Lexic.us

Definition of Assassin bug

1. Noun. A true bug: long-legged predacious bug living mostly on other insects; a few suck blood of mammals.

Definition of Assassin bug

1. Noun. a bug from the family Reduviidae, that eats other insects ; some species may transmit Chagas' disease to humans. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Medical Definition of Assassin bug

1. An insect of the family Reduviidae (order Hemiptera) that inflicts irritating, painful bites in animals and man; related to the cone-nosed bugs (triatomines), a vector of American trypanosomiasis. Origin: Fr., fr. It. Assassino, fr. Ar. Hashshashin, those addicted to hashish (05 Mar 2000)

Literary usage of Assassin bug

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Natural History of Hawaii: Being an Account of the Hawaiian People, the by William Alanson Bryan (1915)
"A dozen species, most of them of fair size, and usually of wide distribution, occur in the islands. The large assassin bug,137 or kissing bug. is thirteen ..."

2. General Zoology by Arthur Sperry Pearse (1917)
"... carrying eggs on his back; chinch-bugs; flower-bug; assassin-bug; squash-bug. is of interest ..."

3. Guide to the Systematic Use of the North American Bird and Nature Study: A by Harold Brough Shinn, Gerard Alan Abbott (1912)
"Number 6 is Conorhinus sanguisuga, one of the types commonly called "assassin bug" or "kissing bug";in the South it sometimes enters houses and pierces ..."

4. Entomological News and Proceedings of the Entomological Section of the by Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia Entomological Section (1908)
"The other insect was a species of assassin bug (family Reduviidae), which bit me between the fingers and caused swelling and pain to no mean extent. ..."

5. Modern Nature Study: A First Book for Use in Canadian Schools by S. Silcox (1902)
"... which attained such notoriety in 1898 in the United States. Comstock calls it 'assassin bug. ..."

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