About the Japanese Assassin Bug
Agriosphodrus is a genus with a sole species, A. dohrni, the Japanese assassin bug. It is a species of insect in the family Reduviidae, found in China, Southeast Asia, India and Japan. It lives in trunks of various trees near human habitation, like parks and roadsides, mostly found on poplar, willow and tree of heavens. Despite its common name, the species is not native to Japan, where it was first recorded in 1930 and is considered invasive.
Agriosphodrus is a monotypic genus of assassin bugs in the subfamily Harpactorinae. A second species formerly assigned to Agriosphodrus, A. perelegans, found in Vietnam, was moved to the genus Cosmosycanus in 2004. This large assassin bug can reach body lengths of up to 25 mm (99 in) in females and up to 20 (0.81 in) in males. It features a glossy black body with white wax spots along their sides. They are covered in long, upright hairs, accendet by pale to dark yellow spots along its head and the edge of its flared abdomen. Females display a red tip at the end of thei abdomen, while males have a red patch on their lower belly.
The life cycle of Agriosphodrus dohrni... Wikipedia →