Gorareduvius sp. (proposed name G. gajarrangarang is under revision) assassin bugs collect a sticky resin from spinifex grass (Triodia spp) in Australia. We evaluated whether this resin conveys a predatory advantage to the assassin bugs, by staging predatory interactions in the field, under controlled conditions. Assassin bugs were sequentially exposed to two types of prey (ants and flies), and while being equipped with or deprived of resin. This was a repeated measures design that controlled for individual predatory ability, in which the order of the trials was randomized. The predatory interactions yielded four different types of data, which were analyzed separately, as detailed below. 

Data were collected in the laboratory, which was basically a shaded tent in a campsite in the field. Each assassin bug experienced a total of 4 conditions (repeated measures analysis). The four conditions are the result of 2 prey items (ant or fly) experienced by the assassin bug (predator) one at a time in an arena, for 65 minutes. The predator could be equipped with resin (its body covered with resin) or depleted of resin (the resin covering its body was removed with cotton pads). The combination of these factors produced 4 conditions in total.

The first analysis considers the outcome of the trial (two possibilities only: the assassin bug captured the prey item or not) within the given time frame. For this, only trials in which the assassin bug had at least 10 opportunities for attack (i.e., the prey item came within range of attack) were included. Also, only trials in which the assassin bugs attempted at least once to capture the prey item were included. Sometimes these conditions were not met or the assassin bug was not motivated throughout the whole hunt, but nevertheless, these trials hold important data on capture attempts by the assassin bug (e.g., a trial in which the prey came close only 5 times and the assassin bug attempted to capture it on two occasions). Hence, we did a second analysis that considered each capture attempt (each attack from the assassin bug) separately. Again, this was a repeated measures analysis that grouped observations by bug_id. The second analysis considers all individual attacks separately and thus has more information than the one included in the first analysis. 

Data were noted by hand while watching the interactions directly or after watching them on video recordings. These data were later transferred to a spreadsheet. 

All datasets are Excel spreadsheets (comma-separated values, csv) files.