#4096 · 🦗 bugs, crickets & other insects
Masked Hunter
🇳🇱 Gemaskeerde roofwants ·Reduvius personatus
10 photos from iNaturalist (Creative Commons) · credits & licences
- 1. © Jason M Crockwell · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- 2. © Tyson Ehlers · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 3. © knuttutgut · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 4. © Jakob Fahr · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 5. © Valter Jacinto | Portugal · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 6. © Magnefl · CC BY-SA 4.0
- 7. © Valter Jacinto | Portugal · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
- 8. © Thomas Pieper · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 9. © Corinna Herr · CC BY-NC 4.0
- 10. © Jeff Skrentny · CC BY-NC 4.0
what is it?
Reduvius personatus or the masked hunter is an insect belonging to the assassin bug (Reduviidae) family. The name is because its nymphs camouflage themselves with dust. The masked hunter is a predator of small arthropods, including woodlice, lacewings, earwigs, bed bugs and termites. Masked hunters do not feed on human blood, but can bite humans in self-defense when mishandled. The bite can be extremely painful, but masked hunters are not known to transmit any diseases and...
base stats
Bars compare against all animals on log scales: up to 300,000 Dutch and 600,000 worldwide sightings (the most-seen species), 150 t (blue whale), 30 m and 400 years (Greenland shark).
fun facts
- Spotted 26 times in the Netherlands on iNaturalist.
- 15,500 observations worldwide on iNaturalist.
- Scientifically named in 1758 (268 years ago).
fact sheet
- English
- Masked Hunter
- Nederlands
- Gemaskeerde roofwants
- scientific name
- Reduvius personatus
- class
- Insecta
- order
- Hemiptera
- family
- Reduviidae
- sightings in NL
- 26
- sightings in Europe
- 4,787
- sightings worldwide
- 15,500
- GBIF records in NL
- 2,038
- weight
- —
- length
- —
- lifespan
- —
- named
- 1758
relatives· Reduviidae
Sources: iNaturalist taxon 56521, Wikidata Q1686804, GBIF 2008516, Wikipedia (EN), Wikipedia (NL). Intro text from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.