There have been several online alerts about a “new killer insect” that originates in India and causes severe damage or even death if handled.
Many variations of this warning have been shared on social media, with many claiming to show both the mythical deadly bug and graphic images of the damage it supposedly causes.
Such wounds often manifest as many puncture marks on the hands or arms. Most depictions of insects include a creature with a back covered with several tiny tubes.
All the cautions we have seen state that the bug was originally discovered in India, that it is very deadly, and that people should stay well away from it.
TL:DR – All of the warnings have been made up. Despite what you may have heard, there are no dangerous insects.
All the pictures feature completely innocuous animals, and the only examples of “graphic injury” we’ve seen were from online special effects courses. The following cautionary message initially circulated in 2015 –
Avoid killing or touching this insect, which was initially seen in India; its virus spreads from the site of human contact and quickly travels throughout the body.
Please spread the word to your loved ones and remind the little ones in your life to never touch a bug or its secretion with their bare hands.
Those who have been worried or unsettled by the warning need not worry any longer since it is totally groundless.
In fact, the whole thing seems like another practical joke on those with trypophobia, the “pathological fear of holes,” according to the scientific community’s unofficial definition.
This “killer insect” myth may seem familiar to some of our regular readers since it is comparable to an old scam about breast larvae. In both incidents, the “injuries” said to have been inflicted seem quite similar.
The knowledge that the hurt hand is just an illusion provides some relief. In reality, it’s a still from a film clip that serves as a special effects lesson for recreating the worst nightmares of those with trypophobia.
The insect in question is the massive waterbug. Despite its unappealing appearance, the insect cannot cause the harm mentioned in the warning. Male insects carry their eggs in the structures in their posteriors.
Nonetheless, similar rumours persisted on the web, with many people asserting that the deadly bug was responsible for spreading the made-up “India Contra Virus” and attaching the following frightening photographs to the story:
Yet another fake. This photograph, like the last one, depicts a gigantic water insect that poses no threat to humans. Once again, the “injuries” are really clips from a special effects tutorial.
Promoted posts. Below, we continue… The internet is rife with hoaxes that attempt to distress those with trypophobia by using elaborate visual effects and words that are very identical to those already out there.
None of them have been right thus far. There is no “killer insect” roaming free that can inflict the damage shown in the photographs.
And no bug that can transmit such a virus that engulfs the whole human body within minutes. One piece of sound advise in the caution is to educate kids not to pick up strange bugs with their bare hands.
Some bugs have self-defense systems that may have unpleasant or even dangerous consequences on people, particularly young kids. However, it is no reason to propagate an unfounded warning in the first place.