Ambush Bug eats Honey Bee

bugman

December 2nd, 2007 at 1:00 am

Tags

food chain

Flaky spotted bug thing…
Hi,
I so enjoy your site, thanks for helping me out on this one. I tried to browse your site to figure out what this was, but wasn’t even sure what to type in the query. I apologize for it being sort of cropped off, but maybe it’s enough to give you an idea. I was out deadheading marigolds and actually saw this bug the day before. I thought it was a flaky dried piece of leaf and almost brushed it away. When I looked at it more closely, on that first day, it was actually two bugs. The one you see in this image and a smaller "baby" piggybacking it. It just looks so surreal to me and very creepy what it seems to be doing to that poor bee! Thanks…
Marisa Longmont, CO

Hi Marisa,
This is an Ambush Bug feeding on a Honey Bee. Ambush Bugs are True Bugs that, as their name implies, ambush prey. What you witnessed the day before was mating activity.

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