What are bedbugs: types of pests, parasites and beneficial predators from the order of bedbugs
Bed bugs are a common type of pest. Not only scientists have to study their features - they often settle in human dwellings, which cause people a lot of trouble. There are more than 40 thousand species of these insects. Below is a detailed description of what bugs exist, their varieties, photos.
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General description of bedbugs
Bed bugs are representatives of the order Hemiptera. As mentioned above, there are a huge number of species of these pests, but despite all the species diversity, the representatives of this order have some common features.
Appearance
The external characteristics of bedbugs can be different, most often they are due to the environmental conditions in which they live. The body length can vary from 1 to 15 mm. The larvae are always smaller than adults, but very quickly catch up with them in size. Also, females are always larger than males.
The color of pests is of 2 types: deterrent and demonstration.
Protective colors (brown, green shades) have most varieties of bedbugs. Pests that have no natural enemies in nature are painted in bright colors. Environmental conditions also determine the shape of the body of bedbugs: it can be oval, rod-shaped, round, flat.
Features of the structure
Diet
The diet of bedbugs depends on the species. There are varieties that feed on the blood of humans and animals, particles of dead skin, hair. Others feed exclusively on plant foods: leaves, shoots, fruits. There are also polyphagous insects, in the diet of which there is one and the other food.
Bedbug habitats
Here, too, everything is quite individual: some insects live exclusively in human habitation (in crevices, home textiles, furniture, clothes, etc.), others live only in nature and in garden plots.
What types of bedbugs are
Not all types of bedbugs harm humans and agriculture. There are useful varieties, as well as those that do neither harm nor benefit. The following is a detailed description of the various species of these insects.
Types of garden and garden pests
Several types of pest bugs live in summer cottages and gardens. They suck the juice from plants, feed on shoots, which leads to the death of the crop.
Varieties of bed bugs
Parasitic bugs feed on the blood of warm-blooded animals and often pose a danger to them, as they are carriers of dangerous viruses.
Bedding
They live exclusively in human habitation, preferring bed. The body length can vary from 3 to 8 mm. - a well-fed individual increases in size, the body color is brown. It attacks a person, as a rule, at night: it pierces the skin with a sharp proboscis and sucks out blood.
| Cimex lectularius | This is a type of bed bug. It is characterized by an oval body shape, brown body color. When satiated, the bug acquires a reddish tint and increases significantly in size. |
| Cimex adjunctus | It is also a subspecies of bed bugs. There are practically no external differences in the above-described view. It uses the blood of bats as food, but sometimes it can also attack humans. |
Cimex hemipterus
They feed on the blood of poultry, so poultry farms most often become their habitat. They are also capable of attacking a person, but people living next to birds most often become their victims. Cimex hemipterus lives only in warm regions with a tropical climate.
Oeciacus
The victims of these pests are a bird of only one species - swallows. Bedbugs live in their nests and move on them. The parasite has a rounded body, painted white. Widely distributed in the European part of Russia.
Triatomine bug (Triatominae)
This insect is considered the most dangerous, as it can infect a person with a serious disease - Chagas disease. It is quite large - adults have a body length of about 2 cm. The color is black, there are red or orange spots on the sides.
Types of bedbugs living in water
Several varieties of bedbugs have adapted to life in the water. Such insects are distinguished by long, developed limbs, which they use as a rake to move through the water. All water bugs are predators by way of feeding.
Bed bugs helpers
Some varieties of bedbugs feed on their fellow pests. For this reason, they are considered useful and are specially bred and sold.
| Bed bug Podisus maculiventris | The color of representatives of this species varies from beige to brown. The body length reaches 11 mm. The bug Podisus maculiventris eats the larvae of the Colorado potato beetle, gypsy moth, and American whitefly. |
| Anthocoris nemorum | Small (no more than 4 mm) insects in length, with a brown body. Settle on fruit, vegetable crops, nectariferous plants. They protect crops from pests such as aphids, red fruit mites, leafworms, and pear suckers. |
| Predatory bugs of the genus Orius | Differ in the small size and huge voracity. Destroy aphids, eggs of caterpillars, spider mites and other pests at any stage of their development. In the absence of food in the required quantity, they can also use the juice of plants, which does not harm the latter. |
| Family of predators (Reduviidae) | They are distinguished by an unusual color: the main part of the body is black, but there are bright, orange and red blotches. They hunt exclusively in the dark: they find places for laying parasites and suck out eggs. |
| Macrolophus family of horseflies (Miridae) | Adults have a small (no more than 4 mm) elongated body, painted in shades of green. They are distinguished by high gluttony: in a month they are able to destroy about 3 thousand whitefly eggs. |
| Perillus bicentennial | Representatives of this species are distinguished by a black shell with a bright pattern. The main food of the prillus is the Colorado potato beetle at all stages of development. If there are no beetles, then the bugs begin to use caterpillars and butterflies as food. |
Types of useful bugs
The following varieties of bedbugs are also beneficial for agriculture.
harmless bugs
Such insects can be called neutral in relation to agricultural objects: they do neither harm nor benefit.
Bedbug soldier
This type of bedbug has been familiar to many since childhood due to its contrasting coloration: a shield of a rich red hue with black patterns. The body shape is flat, elongated. At the same time, insects live in large columns and do not seek to hide from human eyes. On sunny days, their accumulation can be seen on stumps, trees, wooden buildings.
alder bug
Another name for these insects is the mother hen. The species got its name due to the fact that females choose only an alder tree for breeding. An interesting feature of the representatives of this species is that the females will never leave the nest until the larvae get stronger and can feed on their own.
What harm can bed bugs do?
These insects are most often pests. At the same time, the harm that they cause depends on their species.
- So, for example, bed or house bugs are not able to cause serious damage to human health - they do not carry dangerous diseases and viruses, but their presence can poison life: bed bug bites itch so that restful sleep becomes impossible.
- Other species living on plants are capable of destroying crops or causing serious damage to them.
Can Bedbugs Benefit You?
However, bugs can also be beneficial: they destroy other pests, thus performing the function of orderlies. Species useful to humans and plants have already been discussed above.
Bed bugs in the garden and in the garden
To control pests in the garden, you can use chemicals and folk remedies. Effective insecticides against bedbugs:
- chlorophos;
- phosphamide;
- actor;
- carbofos.
Folk methods of struggle are not as effective as chemicals, but they are safe for humans and animals.
There are the following recipes:
- Lukovaâ Husk. 200-300 gr. onion peel pour 1 liter of boiling water and leave for 3-5 days, then strain. With the resulting solution, treat the areas affected by bedbugs.
- Tincture of fragrant herbs. Make a decoction of cloves, hot peppers and wormwood. Treat crops with the resulting liquid.
- Natural Repellers. Plant a wolfberry, black cohosh around the perimeter of the site - such plants are natural bedbug repellers.
How to get rid of uninvited guests in the house
As mentioned above, the most effective way to deal with bedbugs is insekticidыHowever, their use is not always safe.
Complete instructions for ridding the house and yard of bedbugs - here to register:.
Interesting Facts About Bedbugs
Bedbugs are disgusting insects that, at first glance, cannot be of interest. However, there are some interesting facts associated with them:
- In Thailand, large water bugs are used as a gourmet treat.
- The first mentions of pests are found in the annals of 400 AD. BC. Aristotle believed that they could be used to treat ear infections and neutralize the effects of a snake bite.
- The water bug Micronecta scholtzi is capable of making a sound that is comparable in noise level to the roar of a rushing locomotive - males with such a sound scrape their penis on the sides to attract the opposite sex. However, a person does not hear this sound, since the bug does this under water.
- Acanthaspis petax is a species of predatory bugs that can defend themselves against natural enemies in an extraordinary way: they kill large ants and put their skins on their backs. Spiders, which in turn attack bedbugs, cannot recognize them in such a disguise and bypass them.