The reemergence of the bed bug, Cimex lectularius Linnaeus, has recently spawned a frenzy of public, media, and academic attention. In response to the growing rate of infestation, considerable work has been focused on identifying the various host cues utilized by the bed bug in search of a meal. Most of these behavioral studies examine movement within a confined environment, such as a Petri dis...

Male bed bugs pierce females through the body wall and inseminate directly into the body cavity. It has previously been shown that such traumatic insemination carries costs for females, and sexual conflict regarding the mode of insemination should thus propel male-female coevolution. Since males accumulate sexually antagonistic adaptations, females should evolve counter-adaptations that efficie...

Herbivores employ a variety of chemical, behavioural and morphological defences to reduce mortality from natural enemies. In some caterpillars the head capsules of successive instars are retained and stacked on top of each other and it has been suggested that this could serve as a defence against natural enemies. We tested this hypothesis by comparing the survival of groups of the gumleaf skele...

Bed bugs, Cimex lectularius L., are a major pest in the urban environment. Their presence often results in physical, psychological, and financial distress of homeowners and apartment dwellers. Although many insecticide bioassays have been performed on this pest, little attention has been paid to bed bug feeding status, which is closely linked to metabolism, molting, and mass. Therefore, we eval...

Analyses of the dorsal abdominal glands of fourth- and fifth-instar nymphs of the bed bud, Cimex lectularius L. (Hemiptera: Cimicidae), indicated the predominant constituents were (E)-2-hexenal and (E)-2-octenal, with lesser amounts of 4-oxo-(E)-2-hexenal and 4-oxo-(E)-2-octenal. The latter two compounds have not been reported previously as occurring in bed bugs. There were no differences in th...

BACKGROUND Horizontal transfer of insecticide occurs when insects contact or ingest an insecticide, return to an aggregation or a nest, and transfer the insecticide to other conspecific insects through contact. This phenomenon has been reported in a number of insects including social insects, however it has not been reported in bed bugs. Since horizontal transfer can facilitate the spread of in...

BACKGROUND The flower bug Orius sauteri is an important polyphagous predator that is widely used for the biological control of mites and aphids. However, the optimal conditions for mass rearing of this insect are still unclear, thus limiting its application. METHODOLOGY In this study, we investigated the optimal ingredients of an artificial diet for raising O. sauteri using a microencapsulati...

The recent resurgence of bed bugs, Cimex lectularius L. (Heteroptera: Cimicidae), has increased the demand for information about effective control tactics. Several studies have focused on determining the susceptibility of bed bug populations to insecticides. However, behavioral responses of bed bugs to insecticide residues could influence their efficacy. The behavioral responses of bed bugs to ...

Australia has experienced a sudden and unexpected resurgence in bed bug infestations from both Cimex lectularius L. and Cimex hemipterus F. A survey in 2006 revealed that infestations had increased across the nation by an average of 4,500% since the start of the decade. In response, a multi-disciplinary approach to combat the rise of this public health pest was implemented and involved the coor...

Homology modeling has become an essential tool for studying proteins that are targets for medical drug design. This paper describes the approach we developed that combines sequence decomposition techniques with distance geometry algorithms for homology modeling to determine functionally important regions of proteins. We show here the application of these techniques to targets of medical interes...