{"id":3415,"date":"2015-07-11T13:35:37","date_gmt":"2015-07-11T13:35:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/?p=3415"},"modified":"2018-07-10T11:27:18","modified_gmt":"2018-07-10T11:27:18","slug":"ant-mimic-bug-myrmecoris-gracilis-in-gunnersbury-triangle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/2015\/07\/11\/ant-mimic-bug-myrmecoris-gracilis-in-gunnersbury-triangle\/","title":{"rendered":"Damsel Ant Mimic Bug Himacerus mirmicoides in Gunnersbury Triangle"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Ant-mimic<\/a>
Ant-mimic bug,\u00a0Himacerus mirmicoides<\/u> on Ragwort<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here’s a bug that avoids being eaten by looking quite enough like an ant to fool a variety of predators.\u00a0 Its name, mirmicoides<\/em>, means ant-like. Its naturally thick body is made to appear to have a typical ant “waist” with a judicious bit of white camouflage.<\/p>\n

\"Ant-mimic<\/a>
Ant-mimic predatory bug,\u00a0 Himacerus mirmicoides<\/span>, dorsal view, on Ragwort<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Certainly an interesting “bug” to find. (It’s a true bug, family\u00a0 Nabidae, the damsel bugs, in the Hemiptera.)<\/p>\n

\"Ant-mimic<\/a>
On Yarrow<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The long and distinctly un-antlike rostrum is held under the head, so predators presumably don’t notice it much. The antennae are similarly much too long to be an ant’s.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a bug that avoids being eaten by looking quite enough like an ant to fool a variety of predators.\u00a0 Its name, mirmicoides, means ant-like. Its naturally thick body is made to appear to have a typical ant “waist” with a judicious bit of white camouflage. Certainly an interesting “bug” to find. (It’s a true … Continue reading Damsel Ant Mimic Bug Himacerus mirmicoides in Gunnersbury Triangle<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[90,88],"tags":[804,712,805],"class_list":["post-3415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-natural-history","category-nature-reserves","tag-ant-mimicry","tag-gunnersbury-triangle","tag-myrmecoris-gracilis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3415"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3415\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5984,"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3415\/revisions\/5984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.obsessedbynature.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}