Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » True Bugs (Heteroptera) » Cimicomorpha » Assassin Bugs (Reduviidae) » Harpactorinae » Apiomerus » Yellow-bellied Bee Assassin (Apiomerus flaviventris)

Species Apiomerus flaviventris - Yellow-bellied Bee Assassin

Apiomerus flaviventris? - Apiomerus flaviventris

Yellow-bellied Bee Assassin - Apiomerus flaviventris - male

Yellow-bellied Bee Assassin? - Apiomerus flaviventris

Yellow-bellied Bee Assassin with prey - Apiomerus flaviventris

Apiomerus flaviventris? - Apiomerus flaviventris - 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 Harpactorinae

Genus Apiomerus

Species flaviventris (Yellow-bellied Bee Assassin)

Explanation of Names

Apiomerus flaviventris Herrich-Schaeffer, 1848

flaviventris (L). 'yellow-bellied'

Size

Males: 15.2-18.0 mm. Females: 17.0-19.9 mm.

Identification

Sympatric with the following members of the crassipes group (separated by genitalia): A. californicus, A. cazieri, A. montanus, and A. spissipes. Easily separated from A. californicus and A. montanus by their black coloration. Separated from A. cazieri and A. spissipes by its bright coloration and bright yellow abdominal venter. A. flaviventris is also much larger than A. cazieri.

Range

sw US (s.CA-w.TX, CO, s.NV) / Mex. - Map (1)(2), mostly s.CA-AZ-s.NV

Remarks

This species exhibits a high level of polychromatism although in the United States the color pattern is fairly uniform (3).

The female collects resin from plants and applies it to freshly laid eggs as a defensive substance.

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.	Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)

3.	Revision of the crassipes and pictipes species groups of Apiomerus Hahn (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Harpactorinae) Berniker L., Szerlip S., Forero D., Weirauch C. 2011. Zootaxa 2949: 1–113.

Contributed by Eric R. Eaton on 17 April, 2007 - 2:55pm
Additional contributions by Mike Quinn, drswanny, Ron M., Arturo Santos
Last updated 6 October, 2023 - 12:59pm

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