They are not cute; they are not cuddly. They are killers, plain and simple. The white-spotted assassin bug poisons defenseless crickets and lizards, slowly sucking the life out of its prey.
On New Year's Day, 67 assassin bug babies arrived at the St. Louis Zoo along with a number of walking sticks and katydids. Should someone get the Raid?
No way, says zoo invertebrate curator Edward Spevak. Assassin bugs, like all species with no backbone, are vital our survival.
"People have no idea about most of life on the planet," said Spevak. "Invertabrates have a major impact on the planet, everything from being a food source to other animals, to pollen dispersal, to aeration of soil. Without them, we couldn't survive. So we try to show the incredible diversity that's out there and get people to appreciate their lifestyle, their importance to our lives and the products they produce that we utilize as well as their color and beauty."
Other New Year's Day bug babies include:
* Six water scorpions, which are nonpoisonous and native to Missouri.
* Three greater angle-winged katydids, also native to Missouri.
* One Vietnamese walking stick, native to the tropical forests of Vietnam.
* 30 Northern walking sticks, native to American forests and woodlands.
* Eight giant spiny walking sticks, which when fully grown are only six inches.
"It's a boom and bust," said Spevak. "Some days nothing hatches out but on other days, everything pops out at once. We go through these cycles all of the time."
The bugs are not on view yet, though their parents can be seen in the Insectarium. Go ahead, stop by on your way to see Raja and those adorable capybaras.
"Luckily we have the butterflies," said Spevak. "That's why we designed the Insectarium the way we did. You have to go past every spider and centipede to get to the butterflies. They are the reward. That exposure will hopefully get people to understand bugs aren't going to hurt you or bother you, they're part of life."
The zoo also announced today the arrival of a 42-pound bull banteng calf named Studebaker, a Speke's gazelle named Iris and a yet-to-be-named king penguin chick. No one names the assassin bugs.
"Some keepers who are very attached to the tarantulas may give them a name," said Spevak. "But not the assassin bugs. It would be very difficult to tell who's who."
