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Sticker of Broad damsel bug
Bug card No. 0628 of 4,939

Broad damsel bug

Nabis flavomarginatus

The broad damsel bug is a small hunting bug that creeps through tall, wet grass. It has a sharp beak that it uses like a straw. It likes cool places better than most of its relatives.

Lives in
Northern Europe, Asia, Canada, Alaska and Greenland, in wet grassy meadows
Top speed
about 0.2 km/h (0.12 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
It is not dangerous to people. It saves its beak for small insects, so just watch it.
What does it eat?
It hunts all sorts of small insects in the grass. Little hopping bugs related to cicadas are often on its menu.
For real!Photo of Broad damsel bug
Picture by janet graham. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

In Greenland it is the only damsel bug living where the Vikings once had their farms. Some scientists wonder if the Vikings brought it there long ago.

2

In the Alps it lives high up in the mountains, as high as 2200 metres.

3

It spends the winter as a tiny egg. The babies hatch in spring and grow into adults by summer.

4

Late in the year, only the females are still around.

5

In the United States it was found for the first time in 1989, in the state of Maine.

you asked

Most asked questions about Broad damsel bug

?Is the broad damsel bug dangerous?

No. It is a small bug that hunts insects and does not bother people.

?What does a damsel bug eat?

Other small insects. It catches them in the grass and drinks them with its beak.

?Where does the broad damsel bug live?

In the cool north of Europe, Asia and North America, in wet grassy places with sedges and rushes.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Nabis flavomarginatus
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Nabidae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Nabidae
Lives on
Europe, Asia, North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Nabis flavomarginatus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by janet graham. CC BY 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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