia) that locks into groove on the burly femur, resulting in a pincer-like arrangement that is described as \u201craptorial.\u201d Weighing in at less than \u00bd\u201d they routinely catch prey like bees, flies, bumblebees, butterflies, and moths.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsTwo.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsTwo.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"500\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-6794\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsTwo.jpg 700w, https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsTwo-300x214.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Third, once captured, the prey is pierced by the ambush bug\u2019s beak and injected with a toxic fluid that, according to Stokes in <em>A Guide to Observing Insect Lives<\/em>, softens the prey\u2019s tissues (and, incidentally, slightly inflates its carcass; think&mdash;teeny balloon). The prey\u2019s innards are sucked out by the ambush bug, and the exoskeleton is discarded.<\/p>\n<p>Fourth, they are awesomely camouflaged (can you see the ambush bug that caught the small wasp on the goldenrod flower?). Slow-moving, disruptively colored, often \u201carmored with spines,\u201d they wait on flowers for supper to arrive. The BugLady\u2019s first clue to their presence is often a bee or butterfly that is hanging motionlessly from a flower.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsThree.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsThree.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6795\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsThree.jpg 500w, https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsThree-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsThree-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Because they practice simple\/incomplete metamorphosis, young ambush bugs (which, according to Stokes, hatch out at half the size of a fruit fly) resemble old ambush bugs. They hatch out \u201cplain\u201d and add markings as they molt. The nymphs eat and behave like their elders, too.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsFour.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsFour.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6796\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsFour.jpg 500w, https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsFour-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsFour-300x300.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Ambush bugs used to claim the distinction of being in their own family, Phymatidae. They have now been rolled into the larger Assassin bug family Reduviidae. Assassin bugs tend to be sleeker than ambush bugs. Among the attachments is a picture of a lovely little assassin bug, with (maybe) the lovely name of <em>Zelus luridus<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsFive.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsFive.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"700\" height=\"500\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6797\" srcset=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsFive.jpg 700w, https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsFive-300x214.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The BugLady loves scrutinizing summer flowers and finding ambush and other \u201cbugs\u201d engaged in the serious dramas of life and death on the flower tops. As she gets even more far-sighted in her old age, she especially enjoys editing a flower picture and discovering in it an ambush that she didn\u2019t see in the field.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<br \/>\n<em>The BugLady<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Ambush bugs<\/strong> wear the name \u201cbug\u201d proudly and legitimately, which means that their forewings have two different textures&mdash;the proximal half (closest to the body) is leathery, and the distal half (away from the body) is membranous, like a fly\u2019s wing. They have a \u201cbeak\u201d for sucking, and this beak is tucked in under its \u201cchin.\u201d What they do well is predation, and to that end, ambush bugs are equipped with a few adaptations that allow them to prey on insects much, much larger than they are:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3993,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[8],"tags":[154],"class_list":["post-6792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bug-of-the-week","tag-true-bugs"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.2 (Yoast SEO v27.2) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Field Station<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/bug-of-the-week\/ambush-bugs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ambush Bugs (Family Reduviidae)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ambush bugs wear the name \u201cbug\u201d proudly and legitimately, which means that their forewings have two different textures&mdash;the proximal half (closest to the body) is leathery, and the distal half (away from the body) is membranous, like a fly\u2019s wing. They have a \u201cbeak\u201d for sucking, and this beak is tucked in under its \u201cchin.\u201d What they do well is predation, and to that end, ambush bugs are equipped with a few adaptations that allow them to prey on insects much, much larger than they are:\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/bug-of-the-week\/ambush-bugs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Field Station\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-09-29T19:55:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-06-15T14:13:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsOne.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/bug-of-the-week\/ambush-bugs\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/bug-of-the-week\/ambush-bugs\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Ambush Bugs (Family Reduviidae)\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-09-29T19:55:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-06-15T14:13:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/bug-of-the-week\/ambush-bugs\/\"},\"wordCount\":488,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/bug-of-the-week\/ambush-bugs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/380\/2017\/02\/ambushBugsOne.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"True Bugs\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Bug of the Week\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/bug-of-the-week\/ambush-bugs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/field-station\/bug-of-the-week\/ambush-bugs\/\",\"name\":\"Ambush Bugs (Family Reduviidae) - 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