Thursday, 15 October 2015

species identification - What is this sand covered insect?


I have found in a wooden house, in the mountains of central Spain this very curious insect:


Strange Insect


I was wondering if that was its skin or whether it's decomposition or sand or saw-dust. That particular region of Spain does have stink-bugs ... but this one doesn't look like anything I've seen before. A google image search returns mostly arachnids ... but it seems to have only 6 legs.



Answer



It's a kind of assassin bug, specifically a Masked Hunter:


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The surface of an immature Masked Hunter is sticky and it attracts lint and dust which helps to camouflage this predator.




and



The name refers to the fact that its nymph camouflages itself with dust.



Though they feed on small insects, they will bite defensively, and when they do, it's fairly painful.


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