Character assassination
If you comb just about any collection of flowers, especially those of hydrangeas and goldenrods, you may notice a small, relatively flat, rust-and-black insect that, to a taxonomist, is an actual bug—that is, a member of the Order Hemiptera. The arachnid under observation often has speared another insect with its characteristic beak, and because the prey item rarely sees its demise coming, the predator is known in the trade as an Assassin Bug. Among assassins, there's a subgroup of sit-and-wait insects that are called Ambush Bugs. Here's one I noticed today, and after the critter had ambushed a bee, the corpse attracted several flies. Soon enough, these opportunistic characters were also on the assassination agenda... and menu.
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© Bruce Fellman