# Talk:Hemiptera

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)
I appreciate your point of view, but I did not add any anecdotal evidence to the article. That was in the talk here. For some reason I forgot about giant water bugs, and I have now added that. If you think that this order of bugs "as a vast majority do not "bite"", I am afraid you are mistaken. They bite when provoked, even the Pentatomidae that you may find in your garden. And if you know about bedbugs and "kissing bugs" being able to bite without pain (true!), please add a reference. Parasitology is not my specialty. What is your evidence that the buzzing of the big leaf-footed bugs warns predators that it tastes bad, instead of a warning that the bug might bite? I like that theory, though. I don't know of anyone who has eaten one of these bugs, but I do know of someone who was bitten by one.:-) I'm not sure that "Piercing" is a better heading for this topic than "Biting". A bedbug or a kissing bug does not "pierce", it bites. That's simpler English and more directly related to the topic.Wastrel Way (talk) 04:12, 4 November 2024 (UTC) Eric
OK, OK. Fixed it for you. They don't bite. We'll just leave that out. You must have a degree in zoology like me, and you probably started a Ph.D. like me. You must have vast experience in this subject. Bedbugs don't bite, kissing-bugs don't bite, they "pierce". Other Hemipterans don't bite. You can prove that when a leaf-footed bug lands on your pants, or you are collecting bugs at a light and you get an assassin bug, or when you find a pentatomid bug in your garden, and you pick it up, wondering what it is. I'm sorry I suggested that they bite. Actually, all these damn things will bite you if you provoke them enough, every fucking single one of them. The myth is 'They will not bite because they eat plants' and that is not true. Some are predators. The plant-eating ones defend themselves... by biting. Why is the giant waterbug called the 'toe-biter'? Surely it's not because it will bite you if you are wading in shallow water. I'm done with you. Wastrel Way (talk) 23:10, 4 November 2024 (UTC) Eric
Um, mosquitoes and bedbugs have piercing mouthwatering and definitely "bite" in plain English, it is common usage. We should definitely mention accidental bites. Chiswick Chap (talk) 02:29, 5 November 2024 (UTC)
We will not have it unless someone else does it. They do bite -- a normal person would call it that -- not "pierce", which would be a place to put an earring. I escalated this discussion and decided to give up. Someone doesn't want us to know. Wastrel Way (talk) 23:52, 21 October 2025 (UTC) Eric