Phymata crassipes Insect Assassin Bug Hemipterus Heteroptera

Phymata crassipes mm 7-9 Insect Assassin Bug Hemipterus Heteroptera.
Family: Reduviidae.
Common name: Thread-Legged Bug.
Syn. Acanthia crassipes.

The Reduvids are mainly zoophagous hemiptera, predators of arthropods, or bloodsucking. They are known for their marked aggressiveness, which in several species also targets vertebrates, including humans, producing particularly painful bites. Moreover, many reduvids are commonly called with names that recall their dangerousness or their aggressiveness (eg "killer bugs").
The hematophagous species represent, together with the Cimicides, the few bugs of medical interest and some tropical species can transmit, with their sting, pathogenic protozoa (eg Triatoma infestans). Although they are often useful as they also attack harmful insects, they can also turn against auxiliary insects such as other predators (e.g. Coccinellids) or pollinators (e.g. bees). The behavior in predation is also singular, as many Reduvids usually hide to ambush their victims, or camouflage themselves by covering their body with debris (eg juvenile stages of Reduvius personatus). Cannibalism is also frequent, a behavior that is not uncommon in many predatory insects. In some cases cannibalism is taken to the extreme as, for example, in the species Rhinocoris erythropus, whose female can even attack the nymphs born from her own eggs.