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By Kierra Sondereker
At the 2017 NPMA PestWorld in Baltimore, researchers at the University of Florida explained how consumers and MPCs, especially those living and working in warmer regions of the United States, can now be confronted with two species bed bugs. Researchers at the University of Florida have recently discovered tropical bed bugs (Hemiptera Cimex) on the east coast of Florida. At PestWorld, they examined how these parasites could lead to changes in the way humans treat bedbugs, including how PCOs manage and control them.
L & # 39; HISTORY. Both common and tropical bed bugs are the two main species of bedbugs that feed on humans, and both are spread worldwide. Tropical bed bugs, however, prefer warmer climates. The documentation of the 1960s showed that tropical bed bugs were found almost exclusively in areas 30 degrees north and south of the equator.
"But again, most of these operations were done before heating and cooling buildings," said Brittany Campbell, entomologist at the National Pest Management Association (NPMA) staff and PhD student at the University of Florida. . "So we have no idea of the spread of the bedbug."
Previously, in the 1930s and 1940s, the first case of tropical bed bugs in the United States occurred when entomology professors from the University of Florida asked entomology students to collect bedbug samples of bed. The tropical bed bugs collected came from five different areas of Florida. "We knew we had tropical bed bugs at the time; What we do not know now is that they disappear completely, "said Campbell.
While tropical bed bugs were going not detected For more than 60 years, parasites have been rediscovered in Florida in 2015 by the research team at the University of Florida.
RECURRENCE. In 2015, Dr. Phil Koehler's team received a sample of bed bugs in his laboratory at the University of Florida. "I knew immediately that these insects were different from those that I had used to sleep," Campbell said.
The sample came from a house located in Brevard County. After further investigation, the researchers realized that they had a sample of tropical bed bugs, a species that had not been seen for decades. "We wanted to share this to educate the public about this new species of bedbug that has been reintroduced into the state of Florida," said Campbell, who had begun writing an article on the subject in 2016.
She contacted pest control companies operating throughout Florida to find out if they had recently made the experiment
tropical bed bugs. She has received about 50 bedbug samples from Florida-based pest control companies. After reviewing all of them, the research group determined that only the original Brevard County sample contained tropical bed bugs.
Meanwhile, Campbell's research and the revelation of a new species of bedbug have begun to draw national media attention. "It was not surprising, because as soon as you start talking about bedbugs and a new invasive species that can be reintroduced, or perhaps was already present in small populations in Florida, this gets a lot of attention because bed bugs tend to scare people. outside, "said Campbell. "There were a lot of crazy stories that said that they could spread faster and reproduce at a very fast pace; there were some crazy numbers there. But this is not really a concern. We do not really see this species reproduce faster than any other species. "
However, Campbell's research has revealed that tropical bed bugs could eventually spread to parts of Texas, Louisiana and all of Florida. All of these areas are between 20 and 30 degrees north of the equator. "I do not think it's something that should alarm us," said Campbell. "I just want the PMK to know that there is this species. Currently, they do not seem to dominate in the state of Florida. "
STUDY. After receiving the sample of tropical bedbugs, Koehler's team went to the house where the parasites were found. The team brought several live samples back to their labs to test them.
"We wanted to establish a colony of tropical bedbugs in order to undertake research on this species," Campbell said. "In the United States, we have not done a lot of research. In other tropical regions, research has been conducted on tropical bed bugs, but there is still much unknown research on this species. "
Campbell and other team members collected eight bed bugs that day and started growing a colony of tropical bed bugs in the lab. "I would say that now we have thousands of tropical bed bugs in our laboratory at the University of Florida," she said.
One of the main objectives of breeding this colony was to determine if tropical bed bugs could hybridize with common bed bugs. But first, Campbell wanted to find a simple way to tell the difference between the two species.
A major difference is that tropical bedbugs are often darker in color, but according to Campbell, this could not be a true identifier, as all bed bugs get darker after being fed.
"The part of the body you're really going to focus on is the pronotum," said Campbell. The pronotum is located behind the head and can be roughly called the "neck" of the bedbug. Campbell notes that the common bedbug has a much more pronotum and U-shaped pronotum than the tropical bedbug. However, she added that unless you look at these bed bugs under a microscope, you would have trouble distinguishing them.
Campbell then took measurements of each species, looking for a sufficiently different measure to serve as a distinguishing feature. She found that the size of tropical bed bugs was often smaller in males and females than in the common species. The pronotum of tropical bed bugs is also much smaller at almost all stages of their life cycle.
Once size differences were determined, the team returned to see if tropical and common bedbugs could reproduce and create a hybrid species. In their laboratory at the University of Florida, they tried to couple the two. Campbell said that this has not happened yet, however, and it seems they may never be able to because of genetic variations between species.
"The species of tropical bedbugs we have, if we look at their DNA, are very different," said Campbell. "There are basically 47 genetically different stages between different species, which shows that there are two totally different species."
TREATMENT OPTIONS. Campbell's next step was to find a way to control and eliminate bedbugs from tropical beds using insect growth regulators (IGRs). She decided to test bed bugs for two different chitin synthesis inhibitors (CSIs), which affect the moulting process and the formation of chitin in the exoskeleton. She tested novaluron and lufenuron by applying a small amount on the abdomen of individual tropical bed bugs.
"In fact, it worked much better than I ever thought," Campbell said. "One of the effects was that bed bugs would die outright. Their exoskeletons would turn black and crisp. And sometimes, in extreme cases, their bowels explode out of their abdomen. "
She added, "Another result I saw was the sublethal effect. Sometimes CSIs did not kill bed bugs, but they prevented them from walking well. Bedbugs treated with CSI could not even grab a surface. If a bedbug fails to get into someone's home, he can not pick up a host and can not finally contact a host to have a blood meal. It will be just as important as killing those bed bugs. "
TREATMENT VS. PREVENTION. With the re-emergence of the tropical bed bug, Koehler said PCOs needed to make a clear distinction between warranties and warranties against bed bugs. He said companies should offer two different services: one for bed bugs elimination, which would guarantee that your service will eliminate bed bugs for a given period, and another prevention service with a legally binding guarantee stipulating that if the re-infection occurs over a defined period of time, the company will compensate the customer at no cost to the buyer.
"I kind of ask the industry to look at two different services instead of one: it's not just a disposal service, but a prevention service as well," Koehler said. "Each service would use different methods, would be billed separately or jointly as a package when you run the process."
Koehler compared the IPM bedbugs to a food pyramid. The top contains foods that should be consumed minimally, while the bottom contains what should be eaten most often. "Bed bug education and prevention should be at the bottom of the pyramid and treating or eliminating bed bugs should be as labor-intensive as possible," he said. "Right now, the pyramid is reversed. Most of what you do is treatment and elimination and very little prevention is part of your program. And we have been downgraded in this regard for most of the work on bed bugs done in the last 10 years or so. "
He added, "You have to remember that times are changing. IPM bedbugs can be combined so that your business really benefits from the ability to sell a service to all your customers, not just those who need treatment or disposal. It will be based on prevention. "
The author is a writer based in Ohio.
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