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Assassin Bug

Rhynocoris sp.

Description:

large insect, almost 2" long, bright orange and black

Habitat:

rainforest

Notes:

this assassin bug landed on our canoe as we paddled through flooded forest

1 Species ID Suggestions

Ashish
Ashish 13 years ago
Red Silk Cotton Bug
Dysdercus koenigii Dysdercus koenigii , the Red cotton bug


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36 Comments (1–25)

VaishaliKain
VaishaliKain 12 years ago

beautiful!!!!

Dan Doucette
Dan Doucette 12 years ago

Thanks Karen!

KarenL
KarenL 12 years ago

Very cool!

Ashish Nimkar
Ashish Nimkar 12 years ago

If you study the sucking part and Neck part its different. Legs are also not hairy, so its little different, need help of local zoologist.

Ashish Nimkar
Ashish Nimkar 12 years ago

Good work Dan. I am not nature specialist, but I am satisfied with my one observational satisfaction is accepted.

Dan Doucette
Dan Doucette 13 years ago

I have added all the photos I have of this to help with ID

Ashish Nimkar
Ashish Nimkar 13 years ago

I checked some mating pics of these bugs, observed male and female has little different shape. Dan need to find need spotting of this bug. Neck part and sucking part is most important to define species. These long Greek names contains their type of bugs body parts. I get this information just checking accurate specie of this bug. Dan please take more pictures in more different angles of this bug.

Dan Doucette
Dan Doucette 13 years ago

thanks again Latimeria

Latimeria
Latimeria 13 years ago

You're on the right track with the Reduviidae. I'm pretty sure that it's an assassin bug. It's not Dysdercus koenigii for two reasons. 1 - This is a South American species, while Dysdercus koenigii is an Asian species. 2 - The body plan is different, more akin to the seed bugs or fire bugs. So, we can rule that one out.

It's definitely not a stink bug either, so we can rule out the Pentatomidae. I think Lars is on to something with Rhynocoris and the stripe pattern.

I've searched around online, but I'm not having much luck finding similar-looking Rhynocoris pictures. It looks remarkably like a milkweed bug, which is pretty sweet. I'll have to do some more research later, but these are the families I think this one is most likely to be in:

Reduviidae
Coreidae
Alydidae

LarsKorb
LarsKorb 13 years ago

Rhyconoris bugs are from the family of the Reduviidae, Superfamily Cimicomorpha, Suborder Heteroptera...so, i still believe we're on the right track with the Reduviidae

Ashish Nimkar
Ashish Nimkar 13 years ago

Its matching as Cotton pest...No need more..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentatomida...
http://www.google.co.in/search?sourceid=...

Lars also comes to Pentatomidae

LarsKorb
LarsKorb 13 years ago

a step closer, i guess: I think its a part of the Rhynocoris family...they basicly have all that "zebra" pattern on the sides of the body-ends..

(http://www.koleopterologie.de/heteropter...)

Ashish Nimkar
Ashish Nimkar 13 years ago

Yes its Cotton pest..due to change in colours, size in different continent as per atmospheric habitat some change is there...They tough to classify properly.

Dan Doucette
Dan Doucette 13 years ago

thanks Ashish, the photo at the top of the link looks a lot more like it, I think we're on the right track now....

LarsKorb
LarsKorb 13 years ago

you're welcome, Dan....I'll keep the eye on it.

Dan Doucette
Dan Doucette 13 years ago

thanks for all the work you guys put into this spotting. Lars, it does look similar to the link you provided, but like you said, I am looking for the exact species.
Ashish, it does look like it could be a member of the Coreoidea family.
the search continues.....

Ashish Nimkar
Ashish Nimkar 13 years ago

Its original family is as following link
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentatomoid...

peter
peter 13 years ago

Looks more like some kind of Milkweed bug to me but they are mostly North American, so I'm not 100% positive.

http://akdavis.myweb.uga.edu/Undergrads/...

LarsKorb
LarsKorb 13 years ago

I know there are some differences, Ashish.
But it's obvious that's some kind of assassin bug - the entire shape of the corpus is telling...so we got to put our focus on that family.

Ashish Nimkar
Ashish Nimkar 13 years ago

Lars its kind of some different bug you are telling.. in your reference I obsereved its legs are hairy..wings closed with different style..so not matching...Neck to head also not matching...see my spotting its almost same like Dan..

LarsKorb
LarsKorb 13 years ago

It's definetely an Assassin Bug or Reduviidae (lat.) - but i think Dan wants to know the exact species.

thats what i found so far: http://www.geo.de/GEOlino/natur/tiere/53...

It says its a Assassin Bug (Raubwanze), which habitat is in Costa Rica.
(Though i figure not the exact pattern in comparison of both pictures - but i think it's pretty close...maybe a question of the position of the wings and how they're correctly folded?)

Dan Doucette
Spotted by
Dan Doucette

Juruá, Brazil

Spotted on Feb 10, 2010
Submitted on Apr 27, 2011

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