{"id":4144,"date":"2025-07-31T12:20:49","date_gmt":"2025-07-31T12:20:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/?p=4144"},"modified":"2026-08-23T10:55:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T10:55:56","slug":"2025-07-deadly-tactics-of-the-millipede-assassin-en","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/posts\/2025-07-deadly-tactics-of-the-millipede-assassin-en\/","title":{"rendered":"Chemical warfare in the leaf litter: The deadly tactics of the millipede assassin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Assassin bugs (family <em>Reduviidae<\/em>) are highly skilled, terrestrial ambush predators instantly recognizable by their narrow heads, distinct &#8216;necks,&#8217; and sturdy, curved beaks built to pierce armor. Within this predatory family, members of the genus <em>Rhiginia<\/em> have taken specialization to an extreme: they hunt toxic millipedes. While millipedes deter most predators by secreting foul, noxious chemical compounds like benzoquinones, these bold assassin bugs strike swiftly, using specialized, potent venom to completely paralyze their prey before it can deploy its chemical defenses. The venom liquefies the millipede&#8217;s internal tissues, allowing the bug to easily drink its meal. I encountered a rare specimen of this group\u2014<em>Rhiginia conspersa<\/em>, first described by German entomologist Gustav Breddin in 1901\u2014hiding in the leaf litter of the &#8216;La Perla&#8217; protected forest in Ecuador&#8217;s Santo Domingo province.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Assassin bugs (family Reduviidae) are highly skilled, terrestrial ambush predators instantly recognizable by their narrow heads, distinct &#8216;necks,&#8217; and sturdy, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[86],"tags":[],"countries":[74,73],"order-category":[669,60,42],"class_list":["post-4144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-predators","countries-ecuador","countries-south-america","order-category-insects-true-bugs-assassin-bugs","order-category-insects","order-category-insects-true-bugs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4144"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9651,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4144\/revisions\/9651"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4144"},{"taxonomy":"countries","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/countries?post=4144"},{"taxonomy":"order-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pawel.stefanoff.pl\/bugs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/order-category?post=4144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}