This guide will give you a rundown on the tiny yellow bugs that bite in Texas.
You’ll find these small yellow biting bugs not just in Texas. These biting bugs are common in most warm states of the US.
You’ll learn how to identify these bugs. And the ways to protect yourself from their bites.
Keep reading.
6 Tiny Yellow Or Orange Bugs That Bite
All the above bugs are active during the summer months. And these bugs are most likely to bite you while you’re outdoors.
However, some of these bugs can sneak inside the house, or you can accidentally bring them in too.
But these bugs are not just yellow. They can come in different colors too.
Let’s get into each of these bugs to find out what they look like, when they bite, and the risks they bring.
Yellow Thrips
Yellow thrips, also known as onion thrips, are common garden pests. These are yellow, measuring 1-2 mm in length, slender, and have a pair of wings that lay flat on their bodies.
Yellow thrips are active during starting from late spring till late summer. They’re active when the temperature is above 68°F or 20°C.
Yellow thrips in Texas are notorious for their mysterious bites when they land on your skin.
Yellow thrips are also one of the tiny yellow bugs that get on the car if you park your car near vegetation with thrips on it.
Being tiny, these biting insects are easy to miss. And you might wonder what’s biting you that you can’t see.
However, these tiny yellow bugs’ bites don’t cause any diseases.
When yellow thrips land on your body, they inflict an interrogatory bite to find out if the thing they landed on is a plant or not.
Yellow thrips have sharp mouthparts that they insert in the plant’s leaves and stems to suck out the sap.
Most bites occur while you’re out near dense vegetation or working in your garden or yard.
Yellow thrips multiply very fast during the warmer days of the year. So, if you don’t get rid of them, they’ll cause significant damages to your plants.
Using plant-safe insecticide sprays on yellow thrips is the best way to get rid of these little pests.
Attracting their biological predators like wasps, bees, and grasshoppers also helps in removing them.
The best way to protect yourself from yellow thrips bite is to wear full sleeve shirts and trousers.
Immature Minute Pirate Bugs
Immature minute pirate bugs are able biters like adult minute pirate bugs, which are tiny black bugs that bite.
Immature minute pirate bugs are yellow and have an oval-shaped body like bed bugs.
The size of immature minute pirate bugs, which are also known as nymphs, are less than 1mm in size.
These nymphs are predatory insects that hunt and feed on other little insects.
So, they’ve got strong mouthparts that are capable of biting.
Immature minute pirate bugs don’t actively seek out humans to bite. If they land on you while you’re outdoors, they can bite.
Both the adult and immature pirate bugs will hide in the flowers, leaves, and in the dense vegetation waiting for their prey.
Minute pirate bugs are typically active during the warm months of the year, from late spring to early fall, when temperatures are between 70°F and 90°F (21°C to 32°C).
During this period there is a spike of yellow immature minute pirate bugs, because most of the eggs hatch during this period.
Immature and mature minute pirate bugs are active during the day.
But they can also be active at night near areas under artificial lighting to hunt the bugs that are attracted to light.
The yellow immature minute pirate bugs’ bite is itchy. However, there are no long-term negative effects of their bite.
Minute pirate bugs are also known to secrete chemicals that can cause skin irritation.
Kissing Bugs
The most common kissing bugs species in Texas is the Triatoma species, which are black or brown with yellow stripes on their bodies.
Kissing bugs are assassin bugs that have flat oval-shaped bodies with wide abdomen and sharp and strong needle-like mouthparts.
They’ve six legs, two antennae, and they’re not typically tiny. An adult kissing bug can grow up to 1.5 inches in size.
They’re not strong fliers. But they can crawl inside the house through the thinnest of gaps and cracks.
Kissing bugs are notorious for spreading Chagas disease in humans.
Kissing bugs bite to suck out the blood. And while biting they transmit a parasite called Trypanosoma Cruzi, which is responsible for chagas disease.
Kissing bugs in Texas are active year-round. But during the winters their activity dwindles.
The worst part is kissing bugs can get inside the house and cause an infestation.
They’ll hide in the cracks on the walls, furniture, and floor, of the areas of your home where there’s less footfall.
So, they’ll target places like attic to hide.
But kissing bugs are nocturnal. They’ll come out at night to get their bloodmeals.
Kissing bugs can track a sleeping human by detecting the carbon dioxide that we release while we’re asleep.
So, most kissing bugs bites in homes occur while we’re sleeping.
Kissing bugs bite near the mouth area.
Kissing bugs bite are not immediately noticeable and you won’t feel the pain while they bite you.
But over time, bite symptoms like redness and swelling in the bitten area, itching, rash, fever, headache, and fatigue appear.
You should immediately see a doctor if these types of symptoms appear.
The best way to prevent kissing bugs bite is by removing them from your home and outdoors.
You can do it by sealing the gaps and cracks on the walls, windows, and doors through which they enter.
Remove the wood piles, clutter, decaying organic wastes, and other waste piles where these bugs hide during the day.
Also, keep your home, especially the storage areas like attic, basement, and storerooms, free from clutter.
While outdoors, wear protective clothing like full-sleeved shirts, trousers, and shoes to prevent kissing bugs bite.
Under no circumstances, do not try to handle kissing bugs or any bug with a flat body and long beak.
Yellow Flies
Yellow flies are one of the nastiest biting flies in Texas that are common in the eastern and southeastern parts of the state.
Areas like Houston, Galveston, Beaumont, and Corpus Christi are some of the regions where yellow flies are a menace.
These regions have warm and humid weather that provides the yellow flies with an ideal condition to thrive.
Yellow flies are 8-12 mm in size with bright yellow bodies. They’ve dark markings on their wings and legs that make them easily recognizable.
They’ve reddish eyes, short antennae, and strong wings that make them able fliers.
The yellow flies body shape is like that of a common house fly. But their abdomen is slightly curved inwards and they’ve got a tapered head.
Yellow flies in Texas are common during the summer months. Their activity is at it’s peak from May to August.
It’s during this period yellow flies bite humans and animals outdoors.
Your body’s movement, warmth, and the carbon dioxide that humans and animals release draw yellow flies to bite.
Point to note here that it’s the female yellow flies that bite. The females have sharp, strong, serrated proboscis (mouthpart) that they use to rip open the skin and draw the blood.
Yellow flies bite is painful. It causes redness, swelling, and itching at the site of the bite.
In some cases, people may develop an allergic reaction to the fly’s saliva, which can cause more severe symptoms.
If yellow flies bite you, then you can reduce the bite symptoms by washing the bitten wound with soapy water and use ice packs on it.
If the bite becomes infected or you develop more severe symptoms, such as fever, swelling, or difficulty breathing, seek medical attention right away.
To prevent yellow fly bites, it is important to take precautions when spending time outdoors during the summer months.
Wear long-sleeved shirts and pants, use skin-friendly insect repellent, and avoid outdoor activities during peak feeding times, which are typically early in the morning and late in the afternoon.
Yellowjackets
Yellowjackets are social wasps that are common all throughout Texas starting from May to October.
These are stinging insects that leave behind painful stings on humans.
Yellow jackets start to build their nests during the spring. Their nests grow over time.
A single yellow jackets nest can hold hundreds of yellow jackets working together to gather food, build and defend their nest, and rear their young.
Yellow jackets are aggressive flying insects that fiercely defend their nests.
Yellowjackets will attack and sting any casual bystander who unintentionally gets close to their nests. They’ll attack the bystander in swarms and sting multiple times.
Yellow jackets become very aggressive during the late summer and early fall months when their natural food sources, such as tiny insects and flower nectar start to dwindle.
It’s during this period, human foods and wastes attract yellow jackets that increase the likelihood of encounter with humans and stings.
If you’re spending time outdoors during the summer and fall months, then you’ll need to take precautions to prevent yellow jacket stings.
Those precautions include refraining from carrying any ripe fruits or using scents that smell fruity. Both attract wasps and yellow jackets. And it can lead to painful stings.
Other precautions include covering your skin well by wearing protective clothing. Keeping your yard and garden clean and devoid of any food wastes also prevents yellow jackets.
Chiggers
Chigger are tiny yellow, orange, or red larvae of harvest mites. Chiggers are biting parasites that are active in the summer months.
They live in tall grasses, dense bushes, and shrubs in the damp and shady regions.
Chiggers bite while you walk through their habitat. They’ll latch onto your clothes and will bite you in regions where clothing is tight.
So, waist, ankle, and groin are the most common places where chiggers bite.
Chiggers are extremely tiny, to the extent of being microscopic bugs. And they can be difficult to notice with the naked eye.
Chigger grow up to 1.5 mm (1/20th of an inch) in size. And they appear as tiny yellow, red, or orange dots on the skin and clothes.
Chiggers have six legs. And they develop eight legs when they mature into adults.
Chiggers are active during the spring and summer months. If you’ve been outdoors in a grassy or wooded area, then you can bring chiggers to the house.
Chiggers are oval shaped with hairy bristles on their bodies. Those hairy bristles help them to latch onto clothing and other belongings.
Chiggers bite to feed on your skin. Chiggers use their saliva to liquefy the skin tissue before sucking it.
Chigger’s saliva causes allergic reactions such as intense itching and rashes.
To prevent chiggers, always ensure that you don’t camp or sit in bushy or grassy areas while outdoors.
Also, when you return home, keep your belongings outside and use a miticide spray on them to kill any chiggers on them.
Many people make the mistake of putting their clothes on the bed or in their dresser drawers after coming from outdoors.
If there are chiggers latched onto your clothes, then they can fall off the clothes and spread inside your home, including to your bed.
Do not keep your clothes in the closet or on the bed after returning from the outdoors.
Immediately wash them in hot water and dry your clothes at the highest possible heat which is safe for the fabric.
It’ll kill any chiggers or other parasitic bugs such as fleas or ticks latched onto your clothes.
Take a shower with soap or shower gel to remove any chiggers on your skin.
Conclusion
The tiny yellow biting bugs in Texas are active starting from late spring. And they peak at the summer and remain active till early fall.
During these periods you’ll need to take precautions listed out in this post to protect yourself from their bites.
Most of these bugs bite you while you’re outdoors.
But there are bugs like yellow jackets, kissing bugs, and chiggers in the list that can get inside Texas homes and bite.
So, what do you think? Do you, as a resident of Texas, come across any other small bugs that bite.
Mention them in the comments section below and let us know!
Dr. Thomas Orbert, the Microbial Maestro, dances with the tiniest of creatures as an entomologist extraordinaire! With a PhD in entomology, his passion lies in unraveling the secret symphonies of insect-microbe interactions. From minuscule marvels to captivating complexities, Dr. Orbert unveils the hidden world of bugs, igniting curiosity one buzz at a time!