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Sticker of Masked hunter
Bug card No. 0887 of 1,500

Masked hunter

Reduvius personatus
Name means: “named for the way its young hide behind a mask of dust”
Eats: Other bugs and small animalsTrue bugs and cicadasHouses and farms6 legs

The masked hunter is a dark brown or black bug with long thin feelers. Its babies are masters of disguise. They cover their sticky bodies with dust and fluff, so they look like little grey dust bunnies walking around.

Lives in
First from Europe and western Asia, now also in North America, Africa, India and Australia
Length
1.7 to 2.2 cm (0.67 to 0.87 in)
Top speed
about 0.27 km/h (0.17 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite or sting

Watch out! Read all about it on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?
It hunts small creatures like woodlice, earwigs, termites and bed bugs, and sucks them dry with its short beak.
For real!Photo of Masked hunter
Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Masked hunter about 2.2 cm long (0.87 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 4 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 13 seconds

How big is Masked hunter compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The babies build two layers of disguise: fine dust close to the body and bigger bits on the outside.

2

They use their back legs like little brooms to sweep dust onto themselves.

3

Its disguise hides it from enemies and also from the bugs it wants to catch.

4

It often turns up in houses where there are bed bugs, because it likes to eat them.

5

It came to North America by accident more than 100 years ago.

you asked

Most asked questions about Masked hunter

?Is the masked hunter a kissing bug?

No. They are cousins, but the masked hunter does not drink human blood and does not carry Chagas disease.

?What does the masked hunter eat?

Small creatures like woodlice, earwigs, termites and bed bugs.

Myth buster

Myth: The masked hunter drinks human blood and spreads disease like the kissing bug.

Truth: No. It only hunts small creatures and does not carry Chagas disease. It only stabs if it is grabbed.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Reduvius personatus
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Reduviidae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Reduviidae
Lives on
Europe, Asia, North America, Africa, Australia and Oceania

Where the facts come from

  1. Reduvius personatus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Didier Descouens. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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