Assassin Bug: How to Identify It, How Bad the Bite Is, and How to Tell It From a Kissing Bug

What is an assassin bug?

An assassin bug is a hunting insect in the family Reduviidae, a group of true bugs with about 7,000 species worldwide and 160 to 200 in North America. Most are 1/2 to 3/4 inch (13 to 19 mm) long. They have a narrow head with a neck, a strong curved beak, and long legs.

Those species counts come from UC IPM and the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC). The size is the usual range given by the University of Wisconsin. However, the smallest species are about 1/5 inch (5 mm), and the wheel bug reaches about 1-1/2 inches (38 mm). Most are brown, black or gray, but some are bright orange, red or green.

The beak is the key. UC IPM describes long, hinged, needlelike mouthparts. MDC adds that the beak has 3 segments and folds into a groove under the body when the bug is not using it. The bug stabs its prey with the beak, injects venom that paralyzes it and turns its insides to liquid, and then drinks the result. That is the “assassin” part of the name.

Kissing bugs, wheel bugs, ambush bugs and thread-legged bugs are all assassin bugs. So the family includes both the bug that eats caterpillars on your tomatoes and the bug that can carry Chagas disease. Telling those two apart is the most useful thing on this page, and it comes next.

Assassin bug or kissing bug? The 4-point check

Every kissing bug is an assassin bug, but almost no assassin bug you meet is a kissing bug. Check 4 things: the beak, the head, the legs and the edge of the body. A kissing bug has a straight beak, a long cone-shaped head, thin legs, and usually red, orange or cream stripes around the edge.

These features come from Texas A&M, which runs a kissing bug research and testing program. A garden assassin bug has a thick, curved beak. In contrast, a kissing bug’s beak is straight and lies flat under the head, according to Texas A&M. A kissing bug’s legs are all thin, with no thick or swollen parts and no spines.

Kissing bug features from Texas A&M Insects in the City (2015) and the Texas A&M kissing bug FAQ. Assassin bug features from UC IPM, MDC and the University of Wisconsin. Bite feel from ACEP Now (2025).

No single feature is enough. For example, Texas A&M notes that a kissing bug’s head is shaped like a wheel bug’s, and it lists the wheel bug among the common kissing bug imposters. But the wheel bug has a curved beak and a toothed crest on its back, and kissing bugs lack the crest. Only a bug that passes all four checks is likely to be a kissing bug, with one exception. Texas A&M says one western kind, Triatoma protracta, may have only a plain light-brown edge. So in Arizona and California, treat a bug with a straight beak and a cone-shaped head as a possible kissing bug even without stripes.

Place matters as well. Texas A&M records kissing bugs in 29 states, with the most finds in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, and they are mostly active at night. They live near wild animal nests, woodpiles and dog kennels, and they fly toward outdoor lights. A bug on a tomato plant at noon is very likely a garden assassin bug. A bug on your pillow at night needs a closer look.

Wheel bug vs kissing bug

The wheel bug is the assassin bug most often mistaken for a kissing bug, and both are often about 1 inch long. Three things separate them. The wheel bug has a toothed crest on its back, a curved beak, and it is usually found on plants, screens and porches. The kissing bug has no crest, a straight beak, and comes out at night.

Yes, a wheel bug is an assassin bug: the largest one in North America. Virginia Tech says people sometimes mistake it for a kissing bug, but it does not feed on mammal blood. Its risk is a hard, painful bite if you handle it. A kissing bug’s bite is usually painless, and its risk is the parasite in its droppings.

Are assassin bugs dangerous to humans?

Garden assassin bugs are not dangerous to most people. The bite is very painful and can take 1 to 2 weeks to heal, but they do not carry disease. In the sources we checked, we found no reported death from a predatory assassin bug bite. The real health risk in the family is the kissing bug.

So can an assassin bug kill a human? We found no reported deaths. The rare serious risk is a severe allergic reaction, which is an emergency. ACEP Now, a magazine for emergency doctors, says severe allergic reactions have been described in people who were already sensitized by an earlier bite. Infection of the bite wound is the other risk, and it is treatable.

Kissing bugs are different, because they can spread Chagas disease, as our kissing bug identification guide explains in detail. The World Health Organization estimates about 8 million people are infected worldwide, mostly in Latin America, with more than 10,000 deaths a year. CDC estimates about 280,000 people in the US have it. However, CDC also says Chagas is “present but not regularly spread by triatomine bugs” in the US.

Are they poisonous? Not to eat or touch. An assassin bug is venomous, meaning it injects venom with its beak. It is not poisonous, so touching one is not harmful unless it bites. The exception, again, is a kissing bug, whose droppings carry the parasite. Texas A&M says dogs can be infected by eating kissing bugs.

What about dogs and cats and garden assassin bugs? We found no extension or veterinary source reporting serious harm to pets from them. Still, a pet that paws at one could be bitten, just as a person can. As general advice, call your vet if the swelling spreads, if your pet seems unwell, or if the swelling is on the face or throat.

Assassin bug bite: what it feels like and how long it lasts

An assassin bug bite causes instant, burning pain, then redness, swelling and itching at the spot. Ohio State says the pain can equal or beat a hornet sting, and the wound may take over a week to heal. Numbness can last several days. Healing time varies: Ohio State says over a week, and ACEP Now says 2 weeks or longer.

Why does it hurt so much? In 2018, a study in Nature Communications found that one assassin bug makes two different venoms in separate glands. One paralyzes prey. The other, released when the bug is harassed, did not paralyze insects and appears to be for defense. So a bug biting you in self-defense may be using its defensive venom. Researchers have studied only a few species, so treat this as a likely reason, not a settled one.

People who have been bitten agree. One reader comment on the ACEP article, from a former beekeeper, describes “far worse pain than honey bees” and says it hurt intensely for days. On Reddit, bite posts carry titles such as “Got bit by this bug and it hurts like hell”. ACEP Now also recounts a 1924 case of a wheel bug bite on a child’s finger, which was still warmer than her other fingers a year later.

What an assassin bug bite looks like

An assassin bug bite often looks like a red spot around a small puncture where the beak went in. ACEP Now says reactions range from pain and redness at the bite, to a larger red, raised, hot area, to a small abscess at the puncture. A wide rash or a severe allergic reaction has been seen in people already sensitized by earlier bites.

The mark alone cannot tell you which bug bit you. Texas A&M points out that you usually cannot tell what bit you by looking at the bite, so use the bug, not the bite, to identify it. The feel of the bite is a better clue. A bite that hurts right away likely came from a predator, a point gardeners on Reddit often make. Texas A&M says a kissing bug bite is usually not felt at all.

What to do for an assassin bug bite

There is no antidote, and a normal bite does not need one. Treat it like a bad sting. These steps follow Mayo Clinic’s first aid for insect bites and stings:

• Move away from the bug so it cannot bite again.
• Wash the bite gently with soap and water. Texas A&M adds that you can apply an antiseptic after washing.
• Hold a cold, wet cloth or wrapped ice on it for 10 to 20 minutes to ease pain and swelling.
• Raise the arm or leg if that is where you were bitten.
• Use calamine lotion or hydrocortisone cream for itching, as the label directs.
• Take a nonprescription pain reliever or antihistamine if needed, following the package.
• Watch it for a few days. If the swelling or pain gets worse instead of better, see a doctor.

After a suspected kissing bug bite, the advice is different. The bite itself is usually painless. But tell a doctor about the bite if you develop a fever, feel ill, or get swelling around one eye in the weeks after. CDC lists eyelid swelling as an early sign of Chagas. Our page on what a kissing bug bite looks like covers the allergy signs and when a Chagas test makes sense. For other bites you cannot place, our bug bite identification chart compares 20 common ones.

How to avoid being bitten

Assassin bugs do not hunt people. MDC says they sometimes land on people and you can brush them off, and that crushing or slapping them is what generally causes a bite. Penn State says the masked hunter bites when it is handled or squished, for example inside a shoe.

• Wear gloves when you weed, prune or pick fruit.
• Never pick one up, even a small, colorful nymph. Ohio State says every member of the family can bite.
• Brush one off with a leaf or a card rather than slapping it.
• Shake out shoes, gloves and clothes left on a porch or in a garage before you put them on.
• Teach children that a long-legged bug with a beak is a look-but-do-not-touch bug.

Types of assassin bugs, sorted by color

The table below covers 10 common groups of assassin bugs in the US, and color is the fastest way to narrow them down. Gray with a crest is a wheel bug. Orange and black usually means a milkweed assassin bug. Green is usually a Zelus. A black bug indoors is usually a masked hunter.

Color alone can fool you, because nymphs often differ in color from adults. So use the shape clue in the first column, and then check the rest. If the bug fits none of these rows, take a sharp photo and try our bug identifier by picture.

Sizes and marks from Virginia Tech, the University of Wisconsin, ACEP Now, UF/IFAS EENY-489, Texas A&M Field Guide to Common Texas Insects, MDC, UC IPM, BugGuide, Penn State and Britannica. Ranges are where the sources record each bug, and most overlap.

Wheel bug, the biggest assassin bug

The wheel bug is the largest assassin bug in North America. Virginia Tech gives about 1 inch (25 mm), and ACEP Now gives 33 to 38 mm (1-1/4 to 1-1/2 inches). Females are much larger than males, says the University of Wisconsin. The adult is grayish-black, with a half-wheel crest behind the head that carries 8 to 14 teeth.

Wheel bugs are slow-moving, and Virginia Tech says homeowners often find them on window and door screens, porches and decks in late summer and early fall. ACEP Now adds that a disturbed wheel bug can release a strong-smelling liquid from bright orange scent sacs. Texas A&M calls its bite immediately and intensely painful, so never handle one.

Milkweed assassin bug

The milkweed assassin bug is the orange and black one with very long legs. UF/IFAS says adults average 16 to 18 mm, about 5/8 to 3/4 inch, and that US populations are distinctly orange and black. It takes its name from its likeness to the milkweed bug, a plant feeder that is only a distant relative.

It hunts by day. UF/IFAS lists mosquitoes, flies, cucumber beetles and caterpillars such as fall armyworm among its prey. In the US it lives along the Gulf Coast and South Atlantic states, in southern California and in southwest Arizona. In Florida and along the Gulf Coast, an orange and black assassin bug with very long legs on your vegetables is likely this one.

Milkweed assassin bug nymphs are small and leggy. UF/IFAS describes the first stages as light brown to orange, with dark brown to black legs and long antennae, and says they pass through 5 stages before they grow wings. The eggs hatch together, so you may see a group of tiny nymphs near an empty egg mass at first.

Does a milkweed assassin bug bite hurt? Yes, if you handle one. A UF/IFAS extension blog says the bite is said to be quite painful and leaves a small, itchy lump that clears up fairly quickly. One Reddit answer, which we could not check, calls it not very painful, so people may react differently. Treat it like any assassin bug bite, using the steps above.

Green and leafhopper assassin bugs (Zelus)

Many green assassin bugs belong to the genus Zelus. The leafhopper assassin bug, Zelus renardii, is about 1/2 inch long and red, brown or yellow-green, according to Texas A&M. A sticky coating on its front legs helps it catch prey. UC IPM says it is common throughout California and the Western Hemisphere.

The pale green assassin bug, Zelus luridus, is another green one. MDC describes it as up to about 3/4 inch long, green with tan or brown wings, often reddish leg joints, and a pair of spines on the back corners of the shield behind the head. Both species bite if handled, and the green color does not make the bite any milder.Zelus bugs spend the winter as adults. UC IPM says they turn up on walls and windows in fall as they look for shelter, so a pale green assassin bug in the house in fall or winter is not unusual.

Masked hunter, the assassin bug that lives indoors

The masked hunter is the assassin bug most often found inside homes. Penn State describes a glossy black or dark brown adult, 17 to 22 mm long, about 2/3 to 7/8 inch. The nymphs glue dust, lint and bits of insects to their bodies with a sticky coating, so they look like walking dust balls. That habit gives them the name.

It hunts at night and hides by day under heat registers, cabinets, and in wall voids and attics. Penn State says it eats bed bugs, silverfish, booklice, house centipedes and carpet beetles. It does not feed on blood and does not seek out people. In colder northern areas it survives only indoors. See the section on assassin bugs in the house for what its presence means.

Ambush bugs and thread-legged bugs

Ambush bugs are small, chunky assassin bugs, 1/2 inch or less, with thick front legs like a praying mantis. Wisconsin says they wait on fall-blooming yellow and white flowers, where their greenish-yellow color hides them, and they catch bees, wasps and flies much larger than themselves. MDC notes that color varies even within one species.

Thread-legged bugs look like the opposite: long and very thin, like a tiny walking stick on stilts. UC IPM says they are a separate group of assassin bugs that people can confuse with stilt bugs. Wikipedia adds that some live among spider webs.

Red, black, and red and black assassin bugs

A red assassin bug is very often a nymph. Virginia Tech says young wheel bugs are bright orange when they hatch, then turn dark in front while the abdomen stays bright reddish-orange, curled upward. Milkweed assassin bug nymphs can be orange too, says UF/IFAS. A black bug with red or yellow marks on flowers in the Southwest may be a bee assassin.

A black and red bug is also the color pattern of several harmless plant feeders, such as the boxelder bug, and of some kissing bugs. So color cannot settle it. Look at the beak and the neck. A plant feeder has a thin beak pressed flat to its body and no neck, as our boxelder bug guide shows.

An all-black assassin bug is usually 1 of 2. Indoors at night, it is most likely an adult masked hunter. Outdoors under stones or loose bark, it may be the black corsair, which Britannica describes as black, about 13 to 20 mm (0.5 to 0.8 inch) long, and able to give people a painful bite.

Assassin bug look-alikes: stink bug, leaf-footed bug and more

At least 6 common bugs get mistaken for assassin bugs, and the neck and beak tell them apart. An assassin bug has a narrow head on a clear neck and a thick, curved beak. Stink bugs, leaf-footed bugs, squash bugs, boxelder bugs and milkweed bugs have no neck and a thin beak held flat under the body.

That beak difference comes from Texas A&M, which contrasts the heavy, curved beak of predatory bugs with the thin beak that plant feeders hold against the body. It matters because most of the look-alikes eat plants and cannot bite you, while every assassin bug can. The kissing bug is the one look-alike that sits inside the assassin bug family, and it has its own check above.

Stink bug shape from MDC. Squash bug and boxelder bug from Texas A&M Insects in the City. Leaf-footed bug from UC IPM. The milkweed bug likeness from UF/IFAS.

Many people also search for assassin bug vs stink bug. Seen from above, a stink bug looks like a small shield, and MDC says its head is rather small with 5-part antennae. An assassin bug is longer, with a head that sticks out on a neck. Be aware that MDC notes a few stink bugs also hunt insects, so shape is the better guide than diet.

For leaf-footed bugs, the clue is on the back legs. Our leaf-footed bug guide covers that pest in detail, and the nymph section below shows how to tell the young apart, which is where most gardeners get stuck.

Bone collector caterpillar vs assassin bug

The bone collector caterpillar made news in 2025 because, like some assassin bugs, it wears the bodies of dead insects. But it is a moth caterpillar, not a bug, and it lives in one place only. Smithsonian Magazine reports that researchers have found just 62 of them, all on a single mountainside on Oahu, Hawaii.

The bone collector lives in spider webs. It covers its silk case with insect parts such as beetle wings and ant heads, and eats the spider’s weak or dead prey. Assassin bug nymphs do something similar on their own bodies. Wikipedia describes nymphs that camouflage themselves with debris or the remains of dead prey, and the masked hunter nymph glues dust and insect bits to itself, says Penn State.

Assassin bug nymphs (baby assassin bugs)

Assassin bug nymphs are wingless young that often look nothing like the adults. Many are bright orange or red, with long thin legs, and Ohio State says people often mistake them for spiders. Count the legs: a nymph has 6, a spider has 8. Nymphs pass through 5 stages before they grow wings.

Baby assassin bugs bite too. Ohio State says all members of the family can deliver a painful bite, and that includes the small ones. MDC adds that hatchlings often look like ants or baby praying mantises. A tiny, leggy, orange “spider” walking fast on your tomato is far more likely a young assassin bug.

Gardeners worry most about mixing them up with leaf-footed bug nymphs, which damage fruit. Reddit posts titled “Fren or foe?” and “Predator or leaf-footed bug?” ask exactly this. The legs settle it, as UC IPM explains, and our leaf-footed bug guide covers the pest side.

Leg and antenna colors from UC IPM. Beak shapes from Texas A&M Insects in the City, which contrasts the heavy curved beak of predatory bugs with the thin beak of plant feeders. UC IPM notes the two often turn up together, because assassin bugs prey on leaf-footed bugs.

Assassin bug eggs

Assassin bug eggs stand upright, glued side by side in groups on leaves, stems or twigs. UC IPM says leafhopper assassin bug eggs are oblong and dark brown with a white cap. Spined assassin bug eggs are brown with a pale top that opens into a fringed, umbrella-like cover.

Wheel bug eggs come in masses of 10 to 40 that look like a small honeycomb, says Virginia Tech. They sit on twigs and branches all winter and hatch in May and June. Milkweed assassin bugs lay 15 or more eggs in a cluster coated in a sticky layer, according to UF/IFAS. If you find any of these, leave them where they are.

Assassin bug life cycle and how long they live

An assassin bug goes from egg to nymph to adult, with 5 nymph stages and no pupa. UC IPM says most species have 1 or 2 generations a year. Texas A&M says nymphs of two species common in cotton fields reach adulthood in about 2 months. Some species then survive the winter as adults, and others as eggs.

How they get through winter depends on the species. The wheel bug spends winter as eggs, and Virginia Tech says the adults die with cold weather. Zelus species usually overwinter as adults, which is why UC IPM says you may see them on walls and windows in fall. The orange assassin bug hides as an adult under loose bark.

The longest-lived one is the masked hunter. Penn State says adults typically live 65 to 90 days, and one was recorded living 217 days. That is why a few show up indoors even in winter. The calendar below puts these facts together, so you know which bug you are likely to see each season.

Built from Virginia Tech (wheel bug), UC IPM (Zelus), MDC (orange assassin bug) and Penn State (masked hunter). Exact timing shifts with your climate: earlier in the South, later in the North.

What do assassin bugs eat? Good or bad for your garden

Garden assassin bugs eat other insects: caterpillars, sawfly larvae, aphids, leafhoppers, beetles and flies. But they are not picky, and UC IPM says they also eat bees, lacewings and lady beetles. Most of the 160-plus North American species help a garden more than they hurt it, with one caveat.

The caveat is that they are not a reliable form of pest control. UC IPM says assassin bugs “are not considered to be important in the biological control of pests”, unlike smaller predators such as minute pirate bugs. Wisconsin is a little warmer: they have not been used for planned pest control, but they do add to natural control. Ambush bugs mostly eat bees and wasps, so Wisconsin says they do little for pest control.

On balance, keep them. Wheel bugs attack caterpillars such as the fall webworm, and the milkweed assassin bug takes armyworms and cucumber beetles. They will not wipe out a pest outbreak, but spraying to kill them removes a free predator. If aphids are the problem, our guide on how to clear aphids without harming the predators explains how to protect them. Assassin bugs also eat tomato hornworms.

Where do assassin bugs live?

Assassin bugs live in every part of the US, on almost any plant. UC IPM lists row and tree crops, gardens and landscapes. MDC lists them as statewide in Missouri, and Wisconsin counts more than 160 species in North America. They are not mainly a Southern bug, as one pest industry page suggests.

That page, from PestWorld, lists the region as mostly Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas. That fits kissing bugs better: Texas A&M says Texas, New Mexico and Arizona have the most kissing bug finds. Garden assassin bugs turn up from Maine to Florida and across to California. What changes by region is which species you meet, as the table shows.

From Virginia Tech, UF/IFAS, UC IPM, MDC, Wisconsin, BugGuide, Texas A&M, Penn State and UMaine Extension. This shows where each source records a bug, not every place it lives. Texas A&M records kissing bugs in 29 states; the Texas A&M kissing bug site has the map.

Assassin bugs and kissing bugs by state

Assassin bugs live in every state on this list. Penn State says the masked hunter alone ranges throughout the US. So the question that really changes by state is whether kissing bugs have been found there. The table covers the states searched most often with the words “assassin bug”. It reads the Texas A&M map of historical kissing bug records and the states its FAQ names as rare.

Kissing bug column read from Texas A&M’s map of historical records (2023 version) and its FAQ. A record means at least one kissing bug has been found in the state, not that they are common there. Texas A&M is updating its interactive map, but you can still download its kissing bug data (last updated March 2023) from that page. No record in an area does not mean kissing bugs are absent there.

Assassin bugs in the house

Indoors, an assassin bug is usually 1 of 3 kinds. A black bug or dust ball on the floor at night is a masked hunter. If it is slim, green or brown, and on a window in fall, it is a Zelus seeking shelter. And a big gray one on a screen or porch is a wheel bug.

The masked hunter is the one that tells you something. Penn State says its presence is often a sign of another pest, because it lives on what it can catch indoors. Look for the food. If it is eating silverfish or booklice, deal with those first. If it is near a bed and you have bites, check for bed bugs, which it also eats.

The other two are visitors. Texas A&M says at least one Zelus species has been reported as a household invader in fall and winter, and UC IPM says Zelus adults look for shelter then. That is why you may find one indoors in fall or winter. Move them outside, then seal the screens and gaps they used. A bug on your bed or pillow at night is the one case to treat differently: run the kissing bug check above before you touch it.

How to get rid of an assassin bug without getting bitten

You rarely need to get rid of an assassin bug. Texas A&M says control is not recommended, and Virginia Tech says to learn to recognize wheel bugs and leave them alone. To move one, you need only 2 things: a jar and a stiff card. It costs nothing and keeps your fingers away from the beak.

Virginia Tech does allow one exception. You can use a fly swatter on wheel bugs near doorways or where children play. Otherwise, the steps below work for any assassin bug, indoors or out.

Spraying is not needed. If moving them and sealing gaps works, insecticide treatments are not required. Texas A&M says assassin bugs are generally not abundant and do not need insecticide sprays. Virginia Tech says there is no need to spray them on plants. A spray would also kill the predators and pollinators you want to keep.

The one indoor case where a product may help is an ongoing pest problem that feeds masked hunters. Penn State says broad-spectrum insecticides applied for that underlying pest may also reduce masked hunters. Treat the pest, not the hunter, and get help for anything beyond a small area.

Assassin bug myths and wrong answers

Here are 7 common claims about assassin bugs that are wrong or misleading. Some come from pest company pages and one from a medical article. They range from where the bugs live to what to put on a bite, and each comes with the source that corrects it.

• Myth 1

  Myth: “All assassin bugs carry Chagas disease.”

  Truth: Texas A&M says only kissing bugs (subfamily Triatominae) are known to pass the Chagas parasite. Garden assassin bugs eat insects, not blood. Virginia Tech notes that wheel bugs, often mistaken for kissing bugs, do not feed on mammal blood.

• Myth 2

  Myth: “Chagas spreads through the bite.”

  Truth: Texas A&M says the parasite is in the kissing bug's droppings, not in its saliva or bite. It enters through the bite wound, the eyes or the mouth when droppings are rubbed in.

• Myth 3

  Myth: “Assassin bugs live mainly in Arizona, California, New Mexico and Texas.”

  Truth: That is PestWorld's region line, and it fits kissing bugs better. MDC lists assassin bugs as statewide in Missouri, and more than 160 species live across North America, according to Wisconsin and Ohio State.

• Myth 4

  Myth: “You must pour rubbing alcohol or peroxide on the bite.”

  Truth: Mayo Clinic's first aid starts with soap and water and a cold cloth for 10 to 20 minutes. Texas A&M adds that you can apply an antiseptic after washing. A normal bite needs nothing stronger.

• Myth 5

  Myth: “There are only about 160 kinds of assassin bug in the world.”

  Truth: One medical article says this. UC IPM and Wikipedia put it at about 7,000 worldwide. The 160 figure is for North America.

• Myth 6

  Myth: “If you see one indoors, call a pest company right away.”

  Truth: PestWorld advises this. Texas A&M says control is not recommended, and Penn State says a masked hunter indoors points to another pest problem, which is what to fix.

• Myth 7

  Myth: “Assassin bugs are great pest control you can rely on.”

  Truth: UC IPM says they are not considered important in the biological control of pests, and they eat helpful insects such as bees and lady beetles too.

When to call someone

Most assassin bug encounters need nobody. Call for help in 4 cases: a bite with signs of an allergic reaction or infection, a bug you think may be a kissing bug, a pet that was bitten and seems unwell, or masked hunters that keep turning up indoors. Here is who to call.

• 911 for trouble breathing, swelling of the face or throat, hives, fainting, or vomiting after a bite.
• A doctor if the bite spreads, fills with pus or brings a fever, or if you get a fever or a swollen eyelid in the weeks after a possible kissing bug bite.
• The Texas A&M kissing bug program to confirm a suspected kissing bug from a photo. In Texas, the Department of State Health Services accepts kissing bugs that bit a person.
• Your county extension office for any assassin bug you cannot name, or a garden question.
• Your vet if a pet was bitten and the swelling spreads, or if your dog may have eaten a kissing bug.
• A licensed pest professional if masked hunters keep appearing and you cannot find the pest they are eating.
• Your landlord if you rent and bugs get in through damaged screens or gaps.

For a bite that felt more like a sting, our bee sting guide covers the same warning signs in more detail.

Pest control disclaimer. Photo-based identification can help, but it is not always perfect. For dangerous spiders, large infestations, or anything you are unsure about, contact a licensed pest control professional.

Medical disclaimer. This page is for general information only. It is not a medical diagnosis. If you have severe symptoms, trouble breathing, swelling of the face or throat, fast spreading redness, fever, severe pain, pus, or signs of infection, contact a doctor or your local emergency number.