Feb 20, 2009

Joe informed me that Wikipedia's picture of the day today features the assassin bug. The assassin bug, pictured here (via Wikipedia), isn't terribly assassin-looking. I would have preferred ninja garb, or a trench coat with the collar turned up, or maybe a three-piece suit and a tommy gun, but oh well. I guess a chitin carapace and a blood-sucking siphon for a tongue will do. And I'm sure there are some good nodules and bumps and hooks int here, too.

Watch the video below and see where the ugly kicks in. Watch a baby (nymph) assassin bug dine on the blood of a bat (touche,bat). And then check out this link for more photos of assassin bugs in action.

Thanks, Joe.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

in addition to being ugly, these guys are also called "kissing bugs" because of the big gross hickey they leave behind. AND they cause dangerous allergic reactions. also i recommend NEVER hitting one with a shoe. bloody globby icky devastation

Anonymous said...

In Central and South America, these guys are the vector for Chagas disease.

In the Eastern US, we have a common relative called a wheel-bug that has one of the most painful bites in nature. The bite of an assassin bug is pretty painless, but the bite of a wheel bug is like being pierced with a red hot dagger.

Anonymous said...

I love assassin bugs, especially the nymphs.

Here's one near H.P. Lovecraft’s grave in Providence RI.

Assassin in the mist

Anonymous said...

I found one of these in my house a few years ago. Apparently some of them can secrete a sort of glue which makes small things stick to them and camoflauges them using elements from the environment they live in.

This one was camoflauged like a dust bunny.

Milton Segura said...

I don't know if you noticed but this post doesn't have a title.

[you can delete this after you've read it]