Latest news with #Cimexlectularius
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bed Bugs May Have Been The First Urban Pest to Ever Plague Humans
Humans were letting the bed bugs bite long before beds existed, and while they do live on other species, we're the main reason this notorious parasite is still going strong. In fact, bed bugs might have been the first pest to plague our cities – earlier than the black rat, for instance, which joined us in urban life about 15,000 years ago, and even the German cockroach, which only got the memo about 2,100 years ago. Researchers think the blood-sucking pests – Cimex lectularius – first jumped from their bat hosts onto a passing human some 50,000 years ago, a move which would change the course of the insect species forever. Human bed bugs, it turns out, have boomed since the Last Glacial Maximum about 20,000 years ago. But it's a different story for those populations that continued living on bats. "Initially with both populations, we saw a general decline that is consistent with the Last Glacial Maximum; the bat-associated lineage never bounced back, and it is still decreasing in size," says entomologist Lindsay Miles, from Virginia Tech. "The really exciting part is that the human-associated lineage did recover and their effective population increased." The researchers were able to track this evolution because the human bed bugs have a much narrower genetic diversity, since only a few 'founders' probably came with us when we abandoned life in caves. But our move into cities around 12,000 years ago is what really kicked off the human bed bug boom. This was only briefly interrupted when DDT was invented in the 1940s. Populations crashed, humans slept sweetly, and then five years later, the bed bugs were back. Since then, bed bugs have travelled around the world with us, and even become resistant to our pesticides. For now, it seems, bed bugs are here to stay. It's been a long-term relationship, after all. The research is published in Biology Letters. Your Brain Wrinkles Are Way More Important Than We Ever Realized Something Strange Happens to Your Eyes When You're Sexually Aroused 2-Year-Old Prodigy Joins 'High IQ' Club Mensa as Youngest Member Ever
The Irish Sun
28-05-2025
- Science
- The Irish Sun
Stone age bed bugs were humanity's first pests, scientists reveal
STONE Age people had a far more troublesome enemy than sabre-tooth tigers — bed bugs. Their first settlements — like Fred Flinstone's fictional home of Bedrock — would have been crawling with the blood-suckers. 2 Stone age people had a problem with bed bugs Credit: Getty The bugs' numbers exploded when humans moved out of caves, making them the first household pests, researchers say. In the study, DNA analysis was used to trace back the species found in homes today to those feeding off cave dwellers. Cimex lectularius was found to have had a 'close relationship' with humans for 50,000 years. The team from Virginia Tech University in the US confirmed the bugs first lived on bats before some switched to Stone Age humans in caves. But the population took off only 13,000 years ago — when people quit cave life and began farming and building settlements While its numbers rocketed, the bat bed bug species fell away. Researcher Dr Linsday Miles said: 'Both populations saw a general decline that is consistent with the last ice age. 'The bat-associated lineage never bounced back and it is still decreasing in size. Most read in Health 'The really exciting part is that the human-associated lineage did recover and their population increased.' The researchers say bed bugs, which live in furniture and bite to feed on blood, predate rats and even cockroaches as domestic pests. Rats moved in to homes 2,000 years ago, and cockroaches 5,000 years ago. 2 Blood sucking bed bugs were the first pest Credit: AFP I was homeless so I carved myself a CAVE house with incredible sea views – but officials are trying to kick me out
