Minnesota Seasons - pale green assassin bug

Conservation • Description • Habitat • Biology • Distribution • Taxonomy

Conservation Status

Photo by Alfredo Colon

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

not listed

Minnesota

not listed


	Description
	Of the five Zelus species native to North America, Zelus luridus is the most common. Due to variation in body color, it has often been misidentified in the past as Zelus exsanguis. However, that species is very rare. With the exception of a single collected specimen, all sightings of Zelus exsanguis in the United States should probably be recorded as Zelus luridus. Pale green assassin bug is an elongated, nearly parallel-sided true bug. The body is ½″ to 11 ⁄16″ in length. Females, averaging ⅝″ long, are slightly larger than males, averaging 9 ⁄16″ long. The overall body color is usually pale green, the color of a Granny Smith apple, but may be yellowish-green, yellow, or reddish-brown. There is a spine at both rear (distal) corners of the pronotum. The head is elongated and has both large compound eyes and small simple eyes (ocelli). There is a transverse groove between the compound eyes. The protruding mouth part (beak) has 3 segments. It is short and curved. When at rest it is tucked into a groove between the forelegs. The antennae have 4 segments and are much longer than the head. The third leg segment (femur) on the forelegs is thickened. There is a band at the end of the femur that may be dark or red and conspicuous or barely visible.

	Size
	Total Length: ½″ to 11 ⁄16″

	Similar Species



	Habitat



	Biology
	Season
	April to October

	Behavior
	When hunting, the adult smears a sticky substance, exuded from a gland on the tibia, onto small hairs on the tibia. It then probes flower parts with its legs and eats small insects that stick to the legs. The forelegs are also well adapted for grasping larger insects.

	Life Cycle


	Nymph Food


	Adult Food
	Small insects


	Distribution
			Sources 24, 29, 30.
	7/30/2021

	Occurrence
	Common


	Taxonomy
	Order	Hemiptera (true bugs, cicadas, hoppers, aphids and allies)
	Suborder	Sternorrhyncha (plant-parasitic hemipterans)
	Infraorder	Cimicomorpha (thaumastocorid bugs)
	Superfamily	Reduvioidea
	Family	Reduviidae (assassin bugs)
	Subfamily	Harpactorinae
	Tribe	Harpactorini
	Genus	Zelus

	Synonyms


	Common Names
	pale green assassin bug

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 mouthparts.

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 saddle-shaped, exoskeletal plate on the upper side of the first segment of the thorax of an insect.

Tibia

The fourth segment of an insect leg, after the femur and before the tarsus (foot).


	Visitor Photos

	Share your photo of this insect.
			This button not working for you? Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com. Attach one or more photos and, if you like, a caption.


	Luciearl

	Found this unique insect on my porch screen in June.



	Gerald Carlson




	James Cronin




	Alfredo Colon










	Scott Bemman




	Holly Jessen

	Spotted indoors, snacking on squished flies on a fly swatter. Released outside.






	Bill Reynolds

	While cutting the grass on my walking trails that wind through a forty acre woodlot, this little one hitched a ride on the hood on my JD Lawn tractor.





	MinnesotaSeasons.com Photos

Camera


	Slideshows

slideshow


	Visitor Videos

	Share your video of this insect.
		This button not working for you? Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com. Attach a video, a YouTube link, or a cloud storage link.











	Other Videos


	Nymph: Pale Green Assassin Bug - Zelus luridus(?) adamitshelanu

	About Published on Sep 7, 2014 Nymph: Pale Green Assassin Bug - Zelus luridus(?) Physical appearance matches still images on GOOGLE of: Nymph of (most likely): Pale Green Assassin Bug Zelus luridus Family: Reduviidae Date: 02 SEPTEMBER 2014 [vado-g3 avidemux]



	Assassin Bug (Reduviidae: Zelus luridus) Close-up Carl Barrentine

	About Uploaded on Jun 21, 2011 Photographed at the Turtle River State Park, North Dakota (20 June 2011).



	pale green assassin bug (Zelus luridus) Ohio Keller

	About Published on Jun 3, 2015



	Zelus luridus (?) North Carolina Nathaniel Long

	About Published on Jan 5, 2016

Camcorder


Visitor Sightings

Report a sighting of this insect.
		This button not working for you? Simply email us at info@MinnesotaSeasons.com. Be sure to include a location.



Luciearl June 2021	Location: Cass County Found this unique insect on my porch screen in June.



Alfredo Colon 5/30 to 6/1/2021	Location: Woodbury, MN



James Cronin 10/29/2020	Location: Pelican Rapids



Scott Bemman August 2020	Location: Baker Park Reserve



Alfredo Colon 8/23/2019	Location: Woodbury, MN



Alfredo Colon 8/15/2019	Location: Woodbury, MN



Suzy W. 10/16/2018	Location: Minnetonka, MN A cute bug crawling across my desk at work, one I’d never seen before.



Alfredo Colon 10/21/2017	Location: Woodbury, MN



Bill Reynolds 6/26/2016	Location: Numedal Township, Pennington Co., MN While cutting the grass on my walking trails that wind through a forty acre woodlot, this little one hitched a ride on the hood on my JD Lawn tractor.



MinnesotaSeasons.com Sightings