Danielle Wishon (Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey)
Indeed. Those attending the Bohart Museum of Entomology's open house on Saturday, Feb. 2, will see them--and see them feeding.
The Bohart Museum of Entomology is one of six museums or educational centers on the UC Davis campus holding an open house from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday. This is the second annual campuswide Biodiversity Museum Day, aka "Super Science Saturday," as it's the day before the Super Bowl. The other five are the Botanical Conservatory, Center for Plant Diversity, the Geology Museum, the Anthropology Museum, and the Museum of Wildlife and Fish Biology. Maps will be available at each site. The event is free and open to the public.
Now, back to the bed bugs.
Danielle Wishon, an undergraduate student majoring in entomology, will be feeding her bed bug colony at 2 p.m. at the Bohart Museum, which is located in 1124 Academic Surge on Crocker Lane. Wishon is rearing a colony, now approaching 100 bed bugs, in a research lab in Briggs Hall.
"Aside from the fact that I find them visually adorable, I am interested in the current public panic over their current increase in population around the United States," said Wishon, who took control of the colony in October 2012. "The idea that several little animals will crawl up to you while you sleep and feed on your blood really disturbs most people, despite the fact that they do not transmit any disease."
Wishon, who studies with forensic entomologist Robert Kimsey and works in the Bohart Museum with director Lynn Kimsey, professor of entomology, loves entomology. She's is a past president of the UC Davis Entomology Club and recipient of the department’s 2011 Outstanding Undergraduate Student Award.
"I think the general public would be very interested to see them feeding," Wishon said. "There is a lot of misinformation on the Internet about them, so it would also be a good opportunity for Q and A."
And speaking of Q and A, be sure to access the Entomological Society of America's bed bug resource page. You'll find information on "the menace in the mattress" (Cimex lectularlu) from all over the country, including right here at UC Davis. The UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program's Pest Note says:
"A single feeding may take up to 10 minutes, and feels like a pin prick, but because feeding usually occurs at night when people are asleep they are not aware they have been bitten until afterwards. However, saliva injected during the feeding can later produce large swellings on the skin that itch and may become irritated and infected when scratched. Swelling may not develop until a day or more after feeding, and some people do not show symptoms. Bed bugs currently are not considered to be disease carriers."
The arm of Danielle Wishon and her bedbugs, feeding.
The arm of Danielle Wishon and her bedbugs, feeding.
Close-up of a bedbug in the process of ingesting a blood meal. (Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control for Prevention, image by Piotr Naskrecki)
Close-up of a bedbug in the process of ingesting a blood meal. (Photo courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control for Prevention, image by Piotr Naskrecki)
Posted on
Thursday, January 31, 2013 at
8:30 PM
Forensic entomologist Bob Kimsey (right) of the Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis, studies bedbugs--those little bloodsuckers that prey on you while you're sleeping.
There's an "alarming resurgence in the population of bedbugs" in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Why?
The exact cause is not known, but the CDC says it could be linked to "increased resistance of bed bugs to available pesticides, greater international and domestic travel, lack of knowledge regarding control of bed bugs due to their prolonged absence, and the continuing decline or elimination of effective vector/pest control programs at state and local public health agencies."
The Los Angeles Times warned in a Dec. 4 headline: L. A.'s Slow Trickle of Bedbugs May Turn Into a Flood.
That's a big "bah-humbug" for the holidays.
Senior museum scientist Steve Heydon of the Bohart Museum of Entomology, UC Davis, was quoted as saying:
"The bedbug for its part wants to get in, get the bite and get away without being detected, so it's to its advantage to not do anything to wake you up or have you scratch or slap in your sleep."
As an aside, the Bohart Museum, directed by Lynn Kimsey, professor and former interim chair of the UC Davis Department of Entomology, is no stranger to the topic of bedbugs.
The Bohart Museum at 1124 Academic Surge, California, Drive, houses more than seven million insect specimens--and you guessed it--some are bedbugs. News media and other curious folks walk in and ask to see them. (Note: the Bohart is open Mondays through Thursdays from 8:30 a.m. to noon, and from 1 to 5 p.m., and there's an open house on Saturday, Dec. 11.)
Bob Kimsey (husband of Lynn, by the way) and entomologist Jeff Smith of Univar recently penned an article for the Bohart newsletter that offers insights to the problem.
"The common bedbug,
Cimex lectularius, is not a new pest of humans, but has been a resident in human dwellings since we lived in caves," the Kimsey-Smith duo wrote. "In fact this species of bedbug may originally have fed on bats that lived in caves. When humans moved into those caves for shelter they may have become another blood resource for these insects, which moved with humans as they advanced from caves to other dwellings."
"Since bedbugs re-emerged in the U.S. less than 10 years ago, they have found their way into nearly every kind of structure, including buses, theaters, hospitals, schools, and vehicles that move furniture."
Kimsey and Smith point out that "Bedbugs feed at night and hide during the day. They seek out even the narrowest of cracks, holes, and crevices for their daytime resting places. The vast majority, perhaps 70% or more, will hide as close to their food as possible, and this is either your bed or in furniture that people may sleep on. Living room couches and recliners are commonly infested. You should purchase a good quality mattress and box spring encasement and seal these parts of the bed within it. This will remove all of these resting sites from the bedbugs, and any bedbugs already within the seams of the mattress or inside the hollow box spring will be trapped and die there. You can purchase these at bedding stores or from pest control companies."
If you travel, here are some tips from the Kimsey-Smith duo:
--when you check into a hotel, inspect the bed, mattresses and headboards for tell-tale signs of bedbugs. Look for dark specks (fecal matter), shed skins and tiny white eggs
--place your luggage on on one of those stands with metal legs and make sure it's not touching the walls
--avoid carrying bedbugs back home; place your clothing in a sealed plastic bag until it's ready to be washed or dry-cleaned
--be aware that even the airline luggage compartment can spread bedbugs if one piece of luggage is infested
If bedbugs accompany you home, you may have to hire professionals to rid your home of them. Even a small screw hole on the back of a dresser can house 20 or more bedbugs, they caution.
Bah, hum-bug!
Bedbug
BEDBUG--"Bed bugs are small, flat insects that feed on the blood of sleeping people and animals," according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "They are reddish-brown in color, wingless, and range from 1 to 7 millimeters in length. They can live several months without a blood meal." (CDC Photo)
Close-Up
CLOSE-UP of bedbug. "Bed bugs are experts at hiding," according to the CDC. "They hide during the day in places such as seams of mattresses, box springs, bed frames, headboards, dresser tables, cracks or crevices, behind wallpaper, and under any clutter or objects around a bed. Their small flat bodies allow them to fit into the smallest of spaces and they can remain in place for long periods of time, even without a blood meal. Bed bugs can travel over 100 feet in one night, but they tend to live within 8 feet of where people sleep." (CDC Photo)
Posted on
Monday, December 6, 2010 at
6:13 PM
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