2208_0775 Jagged Ambush Bugs With Prey
Three days after photographing the Ambush Bug and Variegated Fritillary, I was back in the park, having a great morning with some Loggerhead Shrikes and a young Coyote. When that photo op closed, I remembered the ditch and the bug, and wondered if I could find it again. It would only add about 30 km to my day's drive, so that was a no brainer. Who among us wouldn't drive 30 km to photograph a bug?
I had no trouble finding the ditch or the patch of unpleasant, spiny, weedy thistles growing there (they do produce pretty flowers). Got out of the car. Walked to the edge of the ditch with my macro lens. And on the first thistle plant I examined, there were four Jagged Ambush Bugs! Two were mating, while the other two had killed and were feeding on a hoverfly.
Ambush Bugs have piercing and sucking mouth parts. They lie in wait, seize their prey with front legs equipped with claw-like pincers, then stab it and inject a poison that paralyzes, kills, and liquifies the victim's innards, which the bugs then slurp up. This hapless hoverfly did not even twitch while I watched, so I assume it had already shuffled off its mortal coil. There may be only fifty ways to leave your lover (according to Paul Simon), but there are thousands of ways an insect can lose its life.
Photographed in my favourite ditch at Rosefield, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2022 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
2208_0775 Jagged Ambush Bugs With Prey
Three days after photographing the Ambush Bug and Variegated Fritillary, I was back in the park, having a great morning with some Loggerhead Shrikes and a young Coyote. When that photo op closed, I remembered the ditch and the bug, and wondered if I could find it again. It would only add about 30 km to my day's drive, so that was a no brainer. Who among us wouldn't drive 30 km to photograph a bug?
I had no trouble finding the ditch or the patch of unpleasant, spiny, weedy thistles growing there (they do produce pretty flowers). Got out of the car. Walked to the edge of the ditch with my macro lens. And on the first thistle plant I examined, there were four Jagged Ambush Bugs! Two were mating, while the other two had killed and were feeding on a hoverfly.
Ambush Bugs have piercing and sucking mouth parts. They lie in wait, seize their prey with front legs equipped with claw-like pincers, then stab it and inject a poison that paralyzes, kills, and liquifies the victim's innards, which the bugs then slurp up. This hapless hoverfly did not even twitch while I watched, so I assume it had already shuffled off its mortal coil. There may be only fifty ways to leave your lover (according to Paul Simon), but there are thousands of ways an insect can lose its life.
Photographed in my favourite ditch at Rosefield, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2022 James R. Page - all rights reserved.