When I went out to get the mail the other day, I paused to admire, as I often do, the variety of insects and arachnids buzzing, flitting and crawling about the big lantana bush next to my mailbox in Decatur.
Sipping on the nectar were several butterfly species, including Eastern tiger swallowtail, black swallowtail, Gulf fritillary and fiery skippers. There was also a variety of bees, wasps, spiders and other six-legged creatures — altogether more than 25 species on a single plant.
Then I saw it: the assassin. Actually, it was a wheel bug, the most common type of a class of insects known as assassin bugs, so named because they lie in ambush for their insect prey. Indeed, my wheel bug was holding with its front legs a small yellowish bee.
From my knowledge of assassin bugs, I could easily guess what had just happened to the bee.
With amazing speed and accuracy, the wheel bug had used its long, formidable “beak” to stab the poor victim. I knew what the bee’s fate now would be. The wheel bug would inject a lethal enzyme into the bee to liquefy its tissues within a matter of minutes. Then, using its long beak like a soda straw, the wheel bug would suck up the bee’s gooey remains.
Its feeding habits aside, the wheel bug is one of Georgia’s most bizarre-looking insects. Its name derives from the wheel-like hump, resembling a gear’s cog wheel, on the back of the adult.
Its gray color and slow, jerking movements are reminiscent of a Medieval knight in a suit of armor.
At one-eighth of an inch long, the wheel bug also is Georgia’s largest assassin bug.
Its size and weird look probably make it seem like a monster in the insect world. No wonder that it is a dreaded foe of other insects.
In that regard, wheel bugs are good to have around the yard. They eat an array of caterpillars and other pesky insects. But they can bite the daylights out of you.
I wanted to watch the wheel bug on my lantana suck up his victim, but he crawled behind a leaf. I thought about pushing the leaf aside to find him, but I let him dine in private — a wheel bug’s bite can be more painful than a bee sting and take longer to heal. It can even leave a small scar.
Soon, though, wheel bugs will have loving on their minds. After mating, males will stay around to guard females from other males.
Females will lay eggs on trees and leaves in a hexagonal cluster resembling a honeycomb. They will hatch in May and June.
In the sky
The moon was full Friday, and will appear full again tonight. Next week, watch the moon as it “shrinks” to last quarter by the end of the week, says David Dundee, astronomer at the Tellus Northwest Georgia Science Museum. Mercury is low in the west just after sunset. Bright-shining Venus rises about two hours before sunrise. Mars rises out of the east about 1 a.m. Jupiter rises out of the east before sunset and is high in the south by 10 p.m.
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