News Animals

This tool-wielding assassin turns its prey’s defenses into a trap

Pahabengkakia piliceps hunts stingless bees by employing a chemical lure at hive entrances

A spiderlike assassin bug holds a just-caught bee as it perches at the top of a waxy tube that functions as an entrance to a beehive. A handful of small bees climb in and around it.

An assassin bug (Pahabengkakia piliceps) hunts stingless bees at the entrance of their nest.

Zhaoyang Chen

By Siddhant Pusdekar

Add a little-known species of assassin bugs to the list of animals that can fashion and wield tools.