The masked hunter is a predator of small arthropods, including woodlice, lacewings, earwigs, bed bugs and termites.

[2] The sting can be painful, but masked hunters do not carry Chagas disease[3] unlike the kissing bug for which they are sometimes mistaken.

Adult masked hunters are uniformly dark brown to black in color and vary in length from 17–22 mm.

[6] Nymphs of this species resemble the adult form and are naturally dark-colored, but often appear gray or light-colored due to a camouflage layer of debris covering them.

[9] It is native to Europe, but was accidentally transported to North America and is now common in the Central and Eastern United States.