Bed Bug Biology

Evison, Sophie E. F.; Hentley, William T.; Wilson, Rebecca; Siva‐Jothy, Michael T.

doi:10.1002/9781119171539.ch16

Cited by 3 publications

(2 citation statements)

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“…The common bed bug ( Cimex lectularius ) has re‐emerged as a nuisance in private homes and in the accommodation industry during the last 20 years (Doggett et al ., 2018). This hematophagous ectoparasite does not live permanently on the host, but takes obligate blood meals from humans to commence into subsequent instars and to maintain reproduction (Evison et al ., 2018). Other blood feeding arthropods of medical and veterinary importance, such as sand flies, ticks, some fleas and red poultry mites, spend the majority of their time away from hosts and only temporarily visit them during feeding (Krasnov et al ., 2002; Anderson & Magnarelli, 2008; Sparagano et al ., 2014).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These results highlight access to blood as a key factor for handling environmental stress. Additionally, access to blood is crucial for egg production (Matos et al ., 2017), increasing the population size, and time to sexual maturation (Evison et al ., 2018). Although slow‐acting and weak stressors such as sublethal heat or starvation will eventually kill a bed bug (Benoit, 2011, 2018; Rukke et al ., 2015, 2018), they have been considered of limited applicability in control situations because treatment time is of the essence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Blood deprivation and heat stress increase mortality in bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) exposed to insect pathogenic fungi or desiccant dust

Rukke

Salma

Birkemoe

et al. 2020

Medical Vet Entomology

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Bed bugs (Cimex lectularius L.) have returned as a nuisance pest in the last 20 years. Different bed bug control measures in combination have not been thoroughly studied, although induction of multiple stressors may improve extermination. The effects of heat stress only, heat stress followed by exposure to insect pathogenic fungi, and heat stress followed by exposure to desiccant dust on starved and blood‐fed bed bugs were investigated. Five days at 22 °C (control), 32 °C, 34 °C, or 36 °C (heat stress) did not cause mortality in adults. However, their starved first instar nymphs produced after heat stress suffered mortalities of 33%, 56% and 100%, respectively. Exposure to insect pathogenic fungi after heat stress increased the mortality of adults and their progeny compared to exposure to fungi without heat stress. The beneficial effects of heat stress were not observed in blood‐fed bed bugs. Desiccant dust killed all nymphs within 2 days and all adults within 3 days regardless of previous heat stress, but survival time was prolonged by access to blood. This study highlights the advantage of combining different methods in pest management, and points to heat stress combined with blood deprivation as possible management elements to increase the control success.

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