BEWARE OF ASSASSIN (BUGS) IN THE BUSH

Assassin bugs (Family Reduvidae) hide in the bushes, waiting for an unsuspecting insect to come by... then WHAM!  They stab their prey with a piercing, sucking mouthpart!  Of which tip conveniently fits into a groove on the underside of the body.  The one shown here is likely one commonly called a "wheel bug" because of the "cogwheel-like" crest on back.     

Often, folks use the word "bug" to refer to anything from spiders to centipedes to insects.  Those who study bugs, limit the term to a specific order of insects that have piercing, sucking mouthparts, and wings that are ½ leathery looking and ½ mesh/membranous.  Indeed, the assassin bug is a true bug.  You are welcome to correct people for the inaccurate use of the term "bug".  However, I find it is very prevalent and if you correct folks, you just end up looking like a gluteus maximus (the scientific term for the muscle that makes up your butt). 

There are some members of this family of bugs that are blood sucking and will bite people.  These are Triatoma.  They enter houses and bite any exposed body part (like the face) while people are sleeping.  They are commonly called "kissing bugs" because they tend to bite people around the mouth.  This is pretty horrific (who wants to get a kiss from a stabbing, piercing mouthpart of a bug?), but it gets worse.  This this group can serve as vectors of a microscopic parasite (Trypanosoma) which results in Chagas disease which in the worst case can cause heart and digestive issues.  Chagas disease is mainly found in south and central American.  We don't have it here in the Ozarks.  If you want to read more on the disease the Centers for Disease Control has information at: https://www.cdc.gov/parasites/chagas/