Last Friday I was getting ready to send off my specimen to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention in Georgia when I decided to give them a call first. I reached a very nice lady there on first try, and we had a very interesting and informative conversation. Partly because I had current pictures posted here, we were able to determine that my species genus is not one that transmits Chaga’s. Whew. Yes, she agreed that was an egg mass as well. She sent me an information sheet describing the ones in this area, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen one of those around here. So my now dead specimen has been disposed of, as well as the eggs, which were not looking too healthy anyway from what I could tell.
All is well. :-)
End of blog? We’ll see.
Thanks for taking the time to read this. Please be sure and post a comment if you like.
James
OK, a few days ago on Halloween afternoon I found another dreaded red Zelus specimen in my back yard, this time a good-sized lively one, that I was able to capture and photograph. Holy moley, I think it even layed a few eggs in my collection jar (or perhaps it just produced some waste).
Today I got a callback from a nice lady at the Texas Department of State Health Services who referred me to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Georgia. There is an established procedure for specimen submission to test for Chaga’s, and she emailed the details. The gist is you request a FedEx number, prepare it securely as they request and ship it to them for free analysis to see if the T. cruzi is present. I’ll be working on that, like, IMMEDIATELY. Naturally, I had to snap some pics for more documentation:
There’s a little piece of fluff on its leg…but what’s that other stuff? Looks like eggs…
Good view of the mouthparts as well as the underbelly I think.
My best Photoshop effort to show the orange-ish mass
OK, I’m getting itchy all over and this is creepin’ me out, so I gotta go.