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jagged ambush bug

(Phymata americana)

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Conservation • Description • Habitat • Biology • Distribution • Taxonomy

Conservation Status

Photo by Alfredo Colon

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

NNR - Unranked

Minnesota

not listed


	Description
	There are 17 species of jagged ambush bugs (genus Phymata) that occur in North America north of Mexico. Only two species have been recorded in Minnesota. Jagged ambush bug is a small, well-camouflaged, ambush bug. It occurs throughout the United States, southern Canada, and northern Mexico. It is very common in Minnesota. It is found on flowers in open and semi-open areas, including forest edges, farms, meadows, and gardens. Adults are 5 ⁄16″ to ½″ (7.5 to 12 mm) in length and light colored with dark markings. The light color may be yellow, yellowish-white, yellowish-green, greenish-yellow, or any combination of these. The dark markings are usually dark brown to almost black but are sometimes medium brown, brownish-orange, or brownish-yellow. Males tend to be darker than females. There are two large compound eyes, one on each side of the head, and two simple eyes (ocelli) on the top of the head (vertex). The antennae have four segments. The last segment is only slightly enlarged (clubbed). The collection of protruding mouthparts (beak) is short, has three segments, and is optimized for sucking. The exoskeletal plate covering the thorax (pronotum) has jagged, spiny, rear corners. This feature gives the genus its common name. The pronotum usually has four alternating bands, two light and two dark. These may be obscure or appear as a pair of light spots on each side. The plate between the bases of the wings (scutellum) is triangular and shorter than the pronotum. The abdomen has a flattened, greatly enlarged margin (connexivum). It is more or less diamond-shaped, widest in the middle, with smooth, rounded lateral sides and a broadly rounded tip (apex). It is pale with a broad dark band across the widest part. The segments of the connexivum are not dilated and the sides are not notched. On abdominal segments 3 and 4, each connexiva usually has a dark marginal spot, though this is sometimes lacking in recently molted (teneral) individuals. The wings at rest are held folded over the back. They cover only the middle portion of the abdomen, leaving the sides exposed. The legs are pale. On the front legs the third segment (femur) is greatly enlarged, optimized for grasping large prey. When the front legs are folded, the fourth segment (tibia) fits into a groove on the bottom of the femur. The last part of the leg (tarsus), corresponding to the foot, has three segments.

	Size
	Total length: 5 ⁄16″ to ½″ (7.5 to 12 mm)

	Similar Species
	Pennsylvania ambush bug (Phymata pennsylvanica) connexivum is distinctly notched at the widest part. The segments of the connexivum are dilated. Connexiva on abdominal segments 3 and 4 usually do not have a dark marginal spot. It is present in Minnesota but rare.


	Habitat
	Open and semi-open areas, including forest edges, farms, meadows, and gardens.


	Biology
	Season


	Behavior
	Adults prefer yellow or blue flowers where their camouflage is most effective. They may have the ability to change their colors somewhat in response to their environment. They can capture prey up to ten times their own size.

	Life Cycle


	Nymph Food
	Small insects

	Adult Food
	Bees, butterflies, flies, day-flying moths, and other true bugs.


	Distribution
			Sources 24, 29, 30, 82.
	8/5/2022

	Occurrence
	Very common and widespread


	Taxonomy
	Order	Hemiptera (true bugs, hoppers, aphids, and allies)
	Suborder	Heteroptera (true bugs)
	Infraorder	Cimicomorpha
	Superfamily	Reduvioidea
	Family	Reduviidae (assassin bugs)
	Subfamily	Phymatinae (ambush bugs)
	Tribe	Phymatini
	Genus	Phymata (jagged ambush bugs)
	Subgenus	Phymata

	Subordinate Taxa
	jagged ambush bug (Phymata americana americana) jagged ambush bug (Phymata americana coloradensis) jagged ambush bug (Phymata americana metcalfi) jagged ambush bug (Phymata americana obscura)

	Synonyms


	Common Names
	jagged ambush bug

	The common name of this species is the same as the common name of the genus.

Glossary

Beak

On plants: A comparatively short and stout, narrow or prolonged tip on a thickened organ, as on some fruits and seeds. On insects: The protruding, tubular mouthpart of a sucking insect.

Connexivum

In Heteroptera: the enlarged, flattened margins of the abdomen. Plural: connexiva.

Femur

On insects and arachnids, the third, largest, most robust segment of the leg, coming immediately before the tibia. On humans, the thigh bone.

Ocellus

Simple eye; an eye with a single lens. Plural: ocelli.

Pronotum

The exoskeletal plate on the upper side of the first segment of the thorax of an insect.

Scutellum

The exoskeletal plate covering the rearward (posterior) part of the middle segment of the thorax in some insects. In Coleoptera, Hemiptera, and Homoptera, the dorsal, often triangular plate behind the pronotum and between the bases of the front wings. In Diptera, the exoskeletal plate between the abdomen and the thorax.

Tarsus

On insects, the last two to five subdivisions of the leg, attached to the tibia; the foot. On spiders, the last segment of the leg. Plural: tarsi.

Tibia

The fourth segment of an insect leg, after the femur and before the tarsus (foot). The fifth segment of a spider leg or palp.

Vertex

The upper surface of an insect’s head.


	Visitor Photos

	Share your photo of this insect.
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	Alfredo Colon



























	This is a very interesting photo. The female ambush bug is feeding on a bee while the male is mating with her........


	Linda C

	My mini dragon on brown eyed susan







	Bob Payton

	Lunchtime! Aug, 18, 2022



	Dan W. Andree

	Ambush Bug caught a Honey Bee... August 3, 2022 on a prairie in Norman Co. Mn. Was hard to photograph the prairie flower it was on kept swaying in the breeze.

	Ambush Bug on a flower.....



	Greg Watson



	Jagged ambush bug I took these two pictures of a Jagged Ambush Bug at Eagles Bluff Park in La Crescent, MN on 9 September 2021.




	Maureen Burkle

	Phymata Americana on Wild Quinine





	Luciearl

	Picked a bouquet of asters from the ditch and found this bug on it a few days later. I put it on a piece of paper and brought it outside, but couldn't get it off the paper, so I brought the bouquet outside. Brought the bug on the paper over to the asters and it climbed back on. It really loved the asters!




	Chris




	Bill Reynolds

	Ambush Bug


	Ambush Bug and Red-blue Checkered Beetle


	Juvenile Ambush Bug





	MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos

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	Slideshows

slideshow


	Visitor Videos

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	Other Videos


	Jagged Ambush Bug (Phymata americana americana) Nature in Motion

	About Published on Oct 20, 2016 Guest appearances by two spiders and two wasps. Music: Big Sky True Bugs (Heteroptera) » Cimicomorpha » Assassin Bugs (Reduviidae) » Ambush Bugs (Phymatinae) » Jagged Ambush Bugs (Phymata) » Phymata americana » Phymata americana americana



	Ambush Bug Bonanza Lang Elliott

	About Published on Aug 27, 2015 This video features an ambush bug consuming a honeybee nearly twice its size. The Ambush Bug, Phymata americana, is a member of the Assassin Bug family. Adults hang out on leaf heads of goldenrods, asters, etc., awaiting prey. When a small insect approaches, the Ambush Bug shoots out its chunky, scissor-like forelegs to secure the prey, which is then immobilized by injecting poison through its piercing mouthpart.

Camcorder


Visitor Sightings

Report a sighting of this insect.
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Linda C 9/11/2022	Location: Hutchinson MN about ¾" long on brown eyed susan



Alfredo Colon 8/25/2022	Location: Albany, NY



Alfredo Colon 8/24/2022	Location: Woodbury, MN



Bob Payton 8/18/2022	Location: South Minneapolis Lunchtime! Aug, 18, 2022



Alfredo Colon 8/17/2022	Location: Albany, NY



Alfredo Colon 8/8/2022	Location: Albany, NY



Alfredo Colon 8/3/2022	Location: Albany, NY



Dan W. Andree 8/3/2022	Location: Norman Co. Mn. August 3, 2022 on a prairie in Norman Co. Mn. Was hard to photograph the prairie flower it was on kept swaying in the breeze.



Greg Watson 9/23/2021	Location: Apple Blossom Overlook, near La Crescent, MN




Greg Watson 9/9/2021	Location: Eagles Bluff Park, La Crescent, MN I took these two pictures of a Jagged Ambush Bug at Eagles Bluff Park in La Crescent, MN on 9 September 2021.


Luciearl 9/20/2020	Location: Cass County Picked a bouquet of asters from the ditch and found this bug on it a few days later. I put it on a piece of paper and brought it outside, but couldn't get it off the paper, so I brought the bouquet outside. Brought the bug on the paper over to the asters and it climbed back on. It really loved the asters!



Alfredo Colon 8/2 to 8/8/2019	Location: Woodbury, Minnesota



Alfredo Colon Summer 2019	Location: Woodbury, Minnesota



Chris 9/1/2019	Location: Apple Valley MN



Alfredo Colon 8/29/2019	Location: Woodbury, Minnesota



Alfredo Colon 8/15/2019	Location: Woodbury, Minnesota This is a very interesting photo. The female ambush bug is feeding on a bee while the male is mating with her........



Alfredo Colon 8/12/2019	Location: Woodbury, Minnesota



Alfredo Colon 8/8/2019	Location: Woodbury, Minnesota



Alfredo Colon 8/6/2019	Location: Woodbury, Minnesota



Dan W. Andree Summer 2018	Location: rural Norman Co. MN



Bill Reynolds 7/23/2017	Location: Pennington Co MN



Alfredo Colon October 2017	Location: Woodbury, MN



MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings