stag beetle

Common household bugs that look like dust include dust mites, booklice, mold mites, plaster bagworms, and assassin bugs. Some of these appear to be tiny white, brown, or grey in color – just like dust particles can be. Let’s find out just how harmful these microscopic bugs are, and how you can get rid of them.

cicada

Final Thoughts. Assassin bugs are a great way to control destructive insects without chemical pesticides. Now that you’ve learned to distinguish them—and how to attract them—welcome them to your garden and let them eat their fill. Just be sure not to mess with them or you could get a painful bite!

Kissing bugs can enter your home through: Crawl spaces. Exposed cracks. Gaps around patio doors.

Kissing bugs are found in warm southern states of the U.S. and in Mexico, Central America, and South America. Kissing bugs can hide in cracks and holes in beds, floors, walls, and furniture.

Kissing bugs look similar to stink bugs, but stink bugs are typically smaller and lack the red, orange, or yellow stripes of color that you can see on kissing bugs.

The cause of Chagas disease is the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which is spread from an insect known as the triatomine bug, or “kissing bug.” These insects can become infected by this parasite when they swallow blood from an animal that is infected with the parasite.

Most of the world’s kissing bugs are in Central and South America and Mexico. They’ve also been found in the United States in the lower 28 states, with higher concentrations in Texas, Arizona and New Mexico. Kissing bugs have been spotted a far north as Delaware, Ohio and Pennsylvania.

Bite Marks Kissing bugs are so named because they like to bite around the mouth or eyes. You’ll often see 2-15 bite marks in one area and maybe redness and swelling. It might be hard to tell them apart from other bug bites, minor skin irritations, or infections.

The kissing bug belongs to the Reduviidae family of insects. This family is also referred to as assassin bugs. But this family of bugs doesn’t get the name “assassin” because it transmits Chagas disease (also known as kissing bug disease).

Kissing bugs can carry a parasite that causes Chagas disease, but this is not common in the United States. Itching from the bites can be so bad that some people will scratch enough to cause breaks in the skin that get infected easily. The bites can also cause a serious allergic reaction in some people.

During the acute phase of infection, parasites may be seen circulating in the blood. The diagnosis of Chagas disease can be made by observation of the parasite in a blood smear by microscopic examination. A thick and thin blood smear are made and stained for visualization of parasites.

Kissing bugs are nocturnal, meaning that they hide during the day and are most active at night. Kissing bugs will normally hide during the day and come out at night, biting and feeding on a person’s blood while they sleep.

A biting insect prone to chomping on lips — unofficially dubbed the “kissing bug” — has become a terrifying menace after researchers revealed that up to 30 percent of its victims develop life-threatening health problems, including heart disease and sudden death.

Kissing bugs hatch from small oval-shaped eggs. They have 5 nymphal stages before becoming adults. Males have rounded bottoms, and females have pointed ovipositors (for egg laying) on their bottoms. Kissing bugs live throughout North America, Central America, and South America.