Interesting Insects

I enjoyed many chapters from Evan’s book “Life on a Little Known Planet”. I already stated two of my favorite chapters: the chapter on fireflies and crickets. I also enjoyed the chapter on Bedbugs, Cone-nosed Bugs, and other Cuddly Animals (pages 168-194).  I was relieved and surprised to learn that bedbugs really are not harmful to humans (they don’t spread diseases), they are in demise (at least in the Western world) and their bites can affect humans differently or not at all. It was interesting to note that bedbugs only feed once between each molt. Before the first molt the average bug feeds for about three minutes, the second stage five minutes, the third stage six minutes, the fourth stage five minutes, the fifth stage ten minutes and in the final adult stage the feeding takes ten to fifteen minutes. In-between each meal the bug hides in a crack for seven to ten days to digest its food (I hope, if ever, my stay in a hotel with bedbugs would fall on these “digesting days”).  The scary part to this feeding schedule is the fact that bedbugs are able to live several months with feeding at all. Bedbugs used to feed primarily on bats and it is believed that they switched from bats to men when they both shared caves a few tens of thousands of years ago. The different names for bedbugs are Cimices in Latin corrupted to “chinches, wall lice in German, hobgoblin in Welsh which we translate as “bogeyman” and “bugbear”. A common misconception has to do with the smell of the bedbug.  Some people thought the bedbug smelled because it had no vent but that is not the case.  And it is not the human blood that it consumes that makes the bedbug smell either because a bug that has never touched a drop of blood will still smell. The odorous substances are discharged from special glands on the thorax. The smell is hypothesized to be protection against their original hosts, bats. It is interesting to note that experiments have shown that bats will not eat bedbugs even if they are stuffed into their mouths and if a mealworms are smeared with the scent of bedbugs bats will not touch them. At one time bedbugs were used as a cure for certain infections. Bedbugs, salt and milk were made for an ointment for the eyes. And seven bedbugs eaten with beans were supposed to relieve certain types of fever. They really don’t have any adaptations to help find their source of blood they seem to just wander and are attracted to warmth. The mating habits of these insects are quite aggressive and have been termed “traumatic insemination.” The male punctures a hole in the female and inserts his semen there. The intromitent organ is a stout hook. This hook is inserted through the membrane between the fifth and sixth abdominal segments of the female. There is a small notch that guides the penis into a swollen mass of tissue called the “organ of Berlese.” The wound heals and a scar is formed on the female. Once the large amount of semen is injected into the female, it migrates to the wall of the organ of Berlese and moves into the blood of the female bug. The sperm makes its way through the blood of the reproductive organs of the female and gathers in little sacs called sperm reservoirs, where they remain until the female takes a meal, which is when the migrate up the egg tubes to the ovaries ready to fertilize the eggs that are rapidly fabricated from the nutrients in the blood of the host.  An interesting fact I learned was the bedbug’s sperm travels roughly the same speed as a human’s sperm. One of the last interesting things I learned about bedbugs has to do with B-group vitamins. A strict diet of only blood lacks the needed B-group vitamins so a partnership with certain bacteria that live in the bedbugs abdomen produces B vitamin in return for a suitable habitat. These bacteria are passed on to the next generation via the egg. As for the feeding on humans, the bedbug produces a substance from its salivary glands that prevents the blood from clotting for 24 hours. This salivary fluid is apparently what produces a reaction in some persons. Immunity can be reached by some. My favorite quote from this chapter is, “the bedbug is as innocent as a lily, even though his odor may not suggest it.” (pg178). 

If you ever need to stay in a hotel in Birmingham there is a nice link to check out the reported bedbugs in the area. http://www.bedbugregistry.com/location/AL/ 

And if you ever plan a trip to Chicago watch out. Chicago has moved to the top spot of a list no city wants to be a part of: the most treatments for bed bug infestations. http://www.pestworld.org/all-things-bed-bugs/bed-bug-news/news/chicago-the-worst-city-for-bed/

Even though Evan's said bedbugs were on the demise I found a report that states otherwise. The new 2013 Bugs Without Borders survey, conducted by the National Pest Management Association and the University of Kentucky, found that 99.6 percent of U.S. pest management professionals have encountered a bed bug infestation in the past year and that infestations have increased in the majority of locations in which pest professionals typically treat for bed bugs. http://www.pestworld.org/all-things-bed-bugs/

The scientific name for bedbug is Cimex lectularius. http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/bedbugs/faqs.html