Species Reduvius personatus - Masked Hunter

Bed Bug Hunter

Reduvius personatus (Linnaeus 1758)

16-22 mm (vs <15 mm in other nearctic spp.)(1)

Adults are uniformly black or sometimes dark brown. Nymphs cover themselves with dust, lint, sand, and other debris which usually matches the color of their immediate surroundings and makes the nymphs difficult to detect.

Adult:

Nymphs:

widely dist., except se Gulf States - Map (2)(1)(3)

This species is common in many areas of the United States, especially in the east and northwest, including the northern Great Basin. We have seen many specimens from the states of Washington, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, and Colorado, and also some from Arizona, but the species is significantly very rare in California, never having been reported in the literature; we have seen only one specimen. Now adventitiously cosmopolitan. Other spp. of Reduvius occur in the sw: southern CA to west TX, rarely UT(1)(2)

Adults and nymphs are found around buildings and in wooded areas; both are attracted to light.

Adults and nymphs prey on small arthropods such as woodlice, lacewings, earwigs, bed bugs (Cimex spp.), and Swallow Bugs (Oeciacus vicarius)

Can inflict a painful bite but does not feed on blood, and does not transmit diseases.

Introduced from Europe

Melanolestes picipes is more robust, with an enlarged, conspicuously smooth and shiny prothorax, and modified forelegs

- Range: e. US to Calif.

Pennsylvania State University, 2017[cite:612026]