Biters

Bullet Ant: Paraponera clavata
Appearance: About 1" long; large mouthparts.
Habitat/Location: Amazon basin to Nicaragua.
Dangers: Sting causes excruciating pain, said to feel like being impaled with a red-hot nail; sting is usually not life threatening.
Other Criteria: The largest ants in Central America; also called the Bala ant.

Mosquitos: Family: Culicidae
Appearance: Usually less than 1/4" long; color mostly gray to dark; long proboscis/beak.
Habit: Often found near shallow temporary pools; larvae live in quiet bodies of water, ranging from fluid-filled leaves to stagnant ponds and lakes.
Location: Worldwide.
Dangers: Of all insects, mosquitoes are probably the most harmful to people; transmit such serious diseases as malaria, yellow fever and encephalitis; malaria causes 2.7 million deaths per year worldwide, though it is rare in the U.S.
Other Criteria: Males do not bite; females must have a blood meal before they can lay eggs; most species bite at dusk, dawn and during the night; are attracted to the color blue twice as much as any other color.

Fleas: Order: Siphonaptera
Appearance: 1/12 to 1/16" long; black to brownish-black; many bristles on body.
Habitat: Found on cats and dogs year round, but most common during warm and humid weather; readily attack and feed on humans.
Location: Worldwide
Dangers: Delivers a bite that causes painful itching and swelling; a few species are carriers of diseases, including bubonic plague, which was spread throughout Europe in the Middle Ages by fleas which had fed on infected rats.
Other Criteria: Fleas reproduce at an alarming rate, as in just 100 days two fleas can become a million; adults can live one to two months without feeding.

Horse Flies:Family: Tabanidae
Appearance: 3/4 to 1-1/8" long; black with fine black, whitish or yellowish hair on thorax.
Habitat: Meadows and open grasslands, near marshy areas or slow streams.
Location: Worldwide.
Dangers: Delivers a very painful, and often bloody, bite; female sucks blood from large mammals, particularly cattle, horses, mules and hogs.
Other Criteria: Male doesn't bite; some animals become seriously weakened from repeated attacks and loss of blood.

Black Widow Spider: Genus: Latrodectus
Appearance: 1/8 to 1/2" long; shiny black, with hourglass-shaped red mark on underside of abdomen.
Habitat: Can be found almost anywhere, indoors or out; prefer to build nests close to the ground.
Location: Worldwide
Dangers: The female's venom is especially poisonous to people, but rarely fatal; sensitive individuals may experience increased body temperature and blood pressure, profuse sweating and nausea.
Other Criteria: Contrary to popular belief, female is usually unsuccessful in any attempt to eat the male after mating; males do not bite.

Sand Flies: Ltzomyia spp.
Appearance: Less than 1" long; slender with piercing mouthparts and long antennae.
Habit: Found throughout the world's inter-tropical and temperate regions.
Location: Not in North America-throughout the world's inter-tropical and temperate regions.
Dangers: Bite can transmit a host of diseases and viruses, including Leishmaniasis, a potentially fatal disease; diseases transmitted by sand flies seriously hamper the productivity and development of many underdeveloped countries.
Other Criteria: Only adult female sucks blood and transmits diseases; can travel hundreds of miles in search of blood.

Brown Recluse Spider: Loxosceles reclusa
Appearance: 1/8 to 1/2" long; yellowish to brown; dark brown violin-shaped marking.
Habitat: Found outside under rocks, leaves, debris, woodpiles and utility boxes; found inside behind furniture and in storage areas such as closets and attics.
Location: North and South America.
Dangers: Delivers a bite that is usually not felt for several hours, but may be followed by intense pain; sensitive individuals may experience fever and difficulty sleeping.
Other Criteria: Bites can cause a disfiguring scar.

Funnel-Web Spider: Atrax robustus.
Appearance: 1 to 1-1/2" long; long pair of spinnerets at the end of the abdomen.
Habit: Digs burrows or lives in crevices in rocks or house foundations; often enter homes in Summer or during heavy downpours. Location: Australia.
Dangers: Ounce for ounce, the world's deadliest bug; venom can kill an adult in an hour; an antivenom became available in 1980; very aggressive; fangs are capable of penetrating a leather boot.
Other Criteria: Thought to be the world's most dangerous spider; can survive underwater for several days.

Red Back Spider:
Appearance: About 1/3" long; black with large red stripe.
Habitat: Likes virtually any dark, damp place; found in most gardens throughout Western Australia under fence eves, in pot plants, under outdoor furniture and in homes.
Location: Australia.
Dangers: Delivers a venomous bite that can cause severe pain, muscular weakness, nausea and vomiting; bites have been known to be fatal; usually will not bite unless provoked.
Other Criteria: An antivenom was discovered in 1956, and no known deaths have occurred since its introduction; close relative to the Black Widow Spider.

Tarantula:
Appearance: 1-3/4 to 2-9/16" long; legspan up to 5-7/8"; hairy; abdomen brownish black.
Habit: There are about 30 species of tarantulas found in the U.S., with most occurring in the southwestern states.
Location: Primarily New Mexico, Arizona and southern California; arid regions worldwide.
Dangers: Delivers a painful bite; North American tarantula bites are usually no more dangerous to people than a bee sting; usually must be provoked to bite; some South American species have a deadly venom.
Other Criteria: Female may live for 20-35 years in captivity; have extremely poor eyesight, and detect prey by vibrations.

Stingers

Scorpion: Order: Scorpionida
Appearance: 1-1/2 to 3" long; a pair of large, crab-like pinchers; stinger on tail.
Habitat: Most active during the night; during the day, they hide under bark, logs or stones; in houses, they hide in closets, shoes and folded clothes.
Location: Throughout North America. Arid regions worldwide.
Dangers: If disturbed, can inflict a venomous sting that causes painful swelling, but is usually no more harmful than a bee's; the poison of most North American species is not lethal to humans.
Other Criteria: Regenerate lost appendages; 1/3 of the stings from the fat-tailed Scorpion of North Africa are fatal.

Wasps: Order: Hymenoptera
Appearance: 1/2 to 3/4" long; distinguished by smooth, rather than hairy, bodies.
Habitat: Meadows, fields, forests, in gardens on flowers, and near buildings.
Location: Worldwide.
Dangers: If disturbed, can inflict a painful sting; very protective of their nests; 1/2 million people in the U.S. have severe reactions to wasp or bee stings.
Other Criteria: More people killed in the U.S. by wasp or bee stings than by venomous snakes; a nest can have up to 5,000 wasps.

Killer Bees: Order: Hymenoptera
Appearance: Up to 5/8" long; yellow-orange and black striped; virtually identical in appearance to the common honeybee. Habitat: Native to Africa, have spread to Central America, Mexico, and from Texas to California.
Location: Africa, Central America, Mexico, South Texas and spreading.
Dangers: Delivers a painful sting that is no more toxic than that of domestic bees; exhibit massive stinging behavior in colony defense; deaths of humans and animals can result from toxic effect of multiple stings (400 to 1,000), or from allergic reactions. Other Criteria: Brought to South America from Africa to improve honey production; escaped from experimental colonies in Brazil, and migrated northward; highly aggressive, and stay angry longer than other bees.

Fire Ant:Family: Solenopsis
Appearance: 1/16 to 1/4" long; reddish; fine hair mostly on head and abdomen.
Habitat: Fields, woodlands and open areas, in dry to moist soil. Location: Southeastern U.S. from Virginia to California. North and South America.
Dangers: Inflicts a painful sting, producing a burning sensation; will sting any intruding animal or human repeatedly, and can kill young wildlife and domestic animals.
Other Criteria: Large colonies can have up to 250,000 workers; have been known to eat through insulation on phone and electrical wires.

Diseases/Infectious

Kissing Bug: Family: Reduviidae
Appearance: 3/4" long; black or dark brown; wings form a distinctive "X" when folded.
Habitat: Often found in nests of small animals; hide during the day in vegetation, or in cracks in floors and walls; many times found between bed frame and springs or mattress.
Location: Latin America and Southern California and Arizona. Worldwide.
Dangers: Bites the eyelids, lips or ears of humans while they are sleeping; bites are painless, and the results may simply be a welt like a mosquito bite; can cause severe allergic reactions in some people.
Other Criteria: Often called the Conenose or Assassin bug; can cause the potentially deadly Chagas' Disease to individuals in Mexico into South America, and the only known cure is a heart transplant.

Lice: Family: Pediculidae
Appearance: 1/8" long; grayish; head slightly narrower than thorax.
Habitat: Human bodies, and temporarily on clothing and bedding; especially prevalent among people who bathe infrequently or wear unclean clothing.
Location: Worldwide.
Dangers: Bites are often irritating to the skin; feed on human blood, and can spread epidemics, such as typhus fever and relapsing fever.
Other Criteria: A particular problem historically for soldiers during wartime, louse-borne typhus has been known to devastate entire armies.

Ticks: Order: Acarina
Appearance: 1/8 to 1/2" long; color varies by species; roundish, with eight legs.
Habitat: Found in woodlands, fields and shrubbery beside trails. Location: Worldwide
Dangers: Feed on blood, and are known carriers of many serious diseases, including encephalitis, tick paralysis, typhus and Lyme disease.
Other Criteria: Adults can live over 500 days without a meal; after a walk through a field, it is wise to inspect clothing and hair for ticks.

Tsetse Flies:Family: Muscidae
Appearance: 1/4 to 1/2" long; wing veins resemble outline of a meat cleaver.
Habitat: Rivers and savannahs of Africa.
Location: Africa.
Dangers: Bite can cause African Sleeping Sickness, a potentially fatal disease.
Other Criteria: Attracted to motion.

House Flies: Musca domestica
Appearance: 1/8 to 1/4" long; light gray (with four stripes on thorax); large reddish compound eyes.
Habitat: Near horse manure, garbage or exposed food.
Location: Worldwide
Dangers: Considered a greater threat to human health than most other insects; associated with a number of filth-related diseases, including typhoid fever, cholera, dysentery, pinworms, hookworms and some tapeworms.
Other Criteria: About 98% of flies caught in houses are House Flies.

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