A new species of has been discovered in the wilds of Australia that uses a “tool” to capture its prey. It’s one of several species scientists have documented using complex methods to attack. insect expert Dr Nikolai Tatarnic told Yahoo News that tool use is traditionally associated with primates, dolphins and birds.
But in the case of the newly described it doesn’t use sticks, stones or sea sponges, but rather spends its day extracting a resin from plants and then coating itself in the sticky substance. “Assassin bugs, as the name suggests are predators. When they attack other invertebrates the sticky resin helps them grab them more readily,” Tatarnic said.
The assassin bug lives in two remote areas of the Kimberley. It’s been documented laboriously cultivating the resin from a soft species of spinifex, but there is some evidence to suggest it could also be stealing it from the nests of resin bees. Along with using resin to kill, the insect also appears to be coating its eggs in the substance for two specific reasons.
“When the nymphs hatch, they have resin they can use for their first hunt. So they come out of the eggs and actually coat themselves right away,” Tatarnic said. “On top of that, we suspect the resin probably protects the eggs from parasitoids – little wasps that would be trying to lay their eggs in the bug egg.
” Other invertebrates create their own tools, like the bolas spider that spins a ball of web coated with fake pheromones to attrac.
