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Article By: North Carolina State University Insect Note - ENT/rsc-31
There are actually several species of "bed bugs", but the species found commonly in the U.S. is Cimex lectularius. Other species found here are typically associated with birds and bats and are not usually a problem for us except when they are found where birds or bats have been nesting on/within the structure. Another species, Cimex hemipterus, is usually found in tropical areas. However, given the more "global" nature of our society with people traveling to and from other countries, it may show up where they are not expected. Identification Bed bugs adults are reddish-brown, oval, flattened insects from 6 to 9 mm long and 1.5 to 3 mm wide before feeding. Engorged (blood-fed) adults are swollen and dull red. Though wingless, adult bed bugs do have small wing pads. The eyes are deeply pigmented and the sides of the collar-like pronotum curve slightly around the head. The nymphs (immatures) resemble the adult though they are smaller in size. Newly hatched nymphs are almost colorless whereas engorged nymphs are reddish and swollen Bed bug eggs are white, oval egg is about 1 mm long.
Life Cycle and Habits
Although humans are the preferred host, bed bugs feed on many warmblooded animals. Animal hosts include poultry, rats, mice, dogs, cats, pigeons, canaries, rabbits, and guinea pigs. Wild animals, including bats, swallows and chimney swifts may serve as hosts and occasionally are responsible for causing infestations in or around buildings.
Although bed bugs have occasionally been found to be infected with organisms causing anthrax, plague and typhus, they are not consider to be important vectors (transmittors) of these diseases. Our major concern is their blood-feeding activity. As bed bugs feed, they inject saliva which produces an allergic reaction that often causes slightly delayed swelling, itching, and burning which may persist for a week or more. Bed bugs also emit an offensive odor.
Bed bugs can feed and breed year round when conditions permit. These insects hide during the day in mattresses and boxsprings or cracks and crevices. Under favorable conditions, each female lays 200 to 500 eggs. When the insects feed regularly, eggs are laid in batches of 10 to 50 at 3 to 15-day intervals. Maximum egg laying occurs when the temperature is above 21°C (70°F). No eggs are laid at temperatures lower than 10°C (50°F).
The eggs are coated with a sticky substance that dries once the egg is deposited, causing the eggs to adhere to the object on which they were deposited. Eggs and the eggshells are found, singly or in clusters, near the crevices in which the bugs hide. At temperatures above 21°C (70°F), eggs hatch in 6 to 17 days. At lower temperatures, hatching may take as long as 28 days.
Newly hatched bugs feed at the first opportunity. They molt five times before reaching maturity and require at least one blood meal between each molt. Immature stages can survive approximately two months without feeding; however, most nymphs usually develop into adults within 2 to 6 weeks. Bed bug adults often survive up to 2 months without food, but under certain circumstances can live a year or more without feeding.
Indoors, three or four annual generations may be produced. Bed bugs cannot fly and do not normally crawl long distances. Their primary means of dispersal is through human activity, i.e., people move them from one place to another in luggage, laundry, etc. Animals, particularly birds and bat, may be involved in bed/bat bug dispersal. Piles of cast nymphal skins often accumulate in bed bug hiding places.
Read What USA TODAY has to say:
Bedbug boom blamed on increased foreign travel By Tom Vanden Brook,
USA TODAY Bedbugs, the houseguests nobody wants, are back in growing numbers across the USA, and booting them from your bunk can be a lengthy, costly process....Click Here for the whole article.
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