There are over 1,000 species of Assassin Bugs around the world
My blood test for Chagas disease was negative. Yay!
So, it’s come to this: now I have homemade assassin bug traps in my back yard. I’ve set extra towels on the back porch where they were before, and half-buried some small pieces of PVC pipe in some leaves where they breed. Let them hide. It’s been several weeks, nothing yet, and no new sightings. I suspect I may have to wait until next Fall to get a good specimen.
I can wait. The health department will still be here.
…Not Bitter AT ALL
U.S. Post Office stamp circa 1999
The story continues as I wait to hear back from the doctor specialist and the health department. I’m thinking of setting some extra towels out on the back porch and leaving the light on more often. Also, thinking about making an Assassin Bug trap, perhaps some 1-foot lengths of PVC pipe lightly buried in the leaf piles. No telling what I might end up with. Also, I’m thinking of changing the name of my business to reflect this life experience. I have obtained better items for collection and examination of specimens as well. I now keep my collection jar at the back door for quick collection.
BTW, I had an observation beehive in my bedroom when I was about 13 years old. There was a plastic tube we ran to a small hole we cut in my bedroom window’s screen. My fascination with arthropods began at an early age.
Waiting to hear from the doctor’s office…
Assassin bugs inject a combination of venom and digestive enzymes
The Assassin Bug I caught a few weeks ago lived only 48 hours. I was tempted to feed it, but didn’t, partly because I was afraid it would escape, and didn’t feel like giving in to watching an aggressive bug do its thing just to get my jollies. So, other than capturing it, I didn’t do anything to hurt it, and was planning to let it go after asking the health department if they wanted it for examination. Alas, I caught it late on a Friday, it died Sunday night before I could get it to the health department on Monday. I still have what’s left of it, just in case. So perhaps it didn’t die in vain. However, my feeling now is that is was very young, and not likely to have the Chagas parasite, at least not yet, so it may be of extremely limited value. I continue to try and capture a larger mature specimen for this purpose.
I called the county folks on Monday, was told to leave a message. No reply. I emailed the story and included the digital picture, again no reply. The Chagas may be infecting my cells as I write this. I’ve called the infectious diseases doctor back to request the blood test for Chagas. I’m carrying the picture still and am trying to educate my neighbors to the presence and the dangers of this little fellow.
The Assassin Bug is considered beneficial because it controls populations of other arthropods. That’s great, just don’t pick them up or touch them. I’m concerned for our dog that goes in the back yard regularly, as well as our outdoor cat that hunts in the same area. We have no children here, but our neighbors have kids playing outside all the time. I guess if we didn’t have Assassin Bugs we’d REALLY be overrun by insects, because, believe me, we’ve got plenty here in central Texas in both variety and volume, including Cicadas, Golden Orb Weavers (very persistent), fire ants, scorpions, centipedes, etc. Last summer I caught a Cicada Killer wasp, absolutely the biggest and most menacing wasp I have ever seen in my life. Sounded like a motorboat when it flew.
This is a better picture of the same species, Zelus renardii, attacking a cotton bollworm.
It seemed the more I learned about my assassin and Chagas disease, the less I wanted to know, and the more afraid I became. Especially when I read they attack prey much larger than themselves, and I finally realized that he had tried to poison me and liquify my internal organs for food! OK, sorry for the melodrama, but that’s basically correct, and it certainly explains the shudder and weird “fight or flight” feeling that I got. I was at my doctor’s office for other reasons, and I mentioned this experience to him, and showed him my best picture, and he expressed concern and referred me to an infectious diseases specialist “just to be sure.”
The infectious diseases nurse did a double take on the phone when I mentioned the Assassin Bug, I don’t think she’d ever heard of this. (This was a large, major metropolitan hospital here in Austin by the way, the largest of our 3, privately owned, arguably the best.) The doctor seemed fascinated and listened to my story, and then asked if my liver was swollen or hurting (no). Really, I went there to get peace of mind and put this whole thing to rest, and I ended up telling him that all in all, I was feeling just fine, so he didn’t seem worried at all. However, he said it was a health hazard, and should be reported to the county health department, possibly the state health department. We parted ways and I thought the story was over. Well, this was before I researched Chagas Disease.
Early last November, 2005, I was in the back yard of my house here in northwest Austin, Texas, when I was bitten by a bug. He had been hiding in my work gloves, which I had left on my back porch for several weeks. Since I normally keep them inside, I was concerned that a spider or something may be hidden in there, so before I put them on, I shook them out and even squeezed each finger to kill anything that might be hiding. I guess that’s when he got grumpy, because about 1 minute after I had put the gloves on and begun my yard work (picking up leaves), I received a most painful bite on my little finger, much like a severe wasp sting. Here’s the scary part: a shudder immediately went over my entire body, and a chill went down my spine, sort of an “I’m in trouble” feeling in general, like I needed to run or do something immediately. I remembered getting a similarly strange bite from the previous year as well and I though, whatever that was that got me last year has gotten me again. Removing the gloves and examining the bite revealed a small, perfectly round puncture, with blood beginning to ooze out. It was painful, and swelling began immediately. I swore off using gloves for the moment and continued my work.
About 30 min. later, the swelling was going down, and the pain had nearly completely stopped, though it was a bit tender to the touch still (it took 2 weeks to heal completely). I got a bit worried, and thinking perhaps a little investigation was in order, since we have both the Black Widow and the Brown Recluse spiders in this area, I turned my glove inside out and out came a small greenish-brownish bug, a little over an inch long, with wings, and big front legs with debris on them. I quickly ran in and got a plastic dish and caught the little guy (gal?). I did my best to photograph it, but my cheap camera just wouldn’t focus on something so small, sorry.
Good light and magnification helped me to make the amateur identification that I had an Assassin Bug on my hands, my best guess is that it was a Zelus renardii, the Leafhopper Assassin Bug. A close look at his formidable needle-like articulated mouthparts caused me to do a bit more research whereupon I learned about their predatory nature and habits and such. I let him go unharmed (mistake?). Much later, I was to learn they are a vector for Chagas Disease if infected with the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi. Great. And I had been bitten.
That very night, I found 4 more, 2 of which were even larger than the first, hiding in a towel that was hanging from the side of my house, same place. I left them alone. I continue to see them to this day: just a few weeks ago I caught an immature but lively specimen apparently hunting prey buzzing around my back porch light at night. I also remembered that I had had the same kind of bite the previous year, doing the same thing in the same place, picking up leaves in my back yard. I’ve never looked at a pile of leaves the same since.
This is the actual bug that bit me. Yes, it’s blurry, it’s not your eyes.