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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies (Hemiptera) » True Bugs (Heteroptera) » Cimicomorpha » Assassin Bugs (Reduviidae) » Harpactorinae » Harpactorini » Wheel Bugs (Arilus) » North American Wheel Bug (Arilus cristatus)
Photo#7473
Wheel Bugs--Mate Guarding - Arilus cristatus - male - female
Copyright © 2004 Cotinis

Wheel Bugs--Mate Guarding - Arilus cristatus - Male Female
Durham County, North Carolina, USA
September 25, 2004
Mating has already taken place. The female is eating a bumblebee, and the pair was hanging upside down under the leaves of Frostweed, Verbesina virginica. They remained joined for quite some time, wandering at least 6 feet (2 meters) in a few minutes. I wonder if the bee could have been a nuptial gift, presented by the male? (Too bad I did not see which bug made the kill.) I can't find any references to this behavior for Assassin Bugs.

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Wheel Bugs--Mate Guarding - Arilus cristatus - male - female Wheel Bugs--Mate Guarding - Arilus cristatus - male - female Wheel Bug Mate Guarding - Arilus cristatus - male - female
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Contributed by Cotinis on 28 September, 2004 - 8:52pm
Last updated 20 February, 2005 - 2:41pm

Wheel Bugs
Great photo. Are wheel bugs cannibalistic? If so, then occupying the female with food would obviously be advantageous. Cannibalism in mating mantids, for example, is markedly decreased when the female had been well fed.
… Richard Leung, 28 September, 2004 - 9:06pm login or register to post comments

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