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Updated: Aug 1, 2025
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Harvesting Venom Toxins from Assassin Bugs and Other Heteropteran Insects
Published on: April 21, 2018
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Assassin bugs enhance prey capture with a sticky resin
Fernando G Soley1, Marie E Herberstein1
1School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW 2109, Australia.
Biology Letters
|May 1, 2023
Summary
Assassin bugs use plant resin as a tool, providing a predatory advantage. This tool-use behavior in *Gorareduvius* sp. is innate, suggesting it is common in assassin bugs.
Area of Science:
- Animal behavior
- Insect ecology
- Evolution of tool use
Background:
- Tool-use is a complex behavior rarely observed in insects.
- Assassin bugs (Reduviidae) are hypothesized to use plant resins for prey capture.
- The prevalence and nature of tool-use in insects remain underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the functional significance of resin application by assassin bugs.
- To determine if resin-use confers a predatory advantage.
- To assess the developmental basis and prevalence of tool-use in *Gorareduvius* sp.
Main Methods:
- Predatory interactions were staged using resin-deprived and resin-equipped *Gorareduvius* sp. assassin bugs.
- The success rate of prey capture was compared between experimental groups.
- The presence of tool-use behavior was observed across different developmental stages, including nymphs.
Main Results:
- Assassin bugs equipped with plant resin demonstrated a clear predatory advantage over resin-deprived individuals.
- *Gorareduvius* sp. successfully utilized resin as a tool to enhance prey capture.
- Tool-use behavior was observed in all tested individuals, including newly hatched nymphs, indicating it is stereotyped.
Conclusions:
- *Gorareduvius* sp. are confirmed tool-users, employing plant resin as a functional adaptation for predation.
- The stereotyped nature of this behavior suggests a significant evolutionary role for tool-use within this assassin bug species.
- Assassin bugs exhibit a disproportionately high incidence of tool-use compared to other insect groups.
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