Beyond the Bite: The Strange Biology of Bedbugs

by victoria MALAGU

A Bedbug Infestation. (Photo Credit: Warren Booth)

A lot of people shiver or shudder at the mere mention of the word “bedbugs.” I’m sure many Nigerian homes have had their fair share of these tiny devils because, quite frankly, they seem to be practically everywhere.

Most times, we focus on how much we hate them and, of course, how to eliminate them. But I doubt that most people have actually taken the time to learn about these tiny creatures.

As a member of the scientific community, it is not unusual for us to read about different organisms. One day, my lecturer came to class and told us to read about bedbugs for a class presentation.

I picked up my phone and started reading, and I found some things that were so interesting that I thought, “Wait… people need to know this.”

Let’s start with one of the biggest misconceptions about bedbugs: they only live in dirty environments.

Not true.

You can have the cleanest space imaginable and still have bedbugs. Cleanliness does not make a place immune to an infestation. Bedbugs are primarily looking for a blood meal, and they use cues such as carbon dioxide from our breath, body heat and other signals from their hosts to locate us.

And then comes another shocking fact: bedbugs can survive for several months without feeding under suitable conditions.

Yes, months.

This is one reason why simply abandoning a room for a short period does not necessarily eliminate an infestation. They can remain hidden and wait for the host to return.

And for such tiny insects, they can cover a surprising amount of ground. Bedbugs have been reported to travel more than 100 feet in a single night, although they generally remain much closer to where people sleep.

Then there is their body structure.

Bedbugs are incredibly flat. This allows them to squeeze into tiny cracks and crevices that you might never imagine could accommodate an insect. They can hide in mattresses, furniture, cracks in walls and other small spaces, which is one of the reasons they can be so difficult to eliminate completely.

Now, here’s another interesting part.

When a bedbug bites, you may not notice it happening immediately. During feeding, the insect injects saliva containing substances that help prevent blood from clotting and make feeding easier. Some components of the saliva can also affect how our bodies respond to the bite, which is why the itching and skin reaction may not always appear immediately.

But now, we get to what I consider the most disturbing—and perhaps most fascinating—part.

Female bedbugs undergo something called traumatic insemination during reproduction.

In simple terms, rather than mating through a conventional reproductive opening, the male pierces the female’s abdomen with his reproductive organ and deposits sperm into her body. The sperm eventually makes its way to the reproductive system, where fertilisation can occur.

And yes, the name “traumatic insemination” is exactly as intense as it sounds.

There is absolutely no romance involved. Just pure biology doing what biology does. 

And to make matters worse, female bedbugs can produce hundreds of eggs over their lifetime, which is another reason an infestation can become difficult to control.

So the next time you see a bedbug and immediately reach for the insecticide, remember that you are looking at a surprisingly complex little organism.

Tiny? Yes.

Annoying? Absolutely.

But biologically fascinating? Unfortunately, very much so.