Ozark Critters - The Wheel Bug

Arilus cristatus


Meet Mrs. Wheel Bug. She is a member of the family of assassin beetles. Female wheel bugs are longer and wider than males, getting up to an inch and a half long!





Wheel bugs have membranous wings that allow them to fly, albeit clumsily and with much noise. They sound like a large grasshopper flapping by.





A wheel bugs grips its pray with its strong forelegs, plunging in a beak-like proboscis. It then injects enzymes into its victim, paralyzing and dissolving it, then draining the resulting fluid.





Females lay 40-200 eggs in Autumn and then die. The eggs hatch the next spring.


Thanks for checking this long awaited edition of Ozark Critters out. I know it has been a very long time since I posted one. Most of our critters have either ended their life cycles, are hibernating, or have migrated to warmer climates. I'll keep my eye out though! You never know who you'll bump into out here. Haha!