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FAMILY NABIDAE: DAMSEL BUGS
Slender and delicate looking with largely brownish colouration, Damsel Bugs are predatory heteropterans that inhabit leaf litter or plants at ground level. Some 400 species have been described worldwide and all are small, less than 12mm in length. The antennae have 4 or 5 segments and the rostrum is slender with 4 segements. The front legs are thickened as in the Reduviidae and can be used to hold prey as it is sucked dry. Wings are short or absent in some species, long in others. Damsel Bugs feed on a range of small insects and arthropods and in some areas are important as pest control agents. Eggs are laid in batches on plants, the hatchling first-instar nymphs immediately seeking their first meal upon emergence.
Click on the images to enlarge them.
FIGURE 1

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 2

FIGURE 2
FIGURE 4

FIGURE 4
FIGURE 1 - Unidentified sp., Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith November 2009).
FIGURE 2 - Unidentified sp., Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith November 2009).
FIGURE 3 - Unidentified sp., Encarnación, Departamento Itapúa (Paul Smith November 2009).