Four-spurred Assassin Bug

Zelus tetracanthus · Order: Hemiptera · Family: Reduviidae

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Four-spurred Assassin Bug
Photo: Don Loarie, CC BY

Adults are brown, black, or gray and measure 10 to 16 mm long. They are recognizable by a row of four spurs across the thorax. They live throughout the Caribbean, Central, North and South America and catch prey with a sticky secretion.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Adults are brown, black, or gray.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

Body length ranges from 10 to 16 mm.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its native range includes the Caribbean, Central, North and South America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 49 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Texas, California, Arizona, Washington, Utah, New Mexico, Colorado, Nevada.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Four-spurred Assassin Bug photo 3
Photo: unknown, CC0
Four-spurred Assassin Bug photo 4
Photo: Logan Jones, CC BY
Four-spurred Assassin Bug photo 5
Photo: unknown, CC0
Four-spurred Assassin Bug photo 6
Photo: Amelia Tauber, CC BY

Same family (Reduviidae)

North American Wheel BugNorth American Wheel BugArilus cristatusCan biteLeafhopper Assassin BugLeafhopper Assassin BugZelus renardiiCan biteMasked HunterMasked HunterReduvius personatusCan biteEastern Bloodsucking ConenoseEastern Bloodsucking ConenoseTriatoma sanguisugaCan spread germs or diseaseWestern Bloodsucking ConenoseWestern Bloodsucking ConenoseTriatoma protractaCan spread germs or diseasePale Green Assassin BugPale Green Assassin BugZelus luridusCan bite

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zelus_tetracanthus

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.