Avoidance/Control. Since these bugs can feed undetected on a sleeping victim, it is difficult to avoid their attack in heavily infested areas. Exposure to kissing bugs can be minimized, however, by destroying underbrush, rubbish, wood rats’ nests, and any other small-animal habitat located near a residence.[27] When an infestation is detected inside a house, two or three treatments with an appropriate insecticide at 10-day intervals should provide control. To obtain the best results, thoroughly treat all windows, baseboards, walls, cracks, crevices, and bedsprings. Envenomization Reaction/Treatment. (See appendix.) 5. WHEEL BUG (_Arilus cristatus_) [Illustration: (unlabelled)] Identification. _Arilus cristatus_ has the small narrow head characteristic of the Reduviidae family of Hemiptera (true bugs). This insect is mouse gray in color and approximately 2.5 to 4 cm (1-1.6 in) long. A cogwheel-like crest on the dorsal side of the prothorax is distinctive to this insect and accounts for its popular name, “wheel bug.” Distribution. Wheel bugs are generally found in the southern two-thirds of the United States. Biology/Behavior. Wheel bugs are predacious on soft-bodied insects. Human envenomizations are usually the result of accidental contact while handling vegetation, boards, or other objects. The bug penetrates the skin with its “beak,” or proboscis, and injects a salivary fluid normally used in killing its insect prey.[31] Avoidance/Control. The best way to prevent wheel bug contact is to be able to identify this unusual insect and avoid it. Children should be instructed not to handle it. Wearing leather gloves while working outside will prevent bites which occur when the wheel bug is accidentally picked up with vegetation or other debris. Since wheel bugs are predacious on many harmful insects and are generally considered beneficial, control is not recommended. Envenomization Reaction/Treatment. Wheel bug bites are characterized by immediate intense pain which usually subsides in 3 to 6 hours. Since all reported bite reactions have been localized and self-limiting, specific treatment measures are not provided for _A. cristatus_ bites. However, anaphylactic shock has resulted from the bite of other Hemiptera and should be considered a possibility with wheel bug bites.[12] STINGING ARTHROPODS 1. ANTS (Order: Hymenoptera; Family: Formicidae) [Illustration: Fire Ant Mound] [Illustration: Harvester Ant Mound]