Bedbugs (Heteroptera) are a suborder of arthropod insects, which belongs to the winged subclass, the infraclass New Ptera, and the order Hemiptera. The bug is found in all countries of the world.
Bedbugs - description, characteristics, structure. What do bedbugs look like?
Due to the diversity of species, the body shape and size of bedbugs are very variable: some varieties of bedbugs are very small and have a length of less than 1 mm, representatives of the largest species grow up to 10-15 cm. Females are usually larger than males.
The largest bugs in the world are giant water bugs (Belostomatidae), which live in the tropics and grow up to 15 cm in length. Giants are able to eat even small ones, but do not pose any danger to humans .
The body shape of most species of bedbugs is adapted to their habitat conditions and can be varied:
The bug is a hemiptera insect, which received its name due to the morphology of the fore wings, transformed into elytra, the main part of which is a hard chitinous shell with a membranous apical part. The presence of front wings (elytra) and hind wings depends on the type of bug:
- Some bedbugs there are elytra and developed wings, with the help of which they are able to travel long distances through the air (for example, long-winged females of the pine underbark bug);
- In other species elytra shortened, A wings are missing, because of which insects cannot fly (for example, these are the short-winged females of the pine subbark bug);
- Still others have developed elytra but no wings(for example, male pine bugs);
- The fourth elytra and wings are missing, like bed bugs, so they don't fly.
All bugs have 3 pairs of limbs, developed to varying degrees and used for movement, swimming and holding prey. In most bedbugs, on the metathorax, between the second and third pairs of limbs, there are open ducts of odorous glands that secrete a characteristic and unpleasant “bedbug” smell that scares off enemies and plays the role of pheromones during the mating season.
Bedbugs that live in water, as well as predatory individuals, often do not have scent glands, or these glands are poorly developed.
The organs of touch are well-developed sensory antennae; some species have excellent vision.
Contrastingly colored bugs with bright colors in combinations of red, black, blue, green and white flowers- These are, as a rule, herbivorous species with practically no natural enemies.
A common feature of bedbugs is the piercing-sucking type of mouthparts. It is represented by an elongated lower lip, forming a long proboscis, inside of which there is a deep groove with modified jaws, transformed into spiny, thin and long bristles. The proboscis is divided into 2 channels: the upper and wider one is used to absorb food, the lower one is used to secrete saliva. The top of the proboscis is covered with the upper lip. The specific structure of the mouth allows the bug to easily pierce the skin of humans and animals, as well as green parts of plants, sucking blood and cell sap.
In herbivorous bugs, the proboscis is thin and long; in a calm state, it is tucked under the body and hidden in a groove located on the head and chest. Predatory bugs have a short, thick and strong proboscis, beak-shaped and curved in the form of an arc.
Colors added digitally; parts of the oral apparatus intended for piercing the skin are highlighted in purple and red. Photo credit: Janice Harney Carr
Herbivorous bugs feed on plant cell sap. Plant foods also vary depending on the type of bedbugs. For example, the harmful turtle bug (lat. Eurygaster integriceps) eats grain crops - barley, oats, etc. Cruciferous bugs feed on plants from the cruciferous family: cabbage, turnips, radishes, mustard greens, and rapeseed. Lined scale insect (lat. Graphosoma lineatum) feeds on umbrella plants, eating dill and parsley. The berry bug (lat. Dolycoris baccarum) is a true sweet tooth: it includes berries and gooseberries in its diet. Water bugs from the family Belostomatidae easily cope with fairly large fish fry, salamanders and happily eat small invertebrates, both living and dead.
Bed bugs have external digestion, so most predatory species kill the victim before consumption using a paralyzing and decomposing substance, and after a while they suck out the ready-to-eat contents.
How long do bedbugs live?
The lifespan of a bedbug depends on the species. Without food, bedbugs can go into suspended animation, which, combined with low air temperatures, prolongs the insects' life.
Where do bedbugs live?
Bedbugs are insects that are widespread throughout the world. Bedbugs live in Russia, Asian and European countries; their range also includes Africa, Australia and Oceania, South and North America. Some species even live in Greenland, Alaska and Chukotka (for example, the polar variety of bedbugs Nysius groenlandicus).
Bedbugs are absolutely unpretentious to their place of residence. They inhabit apartments and human houses with equal comfort, in nature they settle in bird nests, animal burrows and tree hollows, they take a liking to basements and wet cellars, they settle on the foliage of plants and even in the thickness of sand.
Types of bedbugs, photos and names
The modern classification includes over 50 families of bedbugs, consisting of 40 thousand species. More than 2 thousand bedbugs live in the CIS countries.
- Bed bugs(Cimicidae)
- Triatomine bugs(Triatominae)
- Soldier bug, aka wingless red bug or Cossack(Pyrrhocoris apterus)
A member of the red bug family, one of the most common pests found in Europe, Asia, North America and North Africa. These wingless insects grow up to 9-11 mm in length and are distinguished by their brightly colored shell. The red color of bedbugs scares away everyone who wants to feast on insects, and the black pattern miraculously imitates huge eyes, mouth and forehead, which is also a kind of defense mechanism. Wingless red bugs have virtually no enemies in nature, so rapidly growing colonies of insects can be very difficult to remove. Pests are the first to wake up in the spring, and the main targets of their attacks are young seedlings garden plants. Soldier bugs feed on sap, young shoots and buds of any cultivated plants, ripe vegetables, fruits and berries, as well as corpses of vertebrates and insects. Pests lay eggs in the leaves of the plants they eat, which inevitably leads to the death of the latter. Wintering and reproduction of bedbugs occurs in dry, warm places: residential buildings, wooden buildings, under the thick bark of trees. As a biological control measure, the cohosh plant (black cohosh) is planted in vegetable gardens, which repels bedbugs with the smell of its inflorescences.
- Harmful turtle(Eurygaster integriceps)
A species of bugs from the family of bugs (lat. Scutelleridae), one of the most dangerous agricultural pests. It lives in steppes and forest-steppes in Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia and North Africa. Externally, the insect really resembles a miniature one with a dense, flat shell of grayish, yellow or Brown strewn with light spots. The size of an adult bug is from 1 to 1.3 cm, the pronotum of the insect is 1.5 times longer than the head. All life cycle The bug passes through fields with grain crops, where wheat, oats, corn or barley grow. Here bedbugs are born, feed, and reproduce. Many overwinter under dry grass; most of the colony migrates to winter in warmer, mountainous areas with dense forests. Greatest harm plants are infested by bedbug larvae, for which active feeding is very important. An adult bug bug and its larvae pierce the plant stem and suck out the juice, as a result of which the plants become deformed and lag behind in development, and the wheat gluten is destroyed under the influence of the insect’s saliva, which negatively affects the quality of the dough. The harmful bug does not pose a danger to people and animals. When a person approaches, he does not even bother to fly away, but simply falls to the ground, pretending to be dead, and in extreme cases, releases a substance with a foul odor.
- Cruciferous bugs, eurydemy or variegated shield bugs(Eurydema)
A genus of bedbugs, including 18 species and distributed in Europe, Asia, North Africa and throughout Russia. These insects are also called cabbage bugs. The most famous are considered Eurydema northern(Eurydema dominulu s ) ,rapeseed bug(Eurydema oleracea) ,mustard bug ( Eurydema ornata) , and cabbage bug ( Eurydema ventralis) . Adult cruciferous bugs grow in length from 5.5 to 9-10 mm and are distinguished by a variety of body colors, forming a variable pattern of various combinations of spots of blue-black, black-green, red, yellow and white. The main food of bedbugs is wild, as well as cultivated cruciferous plants: cabbage, rutabaga, turnip, radish. The pests pierce leaves and flower stalks with their proboscis and suck out the juice, lay eggs on the underside of cabbage leaves, and overwinter in large colonies under plant debris.
Eurydema northern (lat. Eurydema dominulus). Photo by: Siga
Cabbage bug (lat. Eurydema ventralis). Photo by: Hectonichus
- Green arboreal shieldweed(Palomena prasina)
A representative of the family of true shield insects. These bugs live throughout the temperate zone of the planet. Its popular name is “stink bug” tree stink bug acquired thanks to a particularly intense odor secreted by the secretion of the odorous glands. These bugs have a fairly large oval-angular body, growing up to 1.1-1.6 cm in length and equipped with disproportionately small wings. The insect's body is protected by a strong chitinous shield of bright green color, and even bedbug eggs have a light green tint. Only by autumn do brown dots appear on the shell, and by winter the bug becomes completely brown. The green bug leads a quiet, inconspicuous life on the foliage of trees, on herbaceous plants and berry bushes, the juices of which it feeds on, especially preferring raspberries. He does not disdain animal food, but does not know how to hunt, so he is content with dead insects. Stink bugs fly extremely rarely, spending too much energy on flight. This green bug is not dangerous to humans and does not cause significant harm agriculture, only occasionally and slightly damaging cereal crops.
- Lined scale insect, aka graphozoma striata ( Graphosoma lineatum )
A species of bugs from the family of true stink bugs, which are also called “Italian bugs” due to the similarity of the color of the insects with the uniform of the Vatican guards. The Italian bug grows up to 1.1 cm in length, and its dense chitinous cover is distinguished by war paint: 6 longitudinal stripes of black color clearly stand out against the main red background, and the lower part of the body is covered with many chaotically scattered black spots. Due to its bright, contrasting coloration, this bug is often called the tiger bug or striped bug. Italian bedbugs feed on the sap of wild and cultivated umbrella plants: honeydew, dill, parsley, carrots. Insects give particular preference to plant seeds. Damaged umbrellas fall off and the seeds become non-viable. Lined bugs are quite thermophilic, so they live only in the middle zone, in the south of Europe and in Central Asia. They do not cause significant damage, and if colonies grow, they are easily collected from plants by hand.
- Berry bug, aka berry stink bug(Dolycoris baccarum)
A large representative of the family of true shield bugs, growing up to 1-1.2 cm in length, the structure is very reminiscent of the Italian bug. Flat body adult colored gray, dirty yellow or red-brown, the body of the larvae is covered with thin hairs. A distinctive feature of the color of the berry shield is yellow transverse stripes on the sides and antennae, painted with yellow and black rings. The main habitat and food preference of the berry bug are raspberries, currants and gooseberries, and the presence of the pest is easily determined by brownish spots on the leaves and dried berries. However, berry bugs often settle on fruit, grain, umbrella, oilseed and ornamental crops, as well as on weeds, feeding on the juices of young shoots and flowers, which leads to discoloration and drying of the plant. Berry bugs are widespread throughout the temperate climate zone, but due to the small population size they do not cause serious harm.
- Large-headed(Phymatidae, Phymatinae)
A family of bedbugs that is sometimes considered a subfamily of predators, and its representatives are true predators, capable of attacking prey that is significantly larger than themselves. Large-headed bugs grow up to 8-12 mm and have thick and wide thighs of the forelimbs, 2 times the length of the saber-shaped legs. The habitat of bedbugs is the countries of Africa, East Asia, and the USA.
- Water striders (Gerridae)
A family of bugs, including about 700 species of insects that live on the surface of the water. Externally, water strider bugs resemble miniature boats, deftly gliding across the surface of the water, and the structure of the bugs is fully consistent with this way of life. The narrow, elongated body of the water strider grows from 1 to 3 cm in length and has a characteristic protective color from brown and brown to almost black, making the insects almost invisible to birds. The water strider bug has 3 pairs of legs covered with fine, waterproof hairs. Motor activity, acceleration and braking are provided by the shorter front pair of legs, the remaining 2 long pairs of legs serve only as support for the insect. During movement, the water strider bug spreads its middle and hind pair of legs wide apart, and also uses short motor limbs to hold prey. If an obstacle appears on the way, the water strider overcomes it with strong leaps. The bedbug's abdomen is also covered with fine, short hairs containing a waxy substance that prevents them from getting wet. Tiny air bubbles accumulate between the hairs, holding a light weight insect afloat. Among water striders there are winged and wingless species, but after wintering, which occurs on land, the flight muscles of winged individuals are absorbed, and energy is spent on hunting and reproduction. Water striders have good eyesight and developed tactile antennae, thanks to which the predator instantly notices prey that has fallen into the water. The water strider bug feeds on small invertebrates, which it grabs with its hooked forelimbs. The insect pierces the prey with a sharp proboscis and sucks out the contents. Possessing external digestion, the water strider bug pre-injects solid food paralyzing and decomposing composition. Due to their species diversity, water strider bugs are found in fresh and salt water bodies around the globe.
- Water scorpions (Nepidae)
A family of bugs that live in water. Thanks to the developed and forward-directed forelimbs, capable of folding like a false claw, these insects really resemble something. The other 2 pairs of legs of water bugs are covered with poorly developed bristles and help the insects move and swim. Adults grow from 2 to 3.5 cm in length and have an oval or leaf-shaped flattened body with a faded brown or gray, so they look like a fallen leaf in the water. Water scorpion bugs lead an extremely sedentary lifestyle, clinging to aquatic vegetation near the surface of the water in anticipation of prey. They are omnivores and eat any food they can handle. The diet of water scorpions includes swimming beetles, larvae, juveniles of small fish species, tadpoles, and crustaceans. The family of water scorpions includes about 230 species, which are distributed in water bodies of the tropical and temperate climatic zones of the Northern Hemisphere.
- water bugs from the Belostomatidae family (Belostomatidae)
The largest bedbugs in the world. These giants chose freshwater bodies of water in the countries of South and North America, as well as East and Southeast Asia as their habitat. Water bugs often reach 15 cm in length. The front pair of limbs is slightly shorter and has small hooks at the ends, which allows the insects to firmly hold the caught prey. The back legs of bedbugs are ideally suited for swimming. The respiratory organs of a water bug are a pair of tubes located on the abdomen. Bedbugs are not able to breathe underwater, so they often float to the water surface to take another breath of air. The world's largest water bugs are natural predators. They hunt for young fish and tadpoles, and eat salamanders, snails, frogs and small fish with appetite. Having waited for its prey and clasped its limbs, the water bug neutralizes it with an injection of its proboscis, injecting saliva into the caught prey with a paralyzing and liquefying effect. Then the predator bug simply sucks out the nutrient cocktail. The process of bearing offspring in a water bug looks quite unusual. After fertilization, during which the female lays eggs on the elytra of her partner, the incubation of the eggs is monitored not by the female, but exclusively by the male. On its back you can often find up to a hundred eggs of a light gray or brownish color. The male bug takes care of such a valuable burden for 10 to 12 days, periodically “walking” the future offspring, raising its back above the surface of the water to enrich the clutch with oxygen.
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All types of bedbugs photos and names
Based on habitat and diet, they can be divided into the following species:
Pests of agricultural plants include types of bugs that feed on plant sap, piercing the stem and inflorescences, grain, and berries.
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The turtle bug, a species that gets its name from its shell, loves winter and winter grain crops. Not only the adult individual is dangerous, but also its larvae. They, like the adult individual, feed on grain and have a closed reproduction cycle.
A species familiar to everyone from childhood is the stink bug, popular name: raspberry lover. If you drive him away, he will poison you with his pungent berry smell.
Species living in the water include the following varieties: smoothies, rowers, giant whitestomas. They are safe for people. All these are harmless species to humans.
Another type of bug, the wingless red bug (Pyrrhocoris apterus), eats seeds and the remains of invertebrate animals.
Types of bedbugs photos
People distinguish three types of house bugs ( bedding, linen, furniture), but in fact it is one and the same pest, its habitat is very diverse.
Types of bedbugs - reasons for appearance and reproduction in the apartment
Bed bug appearance photo in enlarged size
The appearance resembles ticks. They have a small, brown, transparent body, 3 mm long when hungry and 8 mm long when fed.
What are the reasons for the appearance of house bugs in an apartment and where can they come from:
- can come from neighbors through the ventilation hatch.
- If they are infested in at least one apartment in the house, we can assume that the whole house is infected
- animals can be brought into the apartment;
- You or one of your guests can bring it with you from any public place
- from work, library, home, etc.;
- purchase together with furniture, not only old, but also new;
- can appear even in a perfectly clean apartment.
Their reproduction occurs quickly. It is very difficult to fight bedbugs at home on your own.
Ways to combat bedbugs at home
There are three ways to combat bedbugs at home: mechanical, physical, chemical.
The most effective method- this is chemistry.
Once you have found the bug bug, choose chemical drug and start fighting. The best effect is achieved if you combine three methods at the same time.
How to get rid of bedbugs in the house using folk remedies
Folk methods for getting rid of bedbugs include: using the herbs wormwood and tansy. They repel, but do not poison, so the question arises: where do the pests go? IN next room, or to another apartment?
Use a strong smelling one chemical agent– kerosene, naphthalene, turpentine solutions, salicylic acid, denatured alcohol, kerosene, aviation liquid and vinegar. These products are used to treat habitats where they may enter, and place them in containers around the apartment.
All chemicals and home remedies are very toxic! When using them, you need to protect children and animals, use reliable protection for hands (as they corrode gloves) and breathing.
The traditional thermal way to get rid of bedbugs is to take the furniture out into the cold or scald it with boiling water and steam.
Common mistakes in the fight against bloodsuckers are an ineffective chemical agent or you have not found the entire colony. They quickly get used to chemicals, so they should be used together with traditional methods.
Photos of bed bugs
Proven remedy for bedbugs - modern methods of control
Despite how many different folk methods there are, it is necessary to take into account that they are effective only in the case of a small number of pests in your apartment or for prevention. For example, lay herbs in a ventilation shaft, on a windowsill, in places where they can enter the house, after treating them with vinegar.
You can only get rid of house and bed bugs reliably and quickly by using modern control methods. They have a scary name - insecticides or call a disinfection service.
Flat
Refers to flat pine beetle bug. He settles in pine forests , preferring trees between 9 and 25 years old.
During meals disrupts the flow of nutrients through the trunk, because of which the pine begins to bush, and the needles turn yellow and crumble.
The greatest damage is caused to trees living in unfavorable environments, in urban and suburban forest parks and forests. This is explained by the fact that the natural enemy of this insect is insectivorous birds, either they are not there at all, or they are found in small quantities.
Adult insects have red body color, similar to the color of pine bark. Its length is 3.5-5 mm. The body shape is flat, wider in females than in males. Produces a characteristic pear odor.
Pests overwinter on the ground, at the base of trees. In the spring, even before the snow completely melts, they wake up, climb the trunk and hide in the bark scales. There they feed, and in the summer eggs are laid (up to 28 eggs from one female).
Below is a photo of this species of bug:
Reds
Common species in Russia.
REFERENCE! Also known as the “soldier beetle” or “firefighter beetle.”
Most often they can be seen on wooden fences, old stumps, lower parts of trees. There they rest and wait for food to appear, and then feed on the juice of young green plants.
Household bedbugs photo:
All types of bedbugs with photos are presented in this article.
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Surely at least once in your life you have come across an unpleasant-smelling beetle, which we used to call the stink bug. These are extraordinary representatives of the fauna, the features of which are interesting to learn about.
A number of hemiptera, or bugs – Hemiptera
These are insects average size, with a sometimes flattened cylindrical body. The antennae are thread-like. The mouthparts are of the piercing-sucking type. The elytra near the base are horny or leathery, with a membranous apex (semidermal), the lower pair of wings is membranous.
The order has about 40 thousand species. The types of bedbugs are quite diverse in their way of life and feeding. There are such varieties of bedbugs: aquatic, land forms, predators, blood-sucking, and herbivorous species. About 100 species of pests of agricultural crops and forests.
In this article we will look at some types of bedbugs. Perhaps the most relevant today.
Bug bug – Eurygaster integriceps
Lives in the Steppe and Forest-Steppe. Mass reproduction is observed in the steppe and dry-steppe zones. The pest bug damages wheat, barley, oats, and rye. The Coleoptera bug has a convex, chitinized shield that covers the abdomen and wings, reminiscent of a turtle shell. Body size 8-13 mm. Body color ranges from light yellow to dark brown, often with a marbled pattern. The pest bug overwinters under fallen leaves, in forest belts. In spring, at a temperature of +14˚С - +17˚С, they awaken and appear on the surface. At the end of April, they migrate from wintering areas to the fields. Lay eggs on leaves cereal crops in two rows up to 400 eggs. After 2 weeks the larvae appear. The pest bug feeds on grain. Grain damaged by bugs becomes mealy, crumbles, and loses its baking properties. It is recommended to carry out chemical treatment against the harmful bug. The following insecticides are used: Aktara, Arrivo, Mospilan, Fatrin, Shaman.
Stink bug - Pentatomidae
Photos of stink bugs - Pentatomidae
This is the name of the representatives of the shield insect family – Pentatomidae. These include spruce, cabbage, and rapeseed bugs. The stink bug has an oval body shape and dense skin. Antennae 5-segmented. The scutellum is well developed, but, as a rule, covers 2/3 of the abdomen. Most species are phytophagous (feed on plants).
Pine bark bug – Aradus cinnamomeus
This forest bug damages common pine and, less commonly, other types of pine. The forest bug is oval-shaped with a flat body, yellow or red-brown in color. The head is massive, the antennae are short, slightly longer than the head. Males are often wingless, with a wide abdomen. Body 3.5 – 5.2 mm. The forest bug overwinters under bark scales near the base of the trunk or under plant debris. The eggs are laid there. The larvae suck the juices from the bark scales. They give 2 generations per year. The forest bug leads to inhibition of growth, drying out of the tops, and the gradual death of the tree. The fight against the pine bark bug involves using an injection under the bark with the drug Fastak.
Pear bug – Stephanitis pyri
Photo of pear bug - Stephanitis pyri
This wood bug mainly harms apple and pear trees. The body is flat, almost transparent, weightless, reminiscent of lace. Body length 2 - 4.5 mm. The color is light with a marble pattern. Wood bug It is harmful because it sucks juice from the leaves, and thus causes discoloration and drying of the leaves. They overwinter in bark crevices and under leaf litter. The wood bug lays up to 400 eggs in cuts in leaf tissue. I recommend the following control measures: burning leaf litter in gardens and spraying trees, in case of mass infestation, with karbofos, trichlorometaphos, chlorophos.
Red bug - Pyrrhocoris apterus
Photo of the wingless red bug - Pyrrhocoris apterus
We have known this red bug since childhood. Represents the order of Shield-like insects. The soldier bug has a bright coloration with red and black. The body is flat, oval, 9-11 mm long. It feeds on plant juices and can also suck liquid from dead insects. Eggs are laid in plant tissue, but the clutch can end up anywhere (on tree trunks, stumps, etc.). They overwinter under leaf litter or in bark cracks. They also harm agricultural crops, such as carrots, beet, and cabbage. The insecticides Bankol and Karbofos are used against the wingless red bug.
Green bug - Palomena prasina
Photo of a green bug - Palomena prasina with a clutch of eggs
This is a garden bug, a pest of raspberries, and is also found on other crops. The bug is bright green in color and has a wide shield. Body size up to 1 cm. The green bug overwinters under plant litter. Garden bugs lay eggs on grasses and other plants. It is also called the stink bug, as it secretes a liquid with a characteristic pungent odor. This remarkable quality allows it to remain unharmed, since no one can eat it. Against the green bug, treatment is carried out with karbofos before flowering and after harvesting raspberries.
Triatomine bugs – Triatominae
Photo of triatomine bug - Triatominae
Water strider bug – Gerris lacustris
Photo of the water strider bug - Gerris lacustris
Distributed in Europe, Asia, Africa. Lives in stagnant bodies of water or with slow currents. The body is thin, brownish-gray in color, with long thin legs and red bulging eyes. They glide across the surface of the water. The water strider bug is a predator. It feeds on insects that have fallen into the water. They have sensitive hairs on the tips of their legs, thanks to which they feel ripples in the water. If threatened, they can fly away as they have wings. They winter on land. Eggs are laid on aquatic plants. The clutch, up to 50 eggs, looks like a metal cord. They can suck human blood - but this is rare.
Giant water bug or Belostoma – Belostoma sp.
Photo of a giant water bug - Belostoma sp.
The largest representative of the order Hemiptera. Lives in fresh water bodies, mainly in stagnant water. It has an oval, pointed body of gray-brown, brownish-black color (15-17 cm). At the ends of the legs there are hooks with which they capture the victim. Belostoma is a predator. These large bugs feed on small inhabitants of water bodies: fish, frogs, snakes, and sometimes even turtles. They swim well thanks to the flat, leathery appendages on the back of their legs that serve as oars. They spend most of their lives underwater, but come to the surface to breathe. The giant water bug overwinters on land under moss, in destroyed wood, etc. It does not pose any danger to humans. They may bite if you disturb him yourself.
Bedbug - Cimex lectularius
Photo bed bug— Cimex lectularius
Chicken bugs are also called common bed bugs and Mexican chicken bugs. Since they parasitize birds, poultry, but mainly chickens. Chicken bugs pierce the bird's skin and suck its blood. They are usually found in areas with soft skin and blood vessels close to the skin. After a bite, red spots, irritation and itching remain on the bird's body. Chicken bugs lead to weight loss in chickens, decreased egg production and the development of infections in their bodies. Externally, Mexican chicken bugs are the same as the already known bedbugs. They winter in chicken habitats and love warmth and secluded places. It is recommended to treat chicken coops and barns with Mustang and Neocidol. And bathe the chickens themselves in water with the addition of Inkur (2%), chlorophos (1%).
With this material, we are starting a large series of articles devoted to the fight against domestic bedbugs. Our readers will learn everything about house bugs, as well as how to effectively remove them from a living space without causing harm to residents and pets, if any. So, what types of house bugs are there, what they look like, where they come from, how they reproduce and how they feed - read on.
general information
Before looking at bedbugs in detail, it is worth mentioning the basic characteristics and nomenclatures that apply to these living creatures. House bugs are:
Other details from the world of bedbugs are in the following sections.
What do house bugs look like?
Adults are light brown to reddish brown, flattened, oval in shape, and lack hind wings. Their front wings are vestigial and practically invisible to non-specialists. The abdomen of the bug contains microscopic hairs that give them a striped color. The size of the bug is up to 4-5 mm in length and up to 1.5-3 mm in width.
Nymphs (young bedbugs) that have just hatched from their eggs have a glassy, translucent body. As they feed, the body color becomes darker and darker, and becomes permanently brown when the adult emerges at the end of the last moult.
Thanks to the translucent body of the nymph, it is possible to tell what stage their feeding phase is currently in, regardless of the age of the nymph. A nymph that has just drunk blood has a bright red, transparent belly, which becomes darker, even brown, over the next few hours. The opaque black abdomen is a symbol that the bug has been digesting its food for at least two days.
Adult bedbugs may be mistaken for other insects, such as fleas, small cockroaches or carpet beetles.
Distinctive features of bedbugs are their characteristic movements in short but very fast dashes, and they also create a characteristic unpleasant odor when crushed.
One of the individual characteristics of this type of insect is the release of special aromatic substances belonging to the chemical groups of pheromones and kairomones. These substances help insects determine joint nesting, feeding and reproductive sites. The lifespan of bedbugs depends on the specific species, as well as on the lack of feeding. This will be discussed in more detail below.
Bedbugs can survive in a fairly wide range of temperatures and atmospheric compositions. For example, at temperatures below 16.1 °C, adult insects fall into a kind of hibernation, which allows them to survive longer without taking a portion of blood and preserve vital energy.
Feeding features of bedbugs
Bedbugs are obligate hematophages - they belong to the group blood-sucking insects and only attack people. In fairly rare cases, when human blood is not available, bedbugs can attack domestic animals, in particular dogs and cats. Human blood provides bedbugs with a complete diet, so they do not require additional searches for water or dry food. Insects obtain additional moisture from water vapor in the surrounding air.
Bedbugs have a universal oral apparatus, which easily penetrates the skin and pre-injects saliva with anticoagulants and painkillers. The former are necessary to prevent the blood from clotting during suction, and painkillers reduce sensitivity at the site of the bite, which allows the blood intake to be completed.
However, all these chemical substances, injected by bedbugs into human blood, contain a large number of different protein structures. This leads to the fact that, as a rule, in the morning, when the effect of the painkillers wears off, a person begins to feel severe itching at the site of the bite. In addition, all the signs of severe swelling and redness develop. In people with normal or reduced allergic sensitivity, itching at the site of the bites, provided there are no additional lesions on subsequent nights, goes away after 2-3 days. Bite marks completely disappear after 5-7 days.
Some people may be hypersensitive to proteins in bedbug saliva. As a result, a strong allergic reaction may develop, up to system-wide generalization - with fever, general swelling, shortness of breath, heart rhythm disturbances, and so on.
Under certain conditions, adult bedbugs can survive for quite a long time without feeding - up to a year. These are kind of record-breaking long-livers who are able to stretch out the consumption of nutrients from a once-received portion of blood.
Under normal circumstances, when there is no shortage of blood intake, the bug feeds at every 5-10 day intervals. Moreover, the younger the insect, the shorter the period it can be without fresh blood.
It is worth noting the very interesting behavior of bedbugs while feeding. These characteristics, as a result, have a strong impact on the strength of allergic manifestations in the days following night bites.
- Bedbugs never bite during daylight hours.
In addition to the fact that they are very shy, their eyes are absolutely not adapted to see in bright daylight, which literally blinds insects.
- A direct attack occurs only at night, when the victim falls asleep and the life of the bug is no longer in danger.
Insects determine the stage of sleep perfectly, thanks to their special sensitivity to carbon dioxide, which a sleeping person exhales. At such moments, its concentration becomes much higher.
- The oral apparatus of the bug is represented by two very powerful stilettos, which have their own teeth that are sharper than a razor.
Moving these stilettos from side to side, the bug cuts fairly dense human skin, injects saliva and begins to look for a blood vessel. If he does not find it, he pulls out his stylets and bites nearby; if he does not find the capillary again, the process is repeated. Thus, one bug can bite several times in just one meal, and all its bites are often located in one row, as if on a ruler.
- Bedbugs are quite intrusive and will not calm down until they take the required amount of blood.
In general, it takes from 5 to 20 minutes for the bug to take the required amount of blood. The slightest rustle or movement in the victim's sleep - and an army of insects different sizes urgently retreats to shelters, including those who have already started eating. As soon as the situation stabilizes, they slowly crawl out of the folds of the mattress again and begin to move in short dashes closer to their breadwinner.
Such feeding habits of the domestic bug provide multiple bite lines all over the body in the morning and give an indescribable sensation in the form of incessant itching, which is very difficult to suppress even with antihistamines.
Where do house bugs come from?
In the old days, the appearance of bedbugs in Russian homesteads was attributed to the negligence of housewives and even their riotous lifestyle. The girl went to the left - you will receive punishment in the form of daily itching and red spots all over your body.
Of course, house bugs have nothing to do with the sex life of the apartment owners, but they have everything to do with cleanliness. Bed bugs appear in residential areas for the following reasons:
- As a result of relocation.
- As a reward after spending the night in places rich in bedbugs.
If the hotel has good service personnel who often change bed linens, then bedbugs will not be immediately noticeable. But that doesn't mean they don't exist. On the very first night, they can crawl into the folds of underwear, some personal items close to the body, pour into an open suitcase lying under the bed. The same can be applied to spending the night with strangers, on trains, and so on.
In this case, they usually leave the furniture, citing long-distance travel, so you need to be more careful.
House bugs reproduce using so-called traumatic insemination. Females have a reproductive tract that ends in a functioning ovipositor, but males cannot use this physiological opening to deposit their sperm. Instead, the male literally penetrates the female's abdomen using his subcutaneous genital organ, which introduces seed into the female's body cavity.
After fertilization, sperm remains viable for a long time in the female’s body, in a special area called the spermatheca. Here, the male seed is able to be stored for a long period of time, as long as the female's body temperature is optimal, and this is always while she is alive.
The female lays eggs of domestic bugs until she depletes the sperm reserves in her spermatheca. After supplies run out, several sterile eggs may be laid, which quickly dry out and the larvae of house bugs do not hatch from them. And the female is again ready to fill her spermatheca.
Like males, females are capable of producing alarm pheromones to avoid multiple matings, but they do this extremely rarely and there are a couple of reasons for this:
- Firstly, the production of pheromones is an expensive process for the female body in terms of energy expenditure. And females must take care of it to maintain normal egg production.
- The second reason that scientists consider is the possibility of repeated mating, which ensures constant renewal of the seed in the spermatheca, which improves the gene pool of the offspring. But this hypothesis is still only theoretical.
What types of house bugs are there?
Many sources, when describing domestic bedbugs, begin to list several species, compare them with each other, and so on.
Other species “specialize” primarily in other animals, for example, the bat has its own bugs - Cimex pipistrelli, and birds - Oeciacus Vicarius, which do not want to have anything in common with humans, despite the contrary assurances of some online primary sources.
Bedbugs tend to cluster together in favorable shelters. However, some insects are able to live on their own, away from the rest of the colony. The best way to determine whether there are bedbugs in a living space is to examine the secluded areas of the sleeping areas of the home.
The favorite place for a colony of bedbugs to reside during the day is the space under mattresses, folds, buttons and other places where fabrics are placed one on top of the other. Less commonly, bedbugs can be found in the upholstery of tables, chairs, behind wallpaper, clocks, paintings, cracks in wooden floors, under the edges of the carpet. It is also a good idea to check your luggage if the apartment is occupied by people who have recently returned from a trip.
While bed bugs are most common in bedrooms, bed bug infestations can also occur in other rooms, including bathrooms and guest rooms. In a word, where there may be contact with bedding.
Dark blood stains on the sheets and others bedding may indicate house bugs. As already mentioned, during feeding they inject saliva into the wound, containing substances that prevent blood clotting, and then look for a blood vessel. After the bug has finished feeding, the effect of the anticoagulants has not yet completed and blood continues to flow from the vessel.
In addition, while feeding, bedbugs often defecate. This results in the presence of darker brownish stains or smudges found on sheets, pillowcases, and mattresses. The excrement consists mainly of fermented and partially digested blood.
In cases of severe infestations, bedbugs may be more visible. Their accumulations can be seen in the folds of bed linen. A large amount of remnants of the chitinous cover shed by the nymphs during the next moults will also be found.
It is worth emphasizing that the presence of live bedbugs in a residential area should immediately provoke their destruction. House bugs live a long time and reproduce very quickly, so it will be extremely difficult to stop them later.
