It Might Not Be A Bed Bug Or Spider Biting You Most people imagine, if they wake with bites on their

body, that it is from a be d bug or a spider. Unfortunately, there is another insect that could be the caus e of the bites. It is called the kissing bug. It is also known as the conenose bug, wheel bug, Mexican bedbug, masked hunter, assassin bug, or triatomine. The scientific name is triatoma. There are more than 130 species of triatominaes. Most are living in America but a couple of species can be discovered in Australia, Asia, and Africa. The kissing bug feeds on the blood of vertebrates and lives with a vertebrate. S ome may be discovered in burrows with armadillos and rodents. The majority of pe ople associate them with opossums, raccoons, timber rats, birds, bats, and sloth s. Around 5% do live in human homes or surrounding regions. These regions are norma lly around domestic animals. They are known as the domestic species. A kissing bug does not have to be brought in by a domestic animal. Many have fou nd their own way into a home on firewood. The kissing bug is known to remain 'at home' during the day time and search for blood at night. They like the cooler temperatures. They usually will become attr acted to a sleeping person. There are numerous items that draw the kissing bug t o an individual. Odours, such as carbon dioxide from breath, ammonia, carbonoxylic acids from the skin, exocrine glands, and hair, are what draw them the most. Outside lights at tract the adult kissing bug to houses. The kissing bug does not bite but sucks the blood from a warm-blooded animal. Th ey do not have any mouth parts to bite with. They are not known to clamber onto a person but to find exposed skin and stand next to it. They touch the skin only with their mouths and suck from eight to fifteen minute s. They will not bite through a person s clothes like a mosquito. The kissing bug does let off an odour comparable to a stink bug when disturbed. The bites from a kissing bug are normally to be found in a group and range from two to fifteen like those of a bed bug. The bites will be discovered in a certai n order. They start with the hand, then on to the arms, feet, head, and body trunk. They have been known to bite the eyelids and ears of a human. Some species, usually found in South America, are known to bite on a human s lips when they are sleeping. This is how the name, kissing bug, came into being. The South American type is known to carry Chagas Disease. This is a life threate ning illness caused by the parasites which live in the digestive tract of the ki ssing bug. An adult kissing bug is approximately one-half to an inch long. They have flatte ned but wide bodies. They have elongated, cone shaped heads with thin, tapered b eaks. They have a pair of antennae of five or six segments. Their coloring is dark brown to black. They may have markings on the abdomen.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on a number of topics, but is curren tly involved with the <a href="http://indoor-bug-zapper.com/aedes-mosquito.php"> Aedes Mosquito</a>. If you would like to know more, please go to our website at <a href="http://indoor-bug-zapper.com">Indoor Bug Zapper</a>