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Genus Phymata - Jagged Ambush Bugs

Ambush Bug - Phymata Jagged Ambush Bug - Phymata pennsylvanica - male ¤¥3 - Phymata americana - female Ambush bug? - Phymata americana Ambush bug nymph on flower - Phymata insect - Phymata Unknown red bug - Phymata arctostaphylae Jagged Ambush bug - Phymata
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 Phymatinae (Ambush Bugs)
Genus Phymata (Jagged Ambush Bugs)
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
erosa species-group revised in (1)
Explanation of Names
Phymata Latreille 1802
'swollen'
Numbers
21 spp. in our area, ~110 total(1)
Identification
Scutellum triangular and shorter than pronotum, protarsi small but distinct(2)(3)
obsolete key to spp. in (4) • key to two eastern spp. in (5) • key to 5 spp. present or likely to occur in AL in (6)
Range
widely dist. in NA; most diverse in w/sw US(1)
Habitat
typically on flowers in open/semi-open habitats
Food
small insects and other arthropods
Life Cycle
"Coupling may involve several males riding around on a single female. Sometimes it allows them to take down larger prey, although coupling individuals have been found each with their own prey as well. Mating occurs with the male mounted on the side of the female" (comment by drswanny).

Eggs · nymph · final molt · adults (coupling) · adults (mating)
Works Cited
1.Taxonomic revision of the Nearctic erosa species group of Phymata Latreille, 1802 (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Phymatinae)
Masonick P., Weirauch C. 2020. Can. J. Arthropod Identification 41: 90 pp.
2.American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico
Ross H. Arnett. 2000. CRC Press.
3.How to Know the True Bugs
Slater, James A., and Baranowski, Richard M. 1978. Wm. C. Brown Company.
4.Revision of Phymatinae (Hemiptera, Phymatidae)
Kormilev N. 1960. Philippine J. Sci. 89: 287-486.
5.A review of the ambush bugs (Heteroptera: Reduviidae: Phymatinae) of Michigan: identification and additional considerations...
Swanson D.R. 2013. Great Lakes Entomol. 46: 154-164.
6.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.