Diet

• Adults: Predatory, feeding primarily on bees, wasps, flies and other insects visiting flowers. They seize prey with their powerful forelegs and pierce it with the beak, injecting saliva that liquefies the prey's tissues.

• Nymphs: Also predatory, feeding on smaller insects and other arthropods.

• Like other Apiomerus, it may collect plant resin and use the sticky material on its forelegs to help capture prey. Resin collection can also play a role in defence and maternal behaviour.

Range

• Apiomerus pictipes is a bee assassin bug in the family Reduviidae, subfamily Harpactorinae, tribe Apiomerini.

• It is a Mexican and Central American species.

• It is occasionally sighted in Zihua, particularly where flowering plants attract bees and other potential prey.

Habitat

• Found in tropical dry forest, tropical deciduous forest, woodland, scrub, forest edges, gardens and flowering vegetation.

• Adults commonly sit motionless on flowers, leaves and stems, waiting for visiting insects.

• Around Zihua, examine flowering shrubs and trees, especially plants attracting numerous bees.

• They may also be encountered on vegetation away from flowers while moving between hunting locations.

Size

• Adult length: approximately 12–20 mm (0.47–0.8 in), consistent with the size range of Apiomerus.

• Body robust, with a relatively narrow head and powerful forelegs adapted for grasping prey.