Mantis like Bug

[rebirthflame]

just been watching living planet (a david attenborough series) and i came across this strange creature that lives on hawaii, praying mantis didnt reach as far as these islands so this flightless bug evolved the same claws as them. its strange how convergent evolution can produce animals which have the same hunting apparatus.

sorry about the text oscuring it a bit but i couldnt find a good free avi image grabber.

 

[xenuwantsyou]

That's pretty neat. It reminds me of the "fairy" in Pan's Labyrinth.

 

[Rob Byatt]

Assassin bugs come in all weird and wonderful shapes and sizes. I have always admired ther tenacity.

Rob.

 

[ABbuggin]

There are several sp. native to North America that are very similar to that one (one in particular has practically the same body except alot skinnier).

Google Thread Legged Assassin Bug and you will see what I mean.

 

[rebirthflame]

i didnt realise it was an assissin

they are very similar must have been blown over there, quite a distance for one to travel though :shock:

 

[AFK]

i've only seen one or two of those in my entire life. some entomologists consider these in a separate family from assassin bugs. and if i recall correctly, these guys sometimes will snatch and steal ensnared prey from spider webs and even being able to walk on the web undetected. pretty cool.

another hemipteran commonly confused with the thread-legged bug or vice versa is the stilt bug, but it's pretty easy to identify by it's lack raptorial front legs typical of assassin bugs.

 

[rebirthflame]

ive only heard of other spiders being able to do that, there is a sp (forgot which one) that steals a much larger spiders prey by cutting off the strings around the prey item and attaching it to its own line, all under the others nose.

 

[ABbuggin]

I forgot that AFK....good point. I have actually seen one of those walk on a web....they love mosquitoes!

 

[AFK]

check it out. both of these website misidentified these 2 stilt bugs as thread-legged bugs:

http://www.easttennesseewildflowers.com/ga...id=Deadly_daisy

http://www.pbase.com/dougsmit/image/59326435

stilt bugs have that knob at the tips of their antennae too!

 

[infinity]

yeah, there are several bugs that do this - convergent evolution to have raptoral forelegs... Nabidae is another one- only they're quite small- the British species are less than 10mm. I did a project on them but they're always fun to watch

 

[AFK]

speaking of hemi/homopterans, add ambush bugs to the list too.

outside of those 2 orders, we also got mantis flies and mantis shrimps. i think there is also a dipteran with the same kind of raptorial forelegs, but i don't think they are used predatorially though.