Scary! Scary!

My brother-in-law is scared of large Cockroaches, my partner of Praying Mantis’, and me – well Assasin Bugs. I must confess few insects give me the heeby-jeebies like these red and black coloured insects. They hunt in ferocious packs, much like African Wild Dogs do, like the Velociraptor dinosaurs are portrayed to have done. I came across this swarm of juvenile Assassin bugs (Ectrichodia crux) hiding up in the undergrowth, awaiting nightfall, when they head-out under cover of darkness to find their prey.

And who are the victims of these fire-red assassins? – the poor millipede. Packs of these roving killers will swarm over a millipede and incapacitate it by piercing it with their sharp probosces that inject a venom. The millipede will writhe and thrash around under the assault, trying to escape, until incapacitated by the paralysing venom. Now, still alive, the millipede has its internal fluids siphoned-out by the attackers. Witnessing this, I felt great pity for the millipede, but did not intervene, this event being in the realm of the natural world.

Older Assassin bugs change their appearance, often looking more orange or brown, with a marked indentation in the form of a cross on their thorax. On occasion on the Berea, one will find a band of these hunters composed of different sizes and development.

Graham Leslie McCallum