Wheel bug

Arilus cristatus · The wheel bug is a large species of assassin bug and the only wheel bug species found in the United States.

Also called North American wheel bug.

Wheel bug
Photo: Ryan Kaldari, Public domain
Wheel bug
Photo: MacroGrant, CC BY-SA 4.0
Wheel bug
Photo: Andy Reago & Chrissy McClarren, CC BY 2.0

Taxonomy

KingdomAnimalia
PhylumArthropoda
ClassInsecta
OrderHemiptera
FamilyReduviidae
GenusArilus
SpeciesArilus cristatus

Where it lives

Gardens and woods of the eastern United States, Mexico and Guatemala.

Fun facts

  • Female wheel bugs are noticeably larger than males, an example of sexual dimorphism in the species.
  • Wheel bug nymphs hatch with bright red or orange abdomens long before they grow the adult's grey wheel-shaped crest.
  • After mating, a female wheel bug will sometimes turn around and eat her partner.
  • Wheel bugs can make audible sounds by rubbing the tip of their proboscis against a groove under their thorax.

Play it

The Wheel bug was the creature in a regional daily on October 13, 2026. Can you identify tomorrow's from its photos? Every day brings a new creature to place from kingdom to genus, map and name.

Play today's creature or replay a past daily

Facts and taxonomy adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).