In pursuit of unknown assassin bugs
Tuesday, September 9, 2014 - 06:10
in Paleontology & Archaeology
Entomologist Christiane Weirauch is passionate about studying a group of bugs that have a formidable name: assassin bugs. A professor of entomology at the University of California, Riverside, she travels worldwide in search of these insects that acquire their name from how they stealthily await prey—usually other insects —only to stab them with their beaks. The bug then injects venom into the prey's body, paralyzing it and dissolving the tissue into a gooey liquid that it feeds upon.