Bedbug
- …thanks to modern hygienic practices, bedbugs are rarely found in developed countries?
- …bedbugs belong to the suborder Heteroptera?
- …bedbugs have tiny wing stubs, but have completely lost the ability to fly?
- …in European conditions, adult bedbugs feed by sucking blood about once per week, while nymphs once every two weeks?
- …before laying eggs, the female must suck up enough blood to approximately double her body volume?
Bedbugs are unpleasant tenants in human bedrooms. Both adults and nymphs are parasites, living by sucking blood from warm-blooded hosts - mammals and birds. They acquire blood using their proboscis, which has the ability to puncture skin and draw out blood. A hungry individual has a flat abdomen, while a full one is rounded. To sate its appetite, this insect needs 4-7 mg of blood. Bedbugs are active at night; during the day they hide in cracks, usually in higher locations. They leave behind specks of waste with a characteristic odor. Bedbugs can move very quickly and can survive without food for a long time. Females lay 100-200 eggs, but before doing so, they must suck up an adequate amount of blood. Bedbugs are found on all continents except Antarctica.