# Bug people! Help!



## tarbo96 (Jan 12, 2006)

I think this may be an assassin bug? Any entomologists out there?


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## LoganR (Oct 25, 2013)

Body shape reminds me more of a stink bug than an assassin bug.


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## froggorf (Nov 22, 2008)

I agree it looks like a member of the Pentatomidae family (stink bugs)


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## Van Robinson (Feb 13, 2013)

That is an assassin bug just unsure of exact species.


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## tarbo96 (Jan 12, 2006)

i thought so too, but it seems more narrow.


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## RichardA (Jul 15, 2009)

I do not think that is a true assassin.


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

That's an assassin for sure.Look at the proboscis in the first pic.Put it in a critter keeper with a cricket and see what happens.I guarantee the cricket is dead in seconds and the proboscis sucking the insides out.I have the species commonly called wheel bugs in my yard during the spring and summer.You don't want to get bit by one and certainly don't want it in your tanks.


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

The shiny black shield on it's back is a tell as well.


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## tarbo96 (Jan 12, 2006)

Found it in panama on the porch of my room the next morning I woke up with a bite by my lip. Worried it was him.


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## Van Robinson (Feb 13, 2013)

Since you mention this was in the tropics and you said you MAY have been bitten, not to plant the seed of fear in your mind but assassin bugs in the tropics and Central American can transmit serious diseases. You may want to inquire if Chagas was endemic to the area you visited. Google Chagas disease.


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

Some are known as kissing bugs, because they tend to bite sleeping humans in the soft tissue around the lips and eyes,but you would know it,because they have a painful bite.


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## tarbo96 (Jan 12, 2006)

Van Robinson said:


> Since you mention this was in the tropics and you said you MAY have been bitten, not to plant the seed of fear in your mind but assassin bugs in the tropics and Central American can transmit serious diseases. You may want to inquire if Chagas was endemic to the area you visited. Google Chagas disease.


Lodge owner said it wasn't but thats why I am looking. Also said assassin bugs were not in that area, but the pic is on that porch so....


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## tarbo96 (Jan 12, 2006)

oddlot said:


> Some are known as kissing bugs, because they tend to bite sleeping humans in the soft tissue around the lips and eyes,but you would know it,because they have a painful bite.


Wasnt painful, but I thought their bite wasn't painful which is why they are a problem because they bite, feed, and poop and the person doesn't wake up.


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

I did some research on the wheelbug species local to me because it looked nasty and was a decent size.Everything I read said it was painful.I didn't want to find out though.I did keep one for a while and like I said it was viscous to anything that moved.There are insect feeders and mammal
feeders.Maybe that's the difference.The bug eaters probably hurt because they don't have to be stealthy when they eat,where as it would make sense that mammal blood feeders would have to be.The bug eaters have venom to kill their prey and liquify them which is why they are painful,so I guess the species is what would matter.The blood feeders can carry diseases though,so you may want to keep an eye on the bite just in case,but all signs point to assassin bug in those pics.


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## Van Robinson (Feb 13, 2013)

Bites during feeding are said be hardly felt in self defense quite painful.


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## tarbo96 (Jan 12, 2006)

Thats what i thought as well. I have a friend who is an entomologist checking out the pics. Will schedule a doctors appointment. The bite went away, but I may have a rash on my legs which is a sign of chagas, but could also be bug bites as there were tons of noseeums.


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## Van Robinson (Feb 13, 2013)

Chagas symptoms are more flu-like. Swollen lymph nodes, fever etc. Blood test more common now but exactly routine. Anti-parasitic meds to treat the trypanosome would be prescibed if diagnosed.


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## nish07 (Mar 16, 2008)

For the longest time I thought I had gotten bitten by a spider then I noticed large black assassin bugs in my room. I'd find them 'in my bed' rarely. They were about the length of a big paperclip. Whatever bit me it was red, swollen and itched but when I scrached it, it hurt pretty badly. It didn't go away for a month.

-Nish


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## tarbo96 (Jan 12, 2006)

Here is the species that is suppose to live in central america and it is a close resemblance

Rhodnius pallescans


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## froggorf (Nov 22, 2008)

I'm happy to be proven wrong but I do not believe that the bug in question is similar to the species above. If it is in fact an assassin bug I still need some more convincing. I agree the mouth parts look predatory but from the pic it's hard to tell. The aposematic coloring could be a true signal or possible mimicry for a truly venomous species. As I said I'm happy for some one to tell me I'm dead wrong with some more convincing evidence but regardless the tropics are amazing, the bugs are cool and you're bound to get bit by something (and hopefully who ever bit you was completely harmless!)


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## Dendrobait (May 29, 2005)

I think a bite on the lips in that region would concern me enough even if no kissing bug was seen.

Hard to tell with that guy but the head shape doesn't look predatory.


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## Okita (Jan 25, 2014)

my mom gets those buggers flying around the house all the time. They are stink bugs, dont squish it, or anything. they stink like heck.


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## tarbo96 (Jan 12, 2006)

Probicius is tucked under in picture as tgey are in kissing bugs. This is definately not the same body shape as a srink bug and was found in panama not in the states.


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

Your Mom may have these flying around her house,not those,unless you live in Panama and they are colored like the first post.Two different animals.


That is definitely a predatory looking head.Hopefully it's a colorful jungle bug that uses the proboscis to sap something else other than blood.

The 1st pic is of a common stink bug,the next 2 are of the local assassin bug commonly called wheel bugs near my area and the last is of the young juvies that I've seen here too.The young ones are pretty fast.


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

Ok I think I found it.It's Panamanian and after doing a bit of searching looks like it to me.It's a giant mesquite bug.If that is correctly identified,they are harmless to people and don't bite.They sap off of the flowers of mesquite trees,so they are mimicking assassin bugs.Got to love the Jungle.


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## froggorf (Nov 22, 2008)

Nice work, Lou! I agree!


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## tarbo96 (Jan 12, 2006)

Looks like it! Now I just need to solve the mystery of what bit me on the lip.


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## tarbo96 (Jan 12, 2006)

seems a little out of the range also


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## tarbo96 (Jan 12, 2006)

So they are out to get me! I come home to my house in Florida and find this waiting! Coincidence?


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

Stowaway from your trip or local ugly?


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## tarbo96 (Jan 12, 2006)

Pretty sure its local. Captured un and this one has a long probicius.


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