bumblebee milkshake (creepy bug warning!)

[The Hooded Claw]

This is a wheelbug feeding on a bumble bee. She (I suspect it is a she on no good evidence) is holding her meal in her front legs, and has inserted her pipestem mouth. Wheelbugs are a form of assassin bug, and inject a paralyzing poison through their pipelike mouths. The poison also dissolves the victim's insides, so the wheelbug can begin feeding on (as I call it) "Bumblebee Milkshake".  The name "wheelbug" comes from the arched back with gear-like pegs sticking out of it that you can see in the upper left corner of this photo.

I once posted this photo at a nature photography site during a Halloween-theme week with the title "Space alien sucks life from innocent earthling!"

Here's another shot of the same wheelbug hanging upside-down and feeding on a different victim:



If you look carefully, you can see where this honeybee extended her stinger, perhaps in an attempt to strike back in death.

[telracs]

Well, here's a non-dying bumblebee on a cone flower....

[terryr]

Great shot...I've never seen a wheelbug before. How did you hunt it out? Did you have to wait long for the shot(s)?

[The Hooded Claw]

Great shot...I've never seen a wheelbug before. How did you hunt it out? Did you have to wait long for the shot(s)?

I went to a place where there were a LOT of flowering plants, looking for pollinators and the predators who feed on them, and found the wheelbug.  This was the first one I'd ever seen "for real", though I've seen a few since.  I spent all afternoon in the area photographing this bug and others in the area, but quite a lot of time (an hour, maybe?) was spent focused on her (because of her size, I've always assumed this was a she, though I can't tell, and to my knowledge no human can without a VERY close examination).  I went back the next morning and got a few more shots of her.  The next weekend I went back, and couldn't find her.  I don't know if the predator was predated, or if she had just moved to another area where I missed her.

[R. Doug]

That was really cool.  Never heard of the darned things.  Just looked wheelbugs up on Wikipedia.  Pretty fascinating.

[◄ Jess ►]

That bug is AWESOME. Kind of creepy and evil-looking, but awesome nonetheless. Thanks for sharing, I had never seen a wheelbug before.