Possibly Damsel Bug

Specimen ID
Location: Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area Visitor Center, Las Vegas NV
March 20, 2012 3:09 pm
This was caught a number of times in a Malaise Trap. About 20 mm. I think it is one of the Damsel bugs (Nabidae) and perhaps the genus Nabis.
What do you think?
Signature: Bruce Lund

Hi Bruce,
It does look predatory to us.  Small Hemipterans can be very difficult for us to identify.  We are content to classify this as a Damsel Bug on our site until a real expert can provide us with other information.  See BugGuide for additional information.

Thanks Daniel!

I’m leading a high school club doing an insect survey in the Red Rock
Canyon National Conservation Area (RRCNCA) here in Las Vegas.  It’s a neat
collaboration with the Bureau of Land Management (manages RRCNCA) is
enthusiastically allowing me and my students to survey for insects with
nets, traps, etc. as our ‘field laboratory’.  The West Career and
Technical Academy high school is also excited to have this experience for
their students and has provided us with a biology classroom/lab as our
home base with equipment like microscopes, computer, printer, etc.  The
non-profit Red Rock Canyon Interpretive Association is providing funding
for purchase of nets and other collecting equipment, books, and more.
This survey should run for at least 2 full school years and so the
students will become quite accomplished young entomologists and RRCNCA
will get valuable biological survey work on a major wildlife group as well
as interpretive materials from the students.

This is a long way of letting you know you will be getting ID requests
from my students over time. Be assured that we will only be sending
requests AFTER we have done all we can to ID specimens through references,
keys, Bugguide, local experts (very few). Let me know if you have thoughts
about all this, even if you’d rather not have my students send images.

Bruce Lund

Thanks for the Head’s Up Bruce.  We will have to find a way for our staff to single out your future submissions for attention as our requests for identification are beginning to increase.  This project sounds like a wonderful opportunity.

I’m not surprised at your lack of NV submissions because there are hardly
any insect field workers in the state.  For years, I’ve been virtually the
only one working on dragonflies and damselflies and just in my small work
area (basically the three southern counties), I found 6 new county records
and a state record.  It’s not because I’m so good, rather because so few
people are or have been looking.  In case it might be of interest,
attached is an ARGIA article on local odonates done by me and Alan Myrup.
I’m not putting Alan down, but 98% of the article was my work -it’s a long
story.

And now I’ve started expanding into all insects – a huge personal
challenge, but fun and rewarding.