3/22/2021: Florida Trip Rambles- Zealous for Zelus
Believe it or not, I’m still in the process of unpacking bugs from the trip. I tend to get a bit carried away when finding new species and usually approach non-target trip projects with the mentality that if a species sticks in culture and I had no intention of collecting it in the first place, it’s a huge success. Fortunately I have a bit more long-term collecting trip storage experience under my belt which usually carries the price of precious space on trips, but ultimately makes the success rate with captures much higher.
Today’s subject is Zelus longipes, arguably the prettiest US Zelus species. I’ve been itching to expand into more assassin bugs in recent months and something that departs from the Platymeris body plan is much appreciated.
These are no normal Zelus longipes, however: as Alan Jeon informed me the southernmost Florida populations are extra decorated and have white stripes on their legs and parts of their bodies. They were a last-minute but much needed addition to the target species roster.
To find them, we revisited one of our favorite spots in Homestead, Florida: an abandoned lot across from our favorite motel. Since I was last there many years ago the lot has become overgrown in several areas with invasive cogongrass, which had a dramatic negative effect on the insect diversity in those spots. Other areas were weedy with presumed native species as the arthropod biodiversity was quite high there still.
Sweep netting across the whole field yielded no Zelus, despite Alan telling me that he had seen them quite commonly on a prior visit. I was discouraged but optimistic and kept sweeping.
In one corner of the lot was a sizable patch of Bidens alba, which seems to be a common, weedy, and reliable native plant for finding insects. A few sweeps through the patch provided more than enough Zelus, and Alan was kind enough to gift me a few he had caught previously.
Differing from typical hobby assassin bug care, Zelus like verticality to their enclosure and often perch in the highest spots. Feeding is ridiculously easy; Zelus make a sticky secretion on their front legs that helps them hold larger prey but easily passively ensnares tiny food items like fruit flies. Thus you can easily feed a group of Zelus by dumping in fruit flies and watching them get stuck while bumbling around without any effort on the assassin bug’s part.
I have a good group of nymphs, adults, and eggs that were laid during the trip so I really hope to make these available soon. The ease of care, beautiful pattern, fair size, and diurnal behavior makes these a wonderful and simple display insect.
-Kyle