Kissing bugs

presentation about the kissing bugs

1. By : Lamya Alsadhan

2. A type of bugs that belong to the sub family
Triatominae.
Haematophagous which means that they feed
on vertebrates blood.
Biological transmitters for the Parasite
(Trypanosoma. cruzi)
Nocturnal insects (Active only at night), they
get attracted to the light coming from people
houses mostly.
Called kissing bugs because they mostly target
the face for the lips and the areas around it are
their favorite biting spots.
 Relatively painless bite.

3. Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera (True Bugs)
Sub Order: Heteroptera
Family: Reduviidae
Subfamily: Triatominae
Genus: Triatoma.spp

4. Widespread in the
Americas, with a few
species present in Asia,
Africa and Australia.
live in the nests and
burrows of vertebrate
animals.

5. The adult kissing bug is 3/4 to 1
inch (2.5 cm) long and dark gray to
black in color.
Wings overlap on the top of the
abdomen forming a distinct letter
“X”.
Abdomen is wide and flattened.
Head is cone-shaped with a short,
curved sucking mouthparts.
3-segmented proboscis (beak)
extends backward below the body.
Two (elbowed) antenna.

6. Incomplete metamorphosis :
Egg  Nymph  Adult
Eggs are laid in summer and take 3-5 weeks to hatch
and give a wingless first nymph.
It passes successively through 5 instars. After the fifth
instar it turns into an adult, acquiring two pairs of
wings.
both sexes and all life stages are blood suckers.

7. The kissing bugs are biological
vectors that transmit the
parasite (Trypanosoma.cruzi)
which causes the Chagas
disease by the contamination
of the wound with the bug’s
FECES and not SALIVA.
Its saliva contains proteins
that causes inflammation in
the skin in the biting site.

8. Eliminate or minimize light
sources around home.
Remove rodent nests around
house.
Recommend regular pest
control service plan.