bedbug

bedbug

any of several bloodsucking insects of the heteropterous genus Cimex, esp C. lectularius of temperate regions, having an oval flattened wingless body and infesting dirty houses: family Cimicidae

Collins Discovery Encyclopedia, 1st edition © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

bedbug

[′bed‚bəg]

(invertebrate zoology)

The common name for a number of species of household pests in the insect family Cimicidae that infest bedding, and by biting humans obtain blood for nutrition.

McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific & Technical Terms, 6E, Copyright © 2003 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc.

The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.

Bedbug

 

(Cimex lectularius), a blood sucking insect of the order Heteroptera. The body is flat and oblong. The males measure 4.9-6.4 mm long, and the females, 4.8-8.4 mm. The adults are brownish red, and the larvae are pale yellow. The mouth pierces and sucks. Behind the third pair of legs are glandular openings, the secretions of which have a distinctive pungent odor. Bedbugs infest human dwellings, chicken coops, dovecotes, the nests of birds and bats, and the burrows of rodents. The females lay between 200 and 250 eggs (sometimes as many as 540) in their lifetime. At room temperature the larvae emerge after 17 to 20 days. There are five larval stages. The bedbug is an external parasite of humans and several other warm-blooded animals. It feeds solely on blood. At one feeding the female sucks as much as 7 mg of blood. Control measures include various methods of disinfestation.

The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.