Stenolemus bituberus

Stenolemus bituberus

''Stenolemus bituberus'' is a species of thread-legged insect found across much of Australia. This species spends nearly its entire life in spider webs. It preys upon a variety of spiders, including webs and nests of spiders of ''Achaearanea'', ''Badumna'', ''Pholcus'', and ''Stiphidion'', and the families Salticidae and Uloboridae. This species is found in a broader diversity of spider webs than any other species in ''Stenolemus''.
Thread-legged Bug (Stenolemus bituberus) A delicate predacious insect from the Reduviidae family. It's long legs were covered with fuzzy setae (hairs). The mid and hind legs were resting on the web silk while the front pair of legs were held up folded in front of the head. The antennae looked much like another pair of legs. Wings were white with brown patterns. This species preys on a variety of spiders. It uses the antennae to pluck on web silk , thus luring the spider close and when close enough, the bug stabs the spider with its rostrum. This one was spotted on the outer webbing of a spider's home ! Australia,Geotagged,Spring,Stenolemus bituberus

Behavior

''S. bituberus'' has two attack methods: stalking and luring. Stalking involves the slow approach of ''S. bituberus'' to a prey, followed by a period of tapping the prey with antennae , and then sudden stabbing the spider with its rostrum, or beak. "Luring" involves plucking of the strands of the spider web by ''S. bituberus''. The prey comes over to investigate and ''S. bituberus'' again taps with antennae before stabbing with the rostrum.

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Taxonomy
KingdomAnimalia
DivisionArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderHemiptera
FamilyReduviidae
GenusStenolemus
SpeciesS. bituberus
Photographed in
Australia