Numbers
Nearctica.com lists 11 species:
Triatoma gerstaeckeri Stål 1859
Triatoma incrassata Usinger 1939
Triatoma indictiva Neiva 1912
Triatoma lenticularius Stål 1859
Triatoma neotomae Neiva 1911
Triatoma peninsularis Usinger 1940
Triatoma protractus Uhler 1894
Triatoma recurvus Stål 1868
Triatoma rubidus Uhler 1894
Triatoma rubrofasciatus De Geer 1773
Triatoma sanguisuga Leconte 1855
Identification
Medium-sized, boldly patterned in dark brown to black with reddish markings. Beak tapered, not curved, as in
Reduvius, and bare
(1) (2) (3). See Lent (1979) for key to species.
Range
Southern North America into neotropics. T. sanguisuga and T. heidemanni are eastern.
Season
All year, but may be more frequently noticed in spring and fall when dispersing and coming to lights.
Food
Mammalian blood; also other insects?
Life Cycle
After a meal, female scatters many oval whitish eggs. Nymphs take up to 2-3 years to become an adult, passing through eight instars.
Remarks
Bite causes severe allergic reaction in many humans. Bite and defecation into bite can transmit Chagas disease, caused by
Trypanosoma cruzi, a protozoan. The most notorious vector is
T. infestans, found in South America. The North American species are not normally thought to transmit the disease, though they can carry the parasite. (The North American species do not normally defecate at the site of the bite, which is what actually transmits the parasite--see
Kissing bugs (Triatoma) and the skin. The CDC page on
Chagas' Disease says that "Rare vectorborne cases of Chagas disease have been noted in the southern United States".
Print References
Slater, p. 130, fig. 242,
T. sanguisuga (1)
Milne, plate 120, p. 474,
T. sanguisuga (2)
Swan and Papp, p. 121, fig. 106,
T. sanguisuga (3)
Drees, p. 53, plate 53
Triatoma species
(4)
Brimley, p. 72, lists
T. sanguisuga and
T. heidemanni for North Carolina
(5).
Lent, (1979). Revision of the Triatominae (Hemiptera, Reduviidae), and their significance as vectors of Chagas disease. Bulletin of the AMNH; v. 163, article 3. Available as a 158
megabyte PDF file, linked
here.
Internet References
Chagas Disease--TDR, a WHO affiliate
North Carolina State University Entomology Collection lists
T. dimidiata,
T. indictiva T. lenticularius,
T. protracta,
T. sanguisuga, and
T. venosa.