Arilus cristatus
This wheel bug landed on our balcony one fall afternoon (at Bloomington, Indiana). Dad shot this picture before it walked away. It is obvious why it is called a wheel bug: it has that wheel-like structure on its thorax. It uses its pointy beak to capture and penetrate the body of other insects and suck their juices. Yuck! But then we thought such meals must be delicious for wheel bugs.
Family Reduviidae
Order Heteroptera
Superorder Hemipteroids
Subclass Neoptera
Class Insecta
Subphylum Uniramia
Phylum Arthropoda
Kingdom Animalia
Life on Earth
Index