Scientific Name: Triatoma infestans
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Family: Reduviidae
Genus: Triatoma
Species: T. infestans
Description:
Environment: T. infestans lives
in the rainforests of South America and may be found
either in the dwelling of the victim or in the fronds of palm trees.
Reproduction & Development: The
mature female insect may lay between 100-600 eggs, depending on how much blood
she ingests and therefore how much nutrition she has to spare.
Nutrition: the main food of the
assassin bug is the blood of birds, rodents, bats, and humans. The insects
typically are the uninvited guests of their hosts’ dwellings.
Not-So-Fun Fact:
Assassin bugs carry Chagas disease, which is most often fatal and causes
symptoms including sores, fever, swollen lymph nodes, and damage to the major
organs. The disease is transmitted when the feces of the insect, deposited near
the feeding site, is scratched by the victim into the bite and therefore into
the bloodstream.
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