Unless you are one of their of targets, assassins are cool. Personally, the the fluid “semi-zero gravity” movement of assassins in films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is mesmerizing and makes me want to drop everything and learn obscure techniques of death and pain in some clouded mountain temple. But that is another story, and another kind of assassin.

Assassin bugs kind of define themselves. They’re black and their mouthparts are freakishly long and pointed, and if you were their size you probably wouldn’t want to mess around with them unless you were stupid. But in the insect world, unlike the human world, stupid usually gets eaten.

The process of rearing assassin bugs is pretty much the same as rearing soldier bugs. The one difference that I’ll mention is that assassin bug egg clusters look like what miniature eggplants would look like if they wore the kind of hats that people who work in rice paddies wear.

That, for now, is all I would like to say about assassin bugs.