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Assassin Bug #442404

Asked March 04, 2018, 7:51 PM EST

I found the pictures assassin bug in my bedroom. I killed it after taking the photo. The same day I found an identical bug in the garage. Before finding these bugs I discovered over a dozen bites on my 4-year-olds torso. I had an unknown bite under my collar bone. So I need to be concerned about this? I've read about the kissing bugs. I believe it would be considered rare to be infected by the parasite the kissing but may carry but is there a test/screen to rule it out?

Washington County Oregon

Expert Response

You can relax. The images are not of a kissing bug. Kissing bugs are tropical insects that are not in Oregon. Your images reveal a similar, but not dangerous, insect. So, you don’t need to be concerned that the bites you’ve found are from a kissing bug.

Research-based sources indicates that "kissing bugs" (also called assassin bugs) that carry Chagas disease are in South America. Chagas disease is widespread in Central and South America with a few cases reported in the southern US (Texas).

Various kinds of assassin bugs live in Oregon but none attack people. They are predators (i.e.: beneficial insects) which attack and kill other insects. The two insects you found are surviving the winter in a sheltered place – indoors and in your garage.  

See “Kissing bug identification requires closer look” https://citybugs.tamu.edu/2015/12/01/kissing-bug-identification-requires-closer-look/


Jean R. Natter; Master Gardener Diagnostician (metro counties, Oregon) Replied March 04, 2018, 9:30 PM EST

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