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Genetics Explain How Bedbugs Infest a Building--or a Country

1. 

   bait
   

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   Posted 1 year ago
   Fri Dec 16 2011 0:54:30
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   I had always said that my infestation had arisen from within my apartment building. This Scientific American article would seem to support that.

   http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=genetic-bedbug-inbreeding&page=2

   Inbreeding may also help explain why some populations don't grow greatly in numbers, as inbreeding can produce eggs that are infertile, even as a building-wide infestation appears robust.

   The quote by Ken Haynes that bed bugs have "shown to wander more than 2.5 meters in five minutes" is also very believable to me based on my experience.

   I think the genetics study was a paper presented at the 2010 ESA meeting in San Diego, but which never got much exposure.

   Thank goodness "a few scientists" are looking outside the lab for answers to this vexing problem.

   Bait

2. 

   NeverSurrender
   

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   Posted 1 year ago
   Fri Dec 16 2011 3:20:01
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   That's a great article. Thanks for posting.

3. 

   Nobugsonme
   

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   Posted 1 year ago
   Fri Dec 16 2011 18:18:09
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   Thanks, Bait.

   I also did a blog post about this topic today. It goes into some depth and references additional articles.

   Note that at least one of the hypotheses the Scientific American article describes is somewhat controversial. More here.

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