David Element
Wildlife
Photography and Digital Video Images
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________Bugs 21 – Red Assassin
Bugs
RED
ASSASSIN BUG Rhinocoris iracundus
RED
ASSASSIN BUG Rhinocoris iracundus RED
ASSASSIN BUG Rhinocoris iracundus
RED ASSASSIN BUG Rhinocoris iracundus
- It was curtains for an
unfortunate (unidentifiable) Digger
Wasp in the final photograph. It had
met with the rather unpleasant fate of being trapped firmly by a Red
Assassin Bug Rhinocoris iracundus
(how could it be anything other than predatory with a name like this?),
having the re-curved beak-like rostrum (feeding apparatus) inserted, and
then being sucked dry, finally being discarded as an empty husk once the
bug had topped up its energy supplies. These large bugs capture their
prey by stealth, and their bright red warning colours would suggest that
they are unpalatable to predators. Their bite is said to be painful and
they have toxic saliva so they should not be handled. When not in use the
segmented rostrum is tucked away underneath the body. These photographs
were taken in the south of France. R. cuspidatus
is stated to have yellow-and-black markings along the abdominal margins, and
predominantly black legs - but there are on-line reference photographs,
possibly misidentifications, showing them with black-and-red margins.
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