Two-spotted assassin bugs are found in tropical forests in southwestern Africa. They are also known as white-eyed assassin bugs for the two white spots found on their wing cases. Their bite is painful to humans and fatal to prey.
The life of a two-spotted assassin bug
Two-spotted assassin bugs grow up to an inch and a half long and live as long as two years. After mating, females will lay up to 300 eggs in soil, which hatch within two weeks. Nymphs grow to adults about nine weeks after hatching. They develop their distinctive white dots after six to nine weeks.
Two-spotted assassin bugs hide in groups under rocks and logs during the day and wait until nightfall to eat. They can feed in groups and consume prey much larger than their own size. They are omnivores that primarily eat a variety of other insects including beetles, crickets, moths, locusts, cockroaches, flies and caterpillars.
Two-spotted assassin bugs don’t chew their food. They stab prey with their long, needle-like nose called a proboscis. Their proboscis injects venom into prey that liquifies their insides, which the two-spotted assassin bug then sucks out.
When threatened, they spit a toxin that causes temporary blindness. Predators include lizards, frogs, snakes, birds and small rodents.
Two-spotted assassin bugs at the zoo
Located in the Insect Zoo.
