Talk:Hemiptera

New topic -- Biting

I added a new topic, "Biting" under the "Interaction with humans" category. I found scant references to a subject that every entomologist knows. I was bitten by a Reduviid bug when I was collecting insects at a light. It was much worse than a bee sting. I know of a person who was bitten on the leg by a large leaf-footed bug (Coreidae) through his pants. He had a deep wound that took days to heal. These bugs can stick their proboscis through the bark of a tree, and they can stick it well over an inch deep into your flesh. Yet the common idea that you get from googling is that leaf-footed bugs, and others, are not dangerous because "they eat plants". Of course, I did not include this anecdotal evidence, but we need more references. Personally, when I see one of these Texas-sized leaf-footed bugs buzzing around in the slow, aimless way that they do, I make sure to keep my distance. The buzzing they make when they fly is surely a warning to potential predators. Wastrel Way (talk)Eric Wastrel Way (talk) 16:39, 6 October 2024 (UTC)

Any additions to the article itself need to be accompanied by WP:Reliable sources and not just anecdotal evidence. I suspect that part of why you may be finding little on the topic, as you have it defined currently, is because hemipterans as a vast majority do not "bite", they have mouth parts that are specialized for piercing and sucking. There is plenty of documentation on human/hemipteran interactions under the many disease vector species, such as bedbugs and kissing bugs. P.s. the buzzing while flying is due to the hind wings hitting the hard front hemilytra, and would more likely act as a warning that the insect tastes bad to a predator and not that when forced, it will "pierce in defense".--Kevmin § 17:00, 6 October 2024 (UTC)