Litinsects

Litinsects #52: Bed bugs I now present every traveler’s worst nightmare... Bed bugs are true bugs from the order HEMIPTERA. They undergo incomplete metamorphosis through multiple nymphal stages and have piercing/sucking mouthparts.  ©   Piotr Naskrecki Bed bugs are OBLIGATORY HEMATOPHAGOUS, coming from the Greek „haima“ for “blood” and „phagein“ for “to eat”, meaning they eat blood and in fact can’t survive on anything else! Their saliva contains anticoagulants and painkillers, which is why you are not likely to be woken up by bed bug while they bite you While the “bug” part of the name is accurate (they are true bugs), the “bed” part is not necessarily true, as they may live in furniture as well Each immature stage requires a blood meal within a few days of molting in order to develop into the next stage, or else it starves. But adults can go up to six months without feeding! Bed bugs use carbon dioxide in exhaled breath to find their hosts. They are also attracted to bod...

Litinsects #10: What is a bug? Raise your hand 🤚 if you’ve ever used the words “insect” and “bug” interchangeably? I hate to break it to you, but you probably haven’t been using the word bug correctly. You see, bugs are a kind of insect but NOT ALL INSECTS ARE BUGS! TRUE BUGS make up an order called HEMIPTERA. They can vary widely in their appearance but all share one basic feature: mouthparts modified into a stylet-like ROSTRUM, as you can see on the specimens pictured. Don’t worry, this isn’t some mutant species of legless bug, I just removed the legs so the entire rostrum is easily visible. Now let’s learn some more about TRUE BUGS: Examples of Hemiptera include: aphids, stink bugs, cicadas, bed bugs, scale insects, planthoppers, shield bugs, and assassin bugs Hemipterans use their piercing sucking mouthparts to feed on a variety of fluids. Most are plant-eaters, using their rostrum to pierce leaf cells and extract plant sap. Some are predatory w...

A general overview of arthropod body plans and phylogeny (relationships) of the four extant groups. <https://dev.biologists.org/content/129/5/1225/F1> Litinsects #6: What defines an insect? I realize I’ve been throwing around words like arthropod and insect but maybe not everyone knows how these groups are related. Today I'm going through some classification basics. First off, insects are ARTHROPODS, meaning they have paired JOINTED LIMBS. Arthropods include 5 main subgroups: (Future posts will go into each of the other arthropod groups in more detail...) (1) Trilobites, which are extinct (2) Chelicerates, which include spiders, scorpions, and mites (3) Myriapods, consisting of millipedes and centipedes (4) Crustaceans, including lobsters, crabs, and barnacles (5) Hexapods, the group to which insects belong Arthropods have a hard EXOSKELETON made of chitin that supports and protects the body. All arthropods grow by MOLTING, a process by which the...