Aussie assassin bugs have a sticky surprise for their prey

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2023-04-26 09:01

Australia; International; NSW

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Aussie and international researchers have found a secret weapon in Australian assassin bugs' arsenal - resin from spinifex grass. The team says the critters collect the sticky gum from the grass and use it to capture their prey and stop it from escaping. They say that the bugs that had access to the resin had higher capture rates when compared with those that didn't, and these crawlies are a good example of the evolution of the relatively rare phenomenon of tool use in animals.

Media release

From: The Royal Society

Assassin bugs enhance prey capture with a sticky resin

A bug’s knife – A bug uses resin as a lethal tool to capture prey. Researchers compared predator success of Australian assassin bugs with and without the use of sticky resin collected from spinifex grass. They found higher capture rates in ants and flies when the bugs were equipped with resin. Brief and temporary adhesion delayed prey responses sufficiently enough for the assassin bugs to grasp and stab their prey.

Tool-use is a relatively rare phenomenon in animals, despite its potential usefulness to solving ecological challenges. An Australian assassin bug (Gorareduvius sp.) is here reported to collect resin from "spinifex grass" (genus Triodia). The assassin bug uses this resin as a tool for capturing prey. In predatory interactions that were set in the laboratory, Gorareduvius had considerably higher prey-capture rates when they were equipped with resin. The positive effect of resin was similar when capturing ants and flies. These findings, along with several previous reports of other assassin bugs collecting plant resins suggest that tool-use is disproportionately common in this particular group of insects. This makes the assassin bugs a promising group for understanding the conditions that favor the evolution of tool-use.

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Research The Royal Society, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends (Royal Society links are notorious for being late to go live)

Journal/
conference: Biology Letters

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Macquarie University

Funder: Endeavour Research Fellowship from the Australian Government (F.G.S.), and Hermon Slade Foundation (F.G.S.). El Questro Station provided logistical support in the field

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