﻿THE LIFE HISTORY OF TWO SPECIES OF NABIDAE 

 (HEMIP. HETEROP.) 



Nabis roseipennis Rent, and Nabls rufusculus Rent. 

 By F. G. Mundinger 



The Nabidae as a group are wandering herb-inhabiting species 

 spending most of their time on grass and low bushes. They are 

 small in size, ranging from about six to ten millimeters in length. 

 The general color is reddish-brown except for two species Pagasa 

 fusca Stein and Nabis suhcoleoptratus Kirby, which are black. 

 The bodj^ is elongate-oval in shape and the legs are long and well 

 adapted for walking. The proboscis is long and pointed and when 

 not in use extends back between the prothoracic coxae. The eyes 

 are coarsely granulated, bulging and located dorso-laterally on the 

 sides of the head. The general attitude assumed by the members 

 of this family, with the head slightly raised, the suggestively eager 

 way of carrying the beak and the protruding apparently all-seeing 

 eyes, gives them a most alert and war-like appearance. 



The species most commonly found with Nahis roseipennis Reut. 

 and Nahis rufusculus Reut. in the Cranberry Lake region are 

 Nahis limhatus Dahlb and Nahis ferus Linn. 



The eggs of only two species of this family have been described, 

 namely. Nobis ferus and Nobis rufusculus. Nobis roseipennis 

 because it is better illustrated is considered first in this paper, 

 and Nobis rufusculus being very similar in both appearance and 

 habits is treated with reference to the former but follows in a 

 separate discussion. 



Economic Importance 



The economic value of the members of this family is as yet a 

 matter of orvlj rough estimate since the bionomics of but one 

 species is so far known. 



Dr. Osborn (1918), in his article on "The Meadow Plant Bug, 

 Miris dolobrotus Linn.," found Nahis ferus a species closely allied 

 to N. roseipennis and N. rufusculus, to bo a formidable enemy to 

 this destructive plant bug. In their work on the "Corn-ear 

 worm " Garman and Jewett (1907) found Nahis (Coriscus) ferus 

 to prey also upon this larva infesting the corn plant. N. rufus- 

 culus has been shown by Brunner and Swenk (1907) to attack 

 and kill the hessian fly which is a great pest in wheat fields. 

 Woods (1915), in his paper on "Blueberry Insects in Maine," 

 describes N. rufusculus as feeding on the many small insects which 

 the blueberry harbors. 



Aphids, plant bugs, leaf -hoppers, and many other small insects 

 ai-e found in quantities in grasses during the summer season. It 

 has been found that some of them, probably most of them, are 



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