Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Genus Empicoris

Thread-Legged Bug - Empicoris? - Empicoris rubromaculatus Thread-legged Bug - Empicoris rubromaculatus Thread-legged Bug - Empicoris errabundus Empicoris? - Empicoris rubromaculatus Bug - Empicoris culiciformis Emesin - Empicoris errabundus Empicoris male? - Empicoris rubromaculatus - male Empicoris male? - Empicoris rubromaculatus - male
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hemiptera (True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies)
Suborder Heteroptera (True Bugs)
Infraorder Cimicomorpha
Family Reduviidae (Assassin Bugs)
Subfamily Emesinae (Thread-legged Bugs)
Tribe Ploiariolini
Genus Empicoris
Explanation of Names
Empicoris Wolff 1811
Numbers
14 spp. (incl. at least 3 adventive) in our area(1)(2), ~90 total
not yet in the guide:
Empicoris incredibilis Wygodzinsky 1966 AZ
Empicoris armatus (Champion 1898) FL
Empicoris barberi (McAtee & Malloch 1923) FL
Empicoris nudus McAtee & Malloch 1925 FL
Empicoris palmensis Blatchley 1926 FL
Empicoris parshleyi (Bergroth 1922) QC‒VA‒MI
Size
3‒7 mm(3)
Identification
forecoxae at least four times longer than wide, and extending beyond apex of head; femora, tibiae, and antennae banded black and white; forefemora thickened, elongate; wings slender, extending slightly beyond tip of abdomen
Keys to spp.: (4) (NB: treats E. orthoneuron as a syn. of E. errabundus) • se US (5) • 4 subcosmopolitan spp. (6) • European spp. (7) (covers all the spp. adventive in our area)
Range
worldwide
Habitat
on foliage or trunks/branches of trees and shrubs
Food
terrestrial arthropods
See Also
Print References
Lattin J.D., Wetherill K. (2001) Five species of Empicoris Wolff from Corylus cornuta and Corylus avellena in Oregon. Pan-Pac. entomol. 77: 275‒276 (Full text)
Works Cited
1.Catalog of the Heteroptera, or True Bugs of Canada and the Continental United States
Thomas J. Henry, Richard C. Froeschner. 1988. Brill Academic Publishers.
2.Alien true bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) in Canada: composition and adaptations
Scudder G.G.E., Foottit R.G. 2006. Can. Entomol. 138: 24-51.
3.A monograph of the Emesinae (Reduviidae, Hemiptera)
Pedro W. Wygodzinsky. 1966. New York : [American Museum of Natural History].
4.Notas sobre algumas espécies de Empicoris americanas (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae)
Gil-Santana H.R., Baena M., Silva-da-Silva L.R., Zeraik S.O. 2005. Bol. Soc. Ent. Aragon. 36: 137–142.
5.The Reduviidae (Hemiptera: Heteroptera) of Alabama, with a morphological key to species
Clem C.S., Swanson D.R., Ray C.H. 2019. Zootaxa 4688: 151–198.
6.Synopsis of the genus Empicoris (Hemiptera: Heteroptera: Reduviidae) in Chile
Melo C.M., Faúndez E.I. 2011. Acta Ent. Mus. Nat. Pragae 51: 11‒20.
7.Révision des Empicoris Wolff d’Europe (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Emesinae)
Putshkov P.V., Ribes J., Moulet P. 1999. Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. (N.S.) 35: 31–70.