The Forgotten Venomous Insects of the US

From an armored insect with terrifying venom-injecting jaws, to a stick-like underwater hunter with a flesh-melting bite, our backyards are full of insects that hide insane, toxic secrets. And this first one will probably surprise you the most. Yeah, stink bugs are venomous, but not this one. The stink bugs belong to a huge family called Pentatomidae with over 5,000 species. Most of them are herbivores, using their straw-like mouthparts to suck out the insides of plants. But one particular subfamily, the Aesopinae, actually have predatory members. Yeah, stink bugs that are venomous. These guys look and act like your typical garden variety stink bug. They have that sort of shield shape, and if you mess with them, they emit a really crazy, stinky chemical spray. But unlike the garden pests that are eating your flowers, these are eating the things that are eating your flowers, and are actually good to keep around. One of the most common, and in my opinion, coolest-looking species is the Florida predatory stink bug. These things have insane coloration. Like, this doesn't look real, but it's actually a real insect that is found throughout the southeastern United States. Those bright, vibrant, contrasting colors serve as an aposematic warning. These guys emit a foul chemical spray, so they're not technically poisonous, but they do have a nasty, noxious chemical defense. But they also can give you a pretty painful bite. They have a venomous defense as well. Like most of the predatory insects in the order Hemiptera, these predatory stink bugs have a cytotoxic venom. It is a cell-destroying enzyme that they're using to basically digest their prey outside their body. They are melting the insides of the insects they're eating, and using their straw-like mouth part to slurp up the liquid insect that is left. But stink bugs aren't the only garden-variety insect that have surprising venomous secrets. You've probably seen these guys around. Green lacewings. And I'll bet you probably had no idea that they were venomous. But the truth is, they're not venomous in this life stage. They're venomous as larvae. Now, the larvae look super weird, and they have an even weirder lifestyle. These insects are ambush hunters of little things like aphids, and scale insects, and even ants. A lot of things that are considered garden-variety pests. And what these lacewing larvae are doing is they're covering themselves in random fungus and plant debris, dolding almost like a big backpack that they can sort of hide underneath. When they're not moving, they look like a piece of lichen, or maybe just a piece of debris that fell off of one of the plants in the area. But this disguise allows them to get the jump on unwitting insects. The way these larvae inject their venom is with those long, needle-like pincers. They look horrible up close, but in reality, these things are less than a centimeter long and absolutely tiny, absolutely harmless. That is, if you are a human. If you are an aphid, this thing is your worst nightmare. The venom of these insects is poorly understood and poorly studied, primarily because it doesn't seem to have any effect on people, so we've never had a reason to really study it. But it seems to be able to paralyze the insects that it's eating, so it's possible that they're using a mild neurotoxin. This next one is one of my favorite venomous insects. They're super cool looking. What almost looks like a pine needle floating in small ponds, or on the edge of a stream, is actually what we call a water scorpion. Now, it isn't actually a scorpion. It's not even an arachnid. This is a very bizarre insect in the family Nepidae, the same family as the giant water bugs, which are among the most venomous insects in the world. These stick-like water scorpions belong to the subfamily Renatrinae, and they are like the perfect camouflaged ambush hunter of aquatic ecosystems. This stick-like appearance makes them look like they're a piece of reed or grass, and they'll actually hide on the base of aquatic plants, where they sit there, staying extremely still, and wait for small insects and even sometimes small amphibians to swim within range. The reason that these things are called water scorpions is they have those pinchers right in front. Somebody probably thought they looked sort of like real scorpions. I think they look more like a praying mantis or a walking stick than a scorpion, but they're using those claws to grab onto their prey, which they then bring up to their mouth and drill in with that beaked mouthpart. Much like the stink bug, these water scorpions are in the order Hemiptera. The true bugs don't have chewing mouthparts, they have sucking mouthparts. Their mandibles have evolved to form this tube-like shape, which the water scorpion can use to inject their prey full of that same cytotoxic venom. Once their prey has been thoroughly killed and dissolved, that same straw-like mouthpart can suck out the melted insides and secure this insect a delicious meal. I've always had a soft spot for camouflaged things, and I've always had a soft spot for aquatic things, and this insect combines two of my favorite attributes of animals into one awesome predator. This is gonna sound crazy, but what if I told you that some beetles could be venomous? It's kind of one of those weird things like the lacewings, where when they're in the form that we recognize as a beetle, they're usually not still venomous. But there are certain beetles whose larvae are hiding surprising toxic secrets. The coolest of these are the fireflies. Not only do their larvae look absolutely metal, like some kind of strange armored worm, they actually use paralyzing enzymes to help subdue the various soft-bodied invertebrates that they're eating in their habitat. As larvae, fireflies live in the humid layer of soil, hunting in the leaf litter and detritus. And one of the coolest things about them is they're potentially one of the only native animals to the U.S. that can eat the invasive hammerhead worm, terrestrial flatworms, that secrete one of the world's most toxic poisons in their slime. These fireflies seem to actually use the hammerhead's poisons to make their own chemical power that they use to light up as adults. And as larvae, they're using their paralyzing venom to actually subdue these toxic worms. Investigating these lesser-known and bizarre venomous creatures is one of my favorite things to do. And this has actually taken me all over the world to find some of our planet's most extreme creatures. From the world's most venomous snake to dangerous spiders most people have never heard of, every Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern, we are uncovering new secrets of the natural world. So if that sounds like something you're into and you're new to the channel, consider subscribing. Our world is full of all kinds of unique and dangerous creatures, and I can't wait to share them all with you. And the venomous insects get even weirder from here. Along the banks of streams and lakes, sometimes you might notice what look like little moving pebbles. If you take a closer look, you might notice some eyes staring back at you. Big, bulging, toad-like eyes. That's actually where the toad bug gets its name. These squat, armored creatures look kind of like the warty appearance of toads, but are actually insects in the family Galastocoridae. Like the stink bugs and the water scorpions, these are true bugs, meaning they have that straw-like mouth part instead of chewing mandibles. But these guys are super cool. That mottled, rough appearance gives them perfect camouflage in the sandy habitats on the water's edge. And what they'll do is they'll creep slowly along, looking for other insects that might be landing on the sand for a rest after flying around, or in some cases, grazing on the algae that grows in the sand. When they find a suitable prey item, they can actually hop and pounce onto it, much like a toad, sinking their sharp, beak-like mouth part into the exoskeleton of their victim, flooding its body cavity with digestive, cytotoxic venom and ending its life. Little is known about the potency of their venom, but the fact that these insects can oftentimes take down prey as large or larger than they are suggests that it might be pretty toxic. So not only are these a very weird-looking animal, they could be a very venomous animal, and we'd never know. Toad bugs are also surprisingly common. It's not something that's going to turn up in your suburban backyard, but if you live near a river or ever go fishing, there's a good chance that these insects are closer to you than you'd think. They might have one of the most unique appearances of the venomous insects on this list, but they definitely don't have the most unique hunting strategy. In different sandy soil habitats, you might have noticed these kind of cone-shaped holes scattered around, and if you stop and watch for a little bit, you might notice an ant wandering too close to these pits. Once they stumble into the pit, they start to have a hard time coming out. The struggling ant sends little particles down to the bottom of the pit, letting our next venomous insect know that dinner has arrived. This is the cunning hunting strategy of the antlion, a bizarre group of insects in the family Mermelion today. These things are basically the real-life Sarlacc from Star Wars. They build these pits in the sand that allow them to trap other insects, most commonly ants. And this is no small feat. Many species of ant are among the most venomous species of insect in the world, with extremely potent, paralyzing neurotoxic venoms, on par with things like cobras and kraits. Ant venom doesn't mess around, so if you are going to be hunting ants, you better have some really cunning adaptations to make that possible. And oh boy, the antlion does not disappoint. These pitfall traps they build catch the ants off guard when they're out foraging for supplies for the nest. The antlion can actually flick sand particles up out of its hole with really good accuracy, helping to make the sides of the pitfall trap even slipperier, causing the ant to stumble ever further in. And once that ant reaches the bottom, the antlion latches on with venom-injecting jaws, paralyzing its dangerous prey. These antlions are actually related to the lacewings. They're in the same insect order, Neuroptera. But unlike the backpack-carrying lacewing larvae, the antlion larva has one of the coolest predation strategies in the entire insect world. This next insect hunts almost like a spider, but it uses the surface of the water as its web. The water striders are another group of true bugs in the family Geridae, and they are famous for their ability to skate across a pond's surface where they hunt for unfortunate insects that have fallen into the water. The way these insects are able to hunt is because of the surface tension of the water. A neat byproduct of the chemistry of water means that the surface actually has sort of a film which allows lots of small, lightweight things to float really easily on top. What this also means is if a small insect falls into the water and is unable to get out, its struggling sends vibrations through this tense upper layer. The water strider skates around using this surface tension as a means of transportation, but these insects are also extremely locked in to vibrations in that layer. When they detect what they sense to be a struggling insect, they will hone in on the source of those vibrations and then pounce. But they're not the only insects that are taking advantage of this surface tension in aquatic habitats. They actually have an upside-down counterpart. Rather than hunting on the upper surface of the water, there are insects called backswimmers that hunt underneath the surface of the water. Another group of true bugs in the family Nodonectidae, they basically cling upside down to the surface of the water and swim around following those same exact vibrations. In my opinion, it's creatures like these that make the insect world so terrifying. Literally around every corner, there is another insect that has evolved to eat you in some crazy unexpected way. What I think is probably the gnarliest looking insect in the world is the owlfly larva. And these things back up their terrifying appearance with a venomous secret. Like the lacewings and the antlions, the owlflies belong to the insect order Neuroptera. And these things just look horrible. I mean, they're armored. They have these weird beady segmented eyes and these giant serrated jaws that are actually hollow venom-injecting needles. I mean, this insect already looks like something straight out of Star Trek or Dark Souls or some kind of eldritch horror, but its ecology is even more disturbing. That flat armored appearance also gives them really good camouflage. They will flatten themselves against stones or inside the bark of trees. Some species are even green and feathery and can flatten themselves on the surface of leaves, disappearing into the background. And they will sit there and do nothing. These insects don't move around a lot. They're not actively hunting like the lacewings. They're not responding to vibrations like the water striders and backswimmers. They are the perfect ambush hunter. And they're kind of almost like the alligator snapping turtle of the insect world. They simply just sit there until something walks across their jaws, then slam them shut, in the case of this insect, injecting it full of that paralyzing venom. And these owlflies get surprisingly big. Like, they're not tiny antlions or lacewings. They're pretty decent-sized insects. I don't know if they're capable of biting humans. I haven't personally tested it, and I don't know anybody who wants to test it. But at their size, and with the huge jaws that they have, I wouldn't be surprised if they could bite humans. The common theme here is all of these venomous insects are hunting other insects and invertebrates. And it turns out, if you are an invertebrate-eating animal, and you are also very small, having venom is a pretty advantageous thing. And it's not just insects, either. Most scorpions, spiders, and centipedes use venom to subdue their prey, too. While it's common knowledge that most spiders are using venom to subdue their prey, there actually are a few more spiders than you'd think that are dangerous to people here in the U.S. It's not just the black widow and brown recluse. In fact, there's a whole host of forgotten venomous spiders lurking in people's backyards and wilderness areas here in the U.S. as well. And if you want to discover the toxic secrets of those gnarly spiders, check out this video right here. Hope to see you there, but until next time, don't forget to get outside and find your own adventure.