''Zelus annulosus'' is an

assassin bug The Reduviidae are a large cosmopolitan family of the order Hemiptera (true bugs). Among the Hemiptera and together with the Nabidae almost all species are terrestrial ambush predators: most other predatory Hemiptera are aquatic. The main exampl ...

found in

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere at the northern tip of the continent. It can also be described as the southe ...

. It frequently associates with ''

Hirtella physophora ''Hirtella physophora'' is a species of plant in the family Chrysobalanaceae Chrysobalanaceae is a family of flowering plants, consisting of trees and shrubs in 27 genera and about 700 species of pantropical distribution with a centre of div ...

'' (Chrysobalanaceae), a plant that houses colonies of plant-ants ''

Allomerus decemarticulatus ''Allomerus decemarticulatus'' is an Amazonian ant species found in the tropics of South America. This species is most notable for the workers’ complex and extreme predatory behavior, which involves a symbiosis with both a plant and fungal s ...

'' and provides the ants with nectar. Some species of ''

Zelus In Greek mythology, Zelus or Zelos (; Ancient Greek: Ζῆλος ''Zēlos,'' literally 'zeal') was the daimon that personifies dedication, emulation, eager rivalry, envy, jealousy, and zeal. The English word "zeal" is derived from his name. Hi ...

'' gather sticky substances from certain plants to coat their legs; ''Z. annulosus'' does not engage in this behavior, instead secreting the substance. ''Zelus annulosus'' apparently is able to avoid being attacked by the ants by walking primarily on the plant's trichomes, which shield the assassin bug from the ants, but still allow ''Z. annulosus'' to be protected by having the ants in the vicinity.

References

Reduviidae Insects of South America Insects described in 1866 {{Cimicomorpha-stub