Monday, July 19, 2004

Ant Damsel Bug

I was sat in the garden enjoying the sun on saturday (17.7.04) and a lttle ant came wondering along the bench at speed toward me. It was an odd-looking beast, like no ant I'd seen before. The reason soon became clear, it wasn't an ant but a bug doing a fair impersonation of an ant.
After a bit of questioning and a request through the Yahoo group of Britsh_insects, I got an ID of this weird beast. It is the nymph of the Ant Damsel Bug Aptus mirmicoides, a predatory insect which has ant-like young, though the adults look like 'normal' bugs.

The nymph of the aptly-named Ant Damsel Bug, Peterborough, 17.7.04.

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