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BugGuide Gathering
Smoky Mountains
University of Tennessee Biological Field Station
August 8-10, 2008
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Photos from the last gathering (Minnesota 2007)

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Genus Triatoma - Bloodsucking Conenoses

Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Hemiptera (True Bugs, Cicadas, Hoppers, Aphids and Allies)
Suborder Heteroptera (True Bugs)
Family Reduviidae (Assassin Bugs)
Genus Triatoma (Bloodsucking Conenoses)
Other Common Names
Kissing Bugs
Big Bed Bugs
Numbers
Nearctica.com lists 11 species.
Size
body length 16-21 mm
Range
Southern North America into neotropics. T. sanguisuga and T. heidemanni are eastern.
Habitat
Mammal nests, houses
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.
Print References
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.
Works Cited
1.How to Know the True Bugs
By Slater, James A., and Baranowski, Richard M.
2.National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects and Spiders
By Lorus and Margery Milne
3.The Common Insects of North America
By Lester A. Swan, Charles S. Papp
4.A Field Guide to Common Texas Insects
By Bastiaan M. Drees, John A. Jackman
5.Insects of North Carolina
By C.S. Brimley