---
title: "Masked Hunter"
description: "Reduvius personatus — Insects & spiders. Reduvius personatus or the masked hunter is an insect belonging to the assassin bug (Reduviidae) family."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/animal/masked-hunter
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Masked Hunter

> Reduvius personatus — Insects & spiders. Reduvius personatus or the masked hunter is an insect belonging to the assassin bug (Reduviidae) family.

- Scientific name: *Reduvius personatus*
- Category: `insects` (Insects & spiders)
- Habitats: `urban` (Towns & gardens)
- iNaturalist observations: 15352
- Wikidata: [Q1686804](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1686804)
- iNaturalist taxon: [56521](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/56521)

## Names

- en: Masked Hunter
- de: Staubwanze
- fr: Réduve masqué
- nl: Maskerwants
- pl: Zajadek domowy

## Countries with the most observations

CA (5117), US (4075), FR (885), DE (808), IT (403), AT (266), UA (242), HU (240), DK (191), ES (188), RU (188), PT (170)

## Summary

Reduvius personatus or the masked hunter is an insect belonging to the assassin bug (Reduviidae) family. The name is because its nymphs camouflage themselves with dust. The masked hunter is a predator of small arthropods, including woodlice, lacewings, earwigs, bed bugs and termites. Masked hunters do not feed on human blood, but can deliver a rostral stab to humans in self-defense when mishandled. The stab can be painful, but masked hunters do not carry Chagas disease, unlike the kissing bug for which they are sometimes mistaken.

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reduvius_personatus

## Photo

![Masked Hunter](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/masked-hunter/medium.jpg)

Photo: Liubov Ilminska · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/113012541

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/masked-hunter?lang=en` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).