Thursday, September 20, 2012

Potentially Hazardous

This is the Spotted Assassin Bug, Rhynocoris ventralis, from my summer archives.  It can inflict a painful bite and spread disease to humans.  However, I've been lucky.  I've had these and their relatives the Western Bloodsucking Conenose crawl on my hands and I've never been bitten.  However, I have had acorns and pine cones land on my head.  After reading a bit about Chagas disease and a few others, I think I'll not be so casual about handling these again.  But they certainly make an attractive photo subject.

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