Bed bug
| Bedbug | |
|---|---|
| |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom Information | |
| Domain | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Subkingdom | Bilateria |
| Branch | Protostomia |
| Phylum Information | |
| Superphylum | Panarthropoda |
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Sub-phylum | Mandibulata |
| Infraphylum | Atelocerata |
| Class Information | |
| Superclass | Panhexapoda |
| Class | Insecta |
| Sub-class | Dicondylia |
| Infra-class | Pterygota |
| Order Information | |
| Superorder | Condylognatha |
| Order | Hemiptera |
| Sub-order | Heteroptera |
| Infraorder | Cimicomorpha |
| Family Information | |
| Superfamily | Cimicoidea |
| Family | Cimicidae |
| Genus Information | |
| Genus | Cimex |
| Species Information | |
| Species | C. lectularius |
| Population statistics | |
Bedbug refers to approximately 75 species of small parasitical insect of the family Cimicidae, and most especially to the common bedbug (Cimex lectularius) of the temperate areas of the northern hemisphere. Bedbugs are characterized by the nocturnal feeding of blood from man or other warm-blooded animals.
Description
Bedbugs are approximately 4-5 centimeters long. They are broad and flat in shape, brown in color, and glisten from a distinctive, smelly oil secreted from scent glands. The wings are scale-like and vestigial. Females lay about 200 or more eggs during reproductive periods, and can lay around a thousand during several such periods within a year.
Bedbugs feed only at night; in the wild they feed on the blood of birds and small mammals, and within human-inhabited areas they feed upon domesticated animals as well as man. They retreat to their hiding places during the daytime, using up to several days in which to digest their food[1]. When hiding they are generally found in curtains, furniture cushions, within dressers, or inside bedding and mattresses, hence the name.
Control
Bedbugs can be killed easily with insecticides like deltamethrin, a synthetic pyrethrin.
Environmentalism
Environmentalists like to spread despair about bedbugs, hinting that evolution always makes them impervious to each new insecticide which people use to put down outbreaks. A typical examples is "They Crawl, They Bite, They Baffle Scientists" in the August 30, 2010 New York Times. The article lists half a dozen chemicals which don't kill bedbugs, while (carefully?) omitting any mention of effective chemicals.