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Masked Hunter

common

Masked Hunter

Reduvius personatus

Habitat
Dry houses, barns, wall crevices and old buildings across Europe and introduced parts of North America
Body length
20 mm
Order
Hemiptera · Reduviidae

Weird but real

Its nymphs glue dust, lint and dead insect bits onto sticky hairs, walking around disguised as moving debris.

Why it's cool

A house-haunting assassin bug that turns grime into camouflage before growing into a sleek nocturnal predator.

Photographs

Reduvius personatus - portrait
Didier Descouens · CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Reduvius personatus (Linnaeus, 1758), to Robinson trap, Søborg, Denmark, 4/5 July 2015
Donald Hobern from Copenhagen, Denmark · CC BY 2.0 · source