Current Events - Assassin Bugs Can Eat Spiders!

A new study shows that a type of insect called the "assassin bug" can trick spiders into becoming the opposite of their usual role in nature - prey.  These insects pluck different spider web strings, and these vibrations lure in the spider owners.  Assassin bugs can mimic a tired insect caught in a web almost perfectly!  Once the spider has come near, the killer bug gently taps it while getting in position to attack.  Once in position, it stabs its victim with its proboscis, and can kill the spider within 10 seconds.

Some more studies into this insect show that certain species of assassin bugs may be able to help get rid of a certain parasitic disease.  According to scientists, when tourists visit South America, they get bitten by assassin bugs, and some of those bugs carry parasites in them that spread into the bitten person.  That person can stay healthy for 20-30 years without any sign of symptoms for the disease, and that gives the parasite as much time as it needs to get a good hold on the internal organs of the body.  By studying the behaviors of assassin bugs, maybe we'll be able to tell how the parasites get into them, and prevent that from happening - stopping the disease from spreading to humans and causing thousands of deaths.

Assassin Bug

Some other assassin bugs that eat termites could be used for pest control.  They, instead of luring spiders near, use dead termites to attract live ones near them, in able to get dinner.  We could probably save a lot of pesticides, money, and toxins going into the atmosphere if we used natural ways of getting rid of pests, such as assassin bugs, then the normal bug-killer.

Written by: Jennifer Viegas
Written on: October 27, 2010
For more information, you can go to: http://news.discovery.com/animals/assassin-bugs-spiders.html

I think that it's very interesting that predators such as spiders can be turned into prey.  It's like lions being eaten by cheetahs!  It would be awesome if we could prevent Chagas disease from spreading - we could save SO MANY lives!  Less families will be torn apart, less children will die early, less people will get chronic illnesses!  As long as we don't hurt the assassin bugs in the process, I think that it's a great idea.
I also think that using termite-eating assassin bugs to get rid of termites instead of some sort of toxic termite-killer, we could really help the environment more!  Factories wouldn't have to make as much termite-killer, which would reduce the amount of pollution produced, and then we wouldn't be putting chemicals out into our backyards by using the termite-killer!  Assassin bugs might even be cheaper than chemicals - it would be very economical.
All in all, I thought that this was a very interesting article and I learned a lot.