''Zelus luridus'', also known as the pale green assassin bug, is a species of

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 ...

native to North America. It is the most common ''

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 ...

'' species in the eastern United States. The size ranges from long. On average, adult females are long, while males are long. Though the base color is pale green, markings on the back can range from dark brown or red to bright yellow. Nymphs are generally more solid green, wingless, and with narrower bodies than adults. The most reliable feature to distinguish this species from others is the pair of spines on the rear corners of the

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on ea ...

. These spines are long on the lighter colored individuals and shorter on ones that are darker. It can also be distinguished by dark bands on the distal ends of the femurs, but these can often be too light to be easily seen. The egg masses, which are laid from late June to August, are conical in shape with a flat top. They are laid on leaves in groups of twenty to fifty and held together with a sticky, brownish material. Their bite is extremely painful. Like many other assassin bugs, ''Zelus luridus'' preys on other insects. It will often wait on leaves to ambush passing insects, but occasionally it also actively hunts. For this, it uses sticky traps, a common predation strategy to species within the genus ''Zelus''. The sticky material is produced by a gland on the leg. This gland develops in the second

instar An instar (, from the Latin '' īnstar'', "form", "likeness") is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult (''ecdysis''), until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or ass ...

. During the first instar, the nymphs use secretions deposited over the egg batch by the female as the source of their sticky material.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q8068844 Reduviidae Hemiptera of North America Insects described in 1862