North American wheel bug

Insects

Arilus cristatus, also called the North American wheel bug or wheel bug, is a large assassin bug in the family Reduviidae. It is the only wheel bug species found in the United States and can reach 38 mm in adult length. Females are somewhat larger than males. The species is identified by a wheel-shaped ridge on its thorax and uses its proboscis to inject and dissolve prey tissue.

Family: Reduviidae
Adult length: Up to 38 mm (1.5 in)
Distinctive feature: Wheel-shaped pronotal ridge along the thorax

Sources and credits

Article: Arilus cristatus (English Wikipedia)
Wikidata: Q7992007
Text: Card text is adapted from the English Wikipedia article by an automated summary. Wikipedia content is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for its contributors. CC BY-SA 4.0 · Article history and contributors
Illustration: By Ryan Kaldari. Public domain · File page on Wikimedia Commons
Ryan Kaldari, Own work
Modifications: Resized and converted to WebP
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