Who eats stink bedbugs? - briefly
Stink bedbugs are consumed by predatory arthropods such as spiders, mantises, and certain ant species, as well as insectivorous birds and small mammals that forage in leaf litter or soil. Their presence in the diet reflects opportunistic feeding on readily available, chemically defended prey.
Who eats stink bedbugs? - in detail
Stink bedbugs are preyed upon by a range of arthropods and vertebrates that exploit their chemical defenses for nutritional gain. Ground-dwelling beetles (Carabidae) locate the insects through olfactory cues and crush them with mandibles, tolerating the repellent odor. Ant species, particularly those in the genus Pheidole, transport individuals back to the nest, where workers dismember the bugs and consume the soft tissues while avoiding the scented exoskeleton.
Spiders such as wolf spiders (Lycosidae) capture stink bedbugs in nocturnal hunts, injecting venom that neutralizes defensive secretions before ingestion. Small lizards, including anoles and geckos, swallow the bugs whole, relying on rapid gastric acid to break down the chemical compounds.
Avian predators, notably insectivorous passerines like chickadees and warblers, pluck stink bedbugs from foliage and ingest them, showing little aversion to the odor. In aquatic environments, certain predatory beetle larvae (e.g., Dytiscidae) consume larvae that fall into water, demonstrating cross‑habitat predation.
Mammalian opportunists such as shrews and some bat species incorporate stink bedbugs into their diet when available, using high‑frequency echolocation or tactile foraging to locate the insects despite the odor.
Human consumption of these bugs is rare and generally limited to entomophagy practices in specific cultures where the insects are processed to remove the odoriferous chemicals before culinary use.