The American plug (Leptoglossus occidentalis) is an insect that until recently was difficult to meet in Poland. Unfortunately, the American plug has been exploring our country for a decade - it can be observed especially in autumn, when it hides at home to survive the coming winter. Is the US plug dangerous and what does it look like?
Contents:
- American plug: what does it look like?
- American plug: is it dangerous?
The American plugis a bug whose natural habitat is: Mexico, Canada, the United States. In Europe, the presence of this insect was recorded for the first time in 1999 in Italy - most likely it appeared on our continent thanks to humans - it arrived during one of the sea shipments.
The American plug was observed in Poland in 2007 in Wrocław and Miechów. Currently, the American plug is not afraid of Warsaw, Poznań, Kalisz, the Bieszczady and the Sudetes. It was even spotted on the shores of the B altic Sea.
The American plug is an invasive species - it is a pest that can cause tree dieback - plugs suck the juice from green cones and needles, leading to their drying out. They can also harm people in their household - in rare cases, they break the pipes of the water system through their probes. In autumn, adult specimens look for a place to winter and that is why they end up in our homes.
Meszki: home remedies for bothersome insects
Pharaoh's ants and cockroaches: how to fight them?
Food moth remedies: how to get rid of them?
American plug: what does it look like?
The American plug most often reaches a size of about 1.5-2 cm, its head is brown or black, the torso is brownish, and there are yellow spots on its part - the pretense. The body of the insect is elongated, the legs of the third pair are the longest, and there are large spikes on the thighs of the American plug.
It is worth adding that in Poland you can also observe other types of plugs - there are 17 of them (as many as 1900 in the world). The most popular in the country on the Vistula River is the elder plug ( Coreus marginatus ), however, appearing most often on plants, especially sorrel. He is distinguished from his American colleague mainly by the lack of yellow spots onpre-back-back - it is an insect with a more subdued color - all brownish.
See what the US plug looks like!
And this is a straszyk plug:
American plug: is it dangerous?
The US plug is a tree-feeding pest, so it is not dangerous to humans. However, it may happen that it attacks it accidentally. Such a case was reported in 2016 in the "Journal of Medical Entomology"1 . The incident took place in Budapest, and the bitten person was a friend of scientists who later described the incident.
As a result of the bite, the described person had slightly painful and irritated skin at the site of the bite for the next 48 hours. Redness also persisted on the skin. Scientists point out that a bite by an American plug may be mistaken for a bite by a wasp or other insect. So far, this is the only known case of a human bitten by an American plug.
The American plug can be tiring for a person, especially if it appears in a number greater than 1, but it does not hurt him or her much. Differently with forests - the growing area of these insects and their increasing number may pose a threat to them.
Sources:
1. https://entomologytoday.org/2017/03/14/a-chance-encounter-the-case-of-a-western-conifer-seed-bug-biting-a-human/ [accessed on 2018-11-07]