This past week we’ve had two unwelcome guests around the ranch house – The large bug (True Bug) in the photo is an Easter Blood-sucking Conenose – Triatoma gerstaeckeri - AKA “Kissing Bug” named for drawing blood from human lips while they sleep. These guys are known to carry the vector for the disease “Chagas”. The vector is a parasite called Trypanosoma cruzi that resides in its feces of the bug that it deposits on your skins while piercing the skin to draw blood. After it moves on, you scratch and help insert the parasite into the bite.
The other little fellow in the photo is a dead Brown Recluse which is another rather bad character whose bite can be quit serious. The small inverted violin / fiddle shaped feature on the carapace (shield) of the cephalothorax (head) is the best diagnostic for this arachnid.
