So, my advice if you are traveling in the home turf of the Machaca is not to pick them up or put yourself into a situation where you can be bit, unless, of course, you have the hots for a traveling companion. lampetis anywhere so if anyone can clear up the bug’s identity for sure that would be great! There is another, very similar species called Fulgora lampetis and I have a sneaking suspicion that this is one of the latter. Though I have labeled this bug Fulgora laternia I am not entirely sure that I am correct.

And it is not just sexual acts that Machacas inspire! There is a novel, The Last Machaca, a band, Machaca, and a Facebook page! One can’t help but wonder, however, how many gullible folks were suckered into sharing the loving by those who feigned Machaca bites. Of course, the idea that a bug could kill you with a bite if you remained chaste is absurd. Seeing as Daisy was all the way back in New York I would probably have perished had the bug bitten me when I turned it over. You see, the bug was identified for me by Nick of Biological Ramblings as a Machaca, a bug that on occasion bites an unwitting victim who then has to have sex within 24 hours or die. It was only when I returned to the United States and posted a picture of the bug on Facebook that I realized how close to death I had come. What a cool bug! I made sure that my fellow travelers got to see it, took some photos, and moved on to look at birds.

I assumed it was some kind of dead freakish moth and flipped it over to get a better look and was very surprised that it opened its wings to reveal, well, a much more impressive sight than I had expected! While exploring the grounds of Wildsumaco Lodge on the east slope of the Andes in Ecuador I came across a rather large bug lying on its back.

Machacha muchos