News Animals This tool-wielding assassin turns its prey’s defenses into a trap Pahabengkakia piliceps hunts stingless bees by employing a chemical lure at hive entrances An assassin bug (Pahabengkakia piliceps) hunts stingless bees at the entrance of their nest. Zhaoyang Chen By Siddhant Pusdekar 59 minutes ago Add a little-known species of assassin bugs to the list of animals that can fashion and wield tools. And true to their name, the insects use that tool to draw their prey into an ambush, researchers report May 12 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Found in Thailand and China, Pahabengkakia piliceps is a species of predatory insects called assassin bugs that has a taste for the region’s stingless bees. When researchers at Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden in China began studying the assassin bugs in 2021, they became intrigued by how P. piliceps hunt. While lying in wait at a hive’s entrance, the assassin bugs use their front legs to proficiently pick off bees that fly by. Sign up for our newsletter We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.