assassin bug


Also found in: Thesaurus, Medical, Financial, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia.
Related to assassin bug: kissing bug

assassin bug

n.
Any of various predatory insects of the family Reduviidae, having a short stout beak used to prey on other insects or, in certain genera, to suck blood from mammals. Also called reduviid.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

assassin bug

n
(Animals) any long-legged predatory, often blood-sucking, insect of the heteropterous family Reduviidae
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

assas′sin bug`


n.
any of various large bugs of the family Reduviidae, many of which kill and extract the blood of other insects and some of which are bloodsucking parasites of mammals.
[1890–95]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
Noun1.assassin bug - a true bug: long-legged predacious bug living mostly on other insectsassassin bug - a true bug: long-legged predacious bug living mostly on other insects; a few suck blood of mammals
heteropterous insect - true bugs: insects whose forewings are membranous but have leathery tips
family Reduviidae, Reduviidae - assassin bugs
Arilus cristatus, wheel bug - large predatory North American bug that sucks the blood of other insects
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
References in periodicals archive ?
Recently we described the natural history and the resin-collecting behavior of the assassin bug Heniartes stali Wygodzinsky 1953 (Hemiptera: Reduviidae: Harpactorinae) in association with Rubus adenotrichos (Schltdl.) (Rosaceae), an Andean wild blackberry whose stems and buds are covered by a densely arranged glandular sticky trichomes.
When I showed my brother the pictures, he said, "Assassin bug!"
Transmitted by the bite of the assassin bug or vinchuca, Chagas disease is a public health problem, particularly in poorer areas of Latin America and the Caribbean.
A 6-y-o female Pekin robin was dead one morning after ingesting an assassin bug (Ricolla sp., Reduviidae) the previous afternoon.
assassin bug < assassin < hashishiyyin < hashish.
IMPERATIVE INVERTEBRATES Insects that your garden shouldn't be without Name Niche Range Assassin bug Most prey on small 100 species in North invertebrates.
We noticed that this assassin bug is very proficient at capturing specimens in motion like adult moths and mobile larvae, but is not able to detect the pest eggs, and less mobile larvae in their mines, or pupae.
Alternative predatory tactics of an araneophagic assassin bug (Stenolemus bituberus).
Among material collected in Tanzania, a series of a physoderine assassin bug representing a previously unknown genus and species were found and the bug is described in the present paper.
Bill Fitzhugh's THE EXTERMINATORS (9781590585405, $24.95) offers the first in his 'Assassin Bug' thriller series and is set in Oregon, where the pest control crew is still engaged in creating a natural product--using gene sequences to create a killer bug for bugs.
What a rookie miscalculation, but I certainly learned my lesson and will never forget what an assassin bug looks like.