| Title: | Tracking bed bugs (Cimex lectularius): a study of the effect of physiological and extrinsic factors on the response to bed bug-derived volatiles |
| Author(s): | Weeks EN; Logan JG; Birkett MA; Pickett JA; Cameron MM; |
| Address: | "Faculty of Infectious and Tropical Diseases, Department of Disease Control, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK. eniweeks@ufl.edu" |
| ISSN/ISBN: | 1477-9145 (Electronic) 0022-0949 (Linking) |
| Abstract: | "The common bed bug, Cimex lectularius, feeds on the blood of mammal and bird hosts, and is a pest of global importance. Semiochemicals are chemicals involved in animal communication that may affect behaviour and/or physiology. Attractive semiochemicals that play a role in mediating bed bug behaviour could be exploited for the development of a highly effective novel monitoring device. Tracking software was used to record the response of bed bugs to volatiles from paper previously exposed to conspecific bugs in a still-air olfactometer illuminated by infrared lights, through a variety of activity variables. The effect of time of day as an extrinsic factor, and sex, stage, mating status and nutritional status as physiological factors on the response of bed bugs to the volatiles was examined. Bed bugs of both sexes and all stages responded to the volatiles from bed bug-exposed papers, showing significant attraction and orientation towards the volatile source whether they were starved or engorged. Confirmation that the physiological factors examined do not affect the response of bed bugs to the volatiles from bed bug-exposed papers provides evidence that these bed bug-derived volatiles contain aggregation cues, as semiochemicals that promote aggregation should by definition be detected by both sexes and all life stages. A device baited with such semiochemicals could play a major role in limiting the impact of the current bed bug resurgence by enabling timely detection of infestations, along with quantitative evaluation of control and effective surveillance of the geographical distribution of the pest species" |
| Keywords: | "Animal Communication Animal Nutritional Physiological Phenomena Animals Bedbugs/*physiology Equipment Design Humans Male Odorants/analysis Pheromones/*metabolism Sexual Behavior, Animal Smell Volatilization;" |
| Notes: | "MedlineWeeks, E N I Logan, J G Birkett, M A Pickett, J A Cameron, M M eng B51196X/I/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom D526753/I/Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council/United Kingdom Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't England 2012/09/22 J Exp Biol. 2013 Feb 1; 216(Pt 3):460-9. doi: 10.1242/jeb.074930. Epub 2012 Sep 20" |
