Genus Triatoma - Bloodsucking Conenoses

Kissing Bugs, Big Bed Bugs, Mexican Bed Bugs, Bellows Bugs, Vinchuca

Triatoma Laporte de Castelnau 1833

11 spp. in our area(1), 76 total(2)

13‒33 mm

Key to species in (3)

so. US (transcontinental) to Argentina; in our area, T. sanguisuga and T. lecticularia in the East, T. rubrofasciata an isolated introduction in FL, others restricted to sw.US(1)

mostly rodent nests, also bird nests, logs and man-made structures such as barns, coops, houses; some Neotropical spp. also in caves

All year, but more frequently seen in spring and fall when dispersing and coming to lights

Tetrapod blood, mostly mammalian. The most common wild hosts are wood rats (Neotoma) but other common ones include armadillos, opossums and raccoons (possibly also skunks); synanthropic species may feed on livestock, pets, humans, and lizards around homes

After a meal, female scatters many whitish oval eggs; nymphs pass through eight instars and take up to 2‒3 years to complete the cycle

Bite can cause severe allergic reaction. Bite and defecation into bite can transmit Chagas disease, caused by Trypanosoma cruzi. The North American species can carry the parasite but they do not normally defecate at the site of bite, and thus rarely transmit the disease (Vetter 2001). Rare vector-borne cases of Chagas occur in the so. US (CDC 2013).