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Kissing bugs belong to the family Reduviidae, subfamily Triatominae. They obtain blood meals from mammalian hosts and in Latin America are the vector of Trypanosoma cruzi — the cause of Chagas disease. Across the southwestern U.S., bites from triatomines are not uncommon and have been a cause of allergic reactions; most bites occur in homes after the insects are attracted by lights in the evening. But might triatomines in the Southwest also feed on humans outdoors, and might they harbor T. cruzi?
To answer this question, researchers collected triatomines in the evening at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, an outdoor display of local flora and fauna near Tucson. Using universal vertebrate primers for the mitochondrial 12S ribosomal gene, they…