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Sticker of Spiny assassin bug
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Spiny assassin bug

Sinea spinipes
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsTrue bugs and cicadasGardens and meadows6 legs

The spiny assassin bug is a hunting bug with little spines on its body and legs. It waits on plants for other insects to come close. It lives in North America.

Lives in
North America, along roadsides, forest edges and open fields with a few trees
Top speed
about 0.2 km/h (0.12 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite
It can give a painful poke with its beak if you pick it up. Watch it, but do not hold it.
What does it eat?
Like other assassin bugs, it catches small insects and sucks them up with its beak.
For real!Photo of Spiny assassin bug
Picture by Judy Gallagher. CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It belongs to the assassin bugs, which are fierce little hunters.

2

In southern Illinois it has only one family of babies each year.

3

It likes sunny open places with scattered trees.

you asked

Most asked questions about Spiny assassin bug

?Does the spiny assassin bug bite?

It can poke you with its beak if you grab it, and that hurts, so it is best just to watch it.

?What does the spiny assassin bug eat?

It hunts other small insects.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Sinea spinipes
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Reduviidae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Reduviidae
Lives on
North America

Where the facts come from

  1. Sinea spinipes (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 Judy Gallagher. 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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