Ground Assassin Bug - Ectomocoris patricius
Family Reduviidae
This page contains pictures and information about Ground Assassin Bugs that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Body length 20mm
- We found those orange and black assassin bugs running very fast on forest floor. This bug will bite if handle by bare hand. The insect has very strong front pair legs. All its legs are orange in colour. Its orange colour body and black pattern are the standard assassin bug warning colours.
- Those pictures show the wingless female. Their males are winged. This bug was sometimes found under loose bark or on ground among plants materials.
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- Photos above were taken in Karawatha Forest, Alexandra Hill and Mt Coot-tha.
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- This Ground Assassin Bug was wandering, could be hunting, on footpath in Mt Coot-tha Feb 2008. When it noticed us approaching, it quickly ran into plant materials on ground for hiding.
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- Reference:
- 1. Insects
of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 496.
- 2. Assassin Bugs - Insects Leaflet 0037, Geoff Monteith, Queensland Museum, 2000
- 3. Reduviidae: Ectomocoris decoratus (Stal) - assassin bug - ICDB, AGRICULTURE WESTERN AUSTRALIA.
- 4. Callisphodrus patricius Stål, 1867 - Swedish Museum of Natural History.
- 5. Ectomocoris decoratus - lifeseen.com, by Nick Monaghan.
- 6. Species Ectomocoris patricius (Stål, 1866) - Australian Faunal Directory, Australian Biological Resources Study.
