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Wheel bug (Arilus cristatus), Assateague Island National Seashore, 2015.

Meet the assassin bug with the least threatening name of all: wheel bug. Wheel bugs are one of the largest terrestrial 'true bugs' of North America. True bugs are in the order Hemiptera, which contains about 50,000-80,000 species! Named for its distinctive wheel-shaped foremost armor structure, wheel bugs are actually fierce predators. In true assassin form, it pierces soft-bodied insects - like caterpillars, stinkbugs or beetles - with its beak to inject salivary fluids that dissolve soft tissue. Once its prey's insides are dissolved into a milky consistency, the wheel bug slurps up its meal, leaving behind a hollow carcass with no obvious outward sign of injury.

U.S. National Park Service

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Assateague Island National Seashore, Code: ASIS

National Park Service Facebook Photos

Title: Assateague Island National Seashore
URL: https://www.facebook.com/AssateagueNPS

20150909

09/09/2015

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Organization: Assateague Island National Seashore
Address: 7206 National Seashore Lane, Berlin, MD 21811

Friday, December 9, 2016 1:51:51 PM

Thursday, August 10, 2017 2:54:25 AM

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