Have you ever heard of an insect called a damsel bug? Despite their name, these insects are anything but distressed and are in fact a very dangerous and effective predator! Many damsel bugs catch and hold prey with their forelegs, a predatory technique similar to that of the praying mantis.
Careful inspection of fall flowers will often reveal these gray-brown bugs, often with half-consumed aphids hanging from their beaks. They are considered helpful species in agriculture because of their predation on many types of crop pests, such as cabbage worms and aphids.
Today’s damsel bug, Nabicula subcoleoptrata is a mimic of ants, usually wingless and lives in meadows from the Atlantic Coast to British Columbia.