Bed bug biology.
Behaviour
- Aggregation in cracks and crevices throughout the day.
- Most active between 00:00-05:00 when hungry
- Stimulated by increases in CO2 in the room.
- Travel many yards in search of a host.
- Probes skin (up to several times) searching for a capillary to feed from.
- Feeds for 5-10 minutes at a time, every 3-7 days.
- After feeding, returns to aggregate with other bed bugs.
Lifespan
- Older literature claims adults can live for up to 1 year without feeding, more recent research suggests all life stages can only live up to approximately 70 days without feeding, although this figure will be longer at cooler temperatures (i.e. <5^o C, 40 F).
- Adult bed bugs live between 99 and 300 days in laboratory (at >70F)
- Likely less in residential settings, and more variable depending on local conditions.
- Resistance to pesticides comes at a fitness cost, so resistant bed bugs will be expected to have shorter life spans and produce fewer eggs than susceptible ones.
Mating
- Mating occurs after a blood meal is taken, males particularly voracious
- Engage in traumatic insemination
- Females may be mated with up to 5 males (egg quantity is reduced with successive matings, 25% fewer eggs with repeated matings compared to single mating).
- Females can produce eggs from 1 day after mating.
- Females can mate with her own offspring, meaning a single fertilised female can start an infestation.
Egg production
- Total number of eggs produced depends on the feeding frequency, not the number of matings.
- Females produced 5-20 eggs over the ourse of 10 days after feeding.
- Although she will not reproduce again without feeding after this time, she can produce more eggs without mating a further time.
Population growth
- Eggs laid singly or in groups
- Approximately 97% of eggs hatch successfully
- Laboratory bred females begin to die naturally after roughly 9 feedings.
- On average 113 eggs are produced in a female bed bugs lifetime.
- Under optimal conditions, populations can double in 16 days.
Eggs
- Approximately 64% of eggs hatch between days 6 and 7.
- More than 90% hatched between days 8-9
- Hatch rate increases positively with temperature increase.
Lifecycle
- First instar nymphs (newly hatched) require a blood meal within approximately 3 days before starting to die as a result of dehydration.
- 7 life stages including 5 nymph molts: Egg, N1, N2, N3, N4, N5, Adult.
- Each life stage requires a blood meal to molt to next stage (apart from egg to nymph). If no host, bed bugs will not develop to next stage.
- First instar to adult in approximately 37 days.
Sources
^Information ^gathered ^primarily ^from ^"Bed ^Bug ^Basics", ^lecture ^by ^Dini ^M. ^Miller, ^PhD, ^Dept. ^Entomology, ^Virginia ^Tech.
Posted Aug 1, 2015, 3:17 PM UTC
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