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Species Melanolestes picipes - Black Corsair
Classification Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hemiptera (True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies)
Suborder Heteroptera (True Bugs)
Family Reduviidae (Assassin Bugs)
Genus Melanolestes
Species picipes (Black Corsair)
Other Common Names "Red-and-black Corsair" (coinage for form "abdominalis"), Black May Beetle-eater Synonyms and other taxonomic changes Melanolestes abdominalis, marked with orange on abdomen, now believed to be a color form of Melanolestes picipes--see comments here, and McPherson et al. (1992). Identification All black, medium-sized assassin bug. Resembles Reduvius personatus. All males have fully developed wings (macropterous). Wings of female are variable, many are just stubs (micropterous). "M. abominalis", formerly considered a distinct species, has red abdomen, now considered to be a color form of M. picipes.
Very curiously, Blatchley (1) notes that females of abdominalis (he lists as full species) are frequently long-winged, while females of picipes usually have short wings. Range Much of North America, e.g., northeast, central, southern United States, including Florida. Blatchley (1) states range is "Quebec and New England west to Minnesota and south and southwest to Florida, Texas, and California." Season August-May (North Carolina) Food Predatory on other insects. Reported to feed on May Beetles, Phyllophaga, attacking them from behind, holding on with spongy pads on legs. Life Cycle Females are (often) flightless, tend to live under logs, stones, etc. Adults overwinter under logs, in piles of weeds, etc. Males seen in open in spring, presumably searching for females? During mating, spongy pads on legs are used by males to mount females. Female is reported to stridulate with beak during mating, perhaps (?) to deter attack by male. Eggs are laid singly into soil beneath rocks. Males come to lights in summer. Remarks Caution: reported to sometimes bite humans. See Also Reduvius personatus--note that front and middle tibiae are more slender, thorax is less shiny
Print References Slater, p. 129, fig. 240 (2)
Lutz, 3rd. ed., p. 98 (5)
Taber, p. 80, fig. 68 (6)
McPherson, J. E., S. L. Keffer, and S. J. Taylor. 1992. Taxonomic status of Melanolestes picipes and M. abdominalis (Heteroptera: Reduviidae). The Florida Entomologist 74(3):396-403. (Provided by BugGuide user Ceuthophilus.) Internet References Univ. Kentucky--photo of female
Works Cited | 2. | How to Know the True Bugs
By Slater, James A., and Baranowski, Richard M. | |
Contributed by Cotinis on 23 September, 2004 - 12:06am Last updated 16 June, 2009 - 6:47am |
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