Subject: Bug Identification
Location: Central Florida
May 27, 2017 5:33 am
We found this bug crawling into our screened patio. I’m guessing it may be a seed bug. I’d love to know which bug it is. We have a new landscape and garden and would like to know if we should be concerned about this bug, if it may eat our plants, protect our plants or just enjoy our plants. Thank you!
Signature: Gina
Dear Gina,
You should exercise extreme caution around this Eastern Blood-Sucking Conenose Bug, Triatoma sanguisuga, whose identity we verified on BugGuide. According to BugGuide, the habitat is “Nests of small mammals; may invade houses. Nocturnal” and “Sometimes bites humans, and the bite may be severe, causing an allergic reaction.” Kissing Bugs have been in the news quite a bit lately as tropical species are known to spread Chagas Disease. According to BugGuide: “Bite can cause severe allergic reaction in humans. Bite and defecation into bite can transmit Chagas disease, caused by the protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi. The North American species can carry the parasite but they do not normally defecate at the site of bite, and thus rarely transmit the disease (Vetter 2001). Rare vector-borne cases of Chagas occur in the so. US (CDC 2013).”