Lopodytes
Lopodytes Rondani 1867 is a genus in the family Reduviidae, the assassin bugs. Members of the genus have been unofficially assigned the common name Grass Assassin bugs, but generally this name remains meaningful only to naturalists, because these insects have been too well camouflaged to raise robust public awareness. Description Lopodytes species are small-to-medium-sized bugs, measuring between 10 and 20 mm in length. They are however very gracile and elongate in build, with nearly parallel sides, so they are far less massive than most insects of a similar bodily length. Usually they occur in savanna grass and similar vegetation, but on a level surface they generally adopt a very horizontal posture that emphasizes their resemblance to the thread assassins, the Emesinae. They easily may be confused with the Emesinae, but they are somewhat less gracile, typically 50% to 100% larger in linear measurement, and unlike the Emesinae, they do not have raptorial front legs. In color Lopodytes species generally are a range of dusty greyish yellows to browns, shades that combine with their shape to make them inconspicuous in the partly dried tussock grasses that they normally inhabit. They probably are noticed far less often in the field than when