Common Bed Bug
The common bed bug (Cimex lectularius) is a small, flat, wingless insect that feeds on human blood at night. It has lived with people for thousands of years and has resurged worldwide since the 1990s.
The common bed bug (Cimex lectularius) is a small, flat, wingless insect that feeds on human blood at night. It has lived with people for thousands of years and has resurged worldwide since the 1990s.
🧬 Field Guide Specimen: Open Common Bed Bug in the CRV Science Field Guide to log the specimen, see its place among the Ecdysozoa lineages in the Cladogram Explorer, and test your recall in the Red List conservation game.
From Bats to Beds
Bed bugs are related to bat bugs and probably originated as parasites of bats living in caves, switching to humans when people moved into the caves. Their flat bodies slip into cracks in mattresses and furniture.
Traumatic Insemination
The male mates by piercing the female's abdomen and injecting sperm directly into her body, a damaging process that females have evolved special organs to cope with. This is a famous example of sexual conflict.
A Pest Without Disease
Bed bugs cause itchy bites and sleeplessness but are not known to transmit diseases. Their return is due to travel and insecticide resistance, and controlling them calls for heat treatment and careful inspection. See House Fly.
Common Bed Bug at a Glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Scientific name | Cimex lectularius |
| Kingdom | Animalia |
| Phylum | Arthropoda |
| Class | Insecta |
| Order | Hemiptera |
| Family | Cimicidae |
| Field Guide group | Ecdysozoa: Hexapoda (Insects) |
| Diagnostic feature (Field Guide) | Flat, wingless, reddish-brown oval blood-feeder that hides in mattresses and pierces skin at night with a slender folded beak. |
| Order | Hemiptera |
| Mating | Traumatic insemination |