THIS INSECT USES ITS VICTIMS' CARCASSES AS CAMOUFLAGE

Acanthaspis petax, a kind of reduviid, stacks dead ant bodies on its back to confuse predators. This modern-day heteropterous insect stacks dead ant bodies on its back to confuse predators. This insect feels like a dozen ants stuck together during a ball. All the ants are dead and their corpses are carried on the rear of this nasty looking-insect.

This is Acanthaspis petax, a member of the Reduviidae family, which is found in geographic regions and Malaysia. Like other assassin bugs, this insect hunts its prey by piercing it with its proboscis. It injects paralysis-inducing saliva and an enzyme that dissolves tissue, then sucking out the innards. But unlike other bugs, it then carries the empty ant exoskeletons into protective outerwear. The reduviid can carry as many as 20 dead ants at a time and binds them along with a sticky excretion into a cluster which will be larger than its own body. For years, scientists are wondering why the Acanthaspis petax engaged in this unusual behavior. It hunts several differing types of prey but appears to exclusively stack ant bodies on its back. 

Some suggested that the ant corpses may provide olfactory camouflage when hunting, while others thought the mound of bodies is also used as a visible distraction for larger creatures that are hunting the heteropterous insect.

An experiment was administered within the year 2017 by some researchers in New Zealand to check whether the insect’s corpse-carrying strategy truly helped protect it from predation. During this study, they left assassin bugs alone in glass cages with several species of jumping spiders, which are their natural predators. a number of the insects were carrying balls of ant carcasses on their backs (the researchers called these “masked” bugs) while others were left naked. Since the jumping spiders have a wonderful vision but a poor sense of smell—they hunt by using their acute sense of sight to create a precisely gauged leap and land on their prey—the experiment would indicate if the ant bodies served as visual camouflage or not.

As a result, it had been noted that spiders attacked the naked bugs roughly ten times more often than the masked ones. The researchers even repeated the experiment with dead, preserved assassin bugs, to regulate the consequences of movement and behavior, and therefore the results remained identical. It clad that carrying that ball of dead ants could be a great strategy for the heteropterous insect to use, in trying to survive for its next meal. These scientists speculated that the massive mound of corpses changes the visual variety of the insect to the purpose that the spiders cannot recognize it as prey.

But why do the assassin bugs refrain from using other insects in the same way? The researchers suggest that Acanthaspis petax may very well be hoping on the spiders’ inherent reluctance to attack ants. Because ants have an inclination to swarm and will secrete chemical weapons, the spiders don’t typically hunt them. a decent strategy for Acanthaspis petax. deal for the ants.

References:

Magazine, S., & Stromberg, J. (2012, May 8). This Insect Uses Its Victims’ Carcasses As Camouflage | Science| Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved October 10, 2022, from https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/this-insect-uses-its-victims-carcasses-as-camouflage-83656246/

Yong. (2010, October 4). Assassin bugs deceive spiders with coat of many corpses. Retrieved October 10, 2022, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/assassin-bugs-deceive-spiders-with-coat-of-many-corpses

Hectonichus. (n.d.). Assassin Bugs (Reduviidae) - Insects | Candide. Retrieved October 10, 2022, from https://candide.com/ZA/insects/38a55b65-2910-49cf-bf41-2df608b0104d