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Sticker of Kissing bug
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Kissing bug

Triatoma infestans
Eats: BloodTrue bugs and cicadasHouses and farms6 legs

The kissing bug is a dark bug from South America that drinks blood. It mostly lives inside people's homes and comes out at night. It can carry a tiny germ that causes an illness called Chagas disease.

Lives in
South America, especially Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile and Brazil
Top speed
about 0.2 km/h (0.12 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Dangerous: look, do not touch

Watch out! Read all about it on Venom Wiki →

What does it eat?
It drinks the blood of people and animals. Before a meal it is thin, and afterwards it is round and fat with blood.
For real!Photo of Kissing bug
Picture by unknown author. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The famous scientist Charles Darwin met these bugs in Argentina in 1835 and wrote about it in his diary.

2

Darwin wrote that the bugs were thin before feeding and round and bloated afterwards.

3

Countries in South America work together to get rid of these bugs from homes.

you asked

Most asked questions about Kissing bug

?Why is it called a kissing bug?

These bugs often come to drink blood at night from a sleeping person's face, which is how they got their name.

?Where does the kissing bug live?

In South America, mostly inside homes.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Triatoma infestans
Group
True bugs and cicadas
Family
Reduviidae
Classification
Insecta > Hemiptera > Reduviidae
Lives on
South America
Also known as
Barber bug, Vinchuca, Barbeiro

Where the facts come from

  1. Triatoma infestans (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by unknown author. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

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