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Got Bed Bugs? Bedbugger Forums » Detection / Identification of bed bugs

What is this bug?

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Started 2 months ago by Louise
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Louise

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Posted 2 months ago
Mon Sep 21 2009 17:19:51
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So last week after finding the mystery bug on my son's sheets, I naturally checked all of the other beds, including the dog's. I found nothing (no fecal spots, no casings, no bugs), except for this creature, still kicking and impaled by a dog hair in the dog's bed. For some reason, it didn't remind me of the bug I found on my son's bed (where the dog had been laying that morning, coincidentally enough). I took a second look under the microscope today, and am thinking it's probably the same type of bug as the mystery bug I found on my son's bed that same day. I'm hoping that it's something innocuous, but if it's not, I'd like to know sooner rather than later.

Could it be a bed bug? A flea? Just something the dog picked up outside? The bug seemed to be bleeding (red) where it was impaled.

Here are the pathetic pics with our regular digital camera:

Bug in dog bed from the top (I think)

Bug in dog bed from the bottom (I think)

Here are the close-ups with the microscope camera that I am clearly FAR from having mastered:

Front of bug (from the top?)

Front of bug (from the bottom?)

Back of bug (from the top?)

Back of bug (from the bottom?)

100x close up of bug's mouth (from the top or the bottom)

100x close up of bug's mouth from the bottom or the top

As much of the bug as I could get on one screen

Any takers on IDing this thing?

Louise
spideyjg

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Posted 2 months ago
Mon Sep 21 2009 20:26:52
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Hopefully that is a good enough shot for one of the entomologist to ID. It isn't a BB but it looks a lot like the last one and the head is throwing me. It doesn't appear to have 8 legs so a tick or mite is out.

Does the mouth have a straw or mandibles? The head strikes me as mantis like from the first picture.

http://www.phyast.pitt.edu/~micheles/scheme/module-system-talk/mantid.jpg

The body is wrong for a mantid though and the eyes appear too distinct for a roach.

Can't make out if it has an elytra, the split down the back, or not that would make it a beetle.

I'm stumped. Given that you found both near a potential blood source and both "bled" red, until proven otherwise I'd presume that is your culprit.

Where is Dr Sorkin when we need him.

Jim
spideyjg

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Posted 2 months ago
Mon Sep 21 2009 21:33:22
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BBs belong to the Family Cimicidae. All are blood feeders.

Within that Family, are 8 Genus containing 18 species total and the Genus Cimex, of which the common BB (Cimex Lectularius) belongs has 8 alone.

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/classification/Cimicidae.html#Cimicidae

It is possible Louise that you have a relative of Lectularius infesting your home. This calls for an ento ID.

Jim
Louise

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Posted 2 months ago
Mon Sep 21 2009 21:39:54
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spideyjg - 2 minutes ago »
BBs belong to the Family Cimicidae. All are blood feeders.
Within that Family, are 8 Genus containing 18 species total and the Genus Cimex, of which the common BB (Cimex Lectularius) belongs has 8 alone.
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/accounts/classification/Cimicidae.html#Cimicidae
It is possible Louise that you have a relative of Lectularius infesting your home. This calls for an ento ID.
Jim

Ugh. Y'mean, like bat bugs, perhaps? We did find four of those in the cabin in June, although that was the last we saw of anything ('course, we isolated and encased the beds and lived out of plastic bags and bins for the rest of the summer...). Would they really only show up NOW if we had brought them home in May or June (before we started taking precautions)?

And wouldn't it be odd to only be finding the bugs (two of them), and not be experiencing any bites or any other signs of anything on the sheets/mattresses/etc?

Maybe?

Please?
spideyjg

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Posted 2 months ago
Mon Sep 21 2009 22:01:36
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Bat bugs are Cimex adjunctus.

In a paper from the Ohio State University entomology dept most "BBs" found in Ohio were actually batbugs.

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2105a.html

Jim
paulaw0919

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Posted 2 months ago
Mon Sep 21 2009 22:23:30
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Huh....I really want to know what that bug is! Very interesting.....hoping an expert can tell us. In the meantime Louise please send that out to an entomologist for proper identification.
Louise

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Posted 2 months ago
Mon Sep 21 2009 22:38:59
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Yep, I've read the Ohio paper a number of times now. Believe me, I've researched bat bugs and bed bugs to death this summer. That's how I found this very helpful and valuable bedbugger.com website.

I'll try to locate an entomologist tomorrow. Now I'm just a tad stressed out...again. :(
spideyjg

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Posted 2 months ago
Mon Sep 21 2009 22:49:59
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Louise - 8 minutes ago »
Yep, I've read the Ohio paper a number of times now. Believe me, I've researched bat bugs and bed bugs to death this summer. That's how I found this very helpful and valuable bedbugger.com website.
I'll try to locate an entomologist tomorrow. Now I'm just a tad stressed out...again. :(

Chin up Louise, you are doing everything right to this point to win the war. Consider this the intel gathering before the real battle begins. With a definite ID the enemy can be attacked.

Jim
Louise

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Posted 2 months ago
Mon Sep 21 2009 22:56:39
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Yes. Of course.

It just feels like all of the backbreaking hours I spent this summer examining boxsprings and mattresses and sheets and pillows and pillowcases and bedframes seem somewhat wasted, in a way. Not to mention the hassle of the clothes packed in ziplocks, which were then placed in plastic bins, and all of the washing and drying of clothes on hot, hot, hot...

Although at least I knew enough to recognize that the bug on my son's sheet might not be a good thing. A year ago, I might not have even noticed it, or may have just squashed it and carried on with life as normal.

Sigh.

Those were the days.
Louise

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Posted 2 months ago
Tue Sep 22 2009 9:03:53
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So it occurred to me last night (as I lay in bed not sleeping...sigh...), that bat bugs and bed bugs are virtually identical (except for the length of the hairs on their...pronotum or whatever it's called).

And I've *seen* batbugs. Even when I knew next to nothing about this family of bugs last August, I knew enough to realize that a small round, reddish-brown bug could be a batbug (since we had bats in the wall of the cabin, bedbugs truly weren't on my radar). Every batbug I've seen I've recognized as belonging to the bedbug/batbug family. I realize that's only five bugs, but...but...but...

Even the casing I found on the windowsill was clearly recognizable. When I told her about it, my PCO stated emphatically, "No, that won't be a batbug casing; they wouldn't be hanging out on the window." And then she saw it and recognized it as easily as I did as being the casing of one of the little critters.

If these are/were batbugs/bedbugs, wouldn't they be clearly recognizable as such?

Ugh.

I'm so confused.

Ahem. And grasping at straws, in case you hadn't noticed.
paulaw0919

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Posted 2 months ago
Tue Sep 22 2009 13:40:13
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I'm still so stumped on what this bug can be, it's actually annoying me. I'd say bed bug/bat bug BUT the horizontal lines aren't there and the head looks different than of a BB.

I'm thinking possibly mite or tick. The nymphs I think have six legs and the adults have eight. (I think) Can you tell how many legs it has?

Either way, since the pros on this forum aren't quing in yet...I would PM EffeCi, David Cain, and/or Sean and bring it to their attention. Maybe can get some feed back. Did you send the sample out to an entomologist yet?
EffeCi

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Posted 2 months ago
Tue Sep 22 2009 16:57:41
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I'm looking and looking again at the pics... I believe it's not a BB, because antenna's shape looks different and the body it's too hairy.
This time is really hard to identify from pics, sorry...
Louise

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Posted 2 months ago
Tue Sep 22 2009 17:29:58
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paulaw0919 - 3 hours ago »
I'm still so stumped on what this bug can be, it's actually annoying me. I'd say bed bug/bat bug BUT the horizontal lines aren't there and the head looks different than of a BB.
I'm thinking possibly mite or tick. The nymphs I think have six legs and the adults have eight. (I think) Can you tell how many legs it has?
Either way, since the pros on this forum aren't quing in yet...I would PM EffeCi, David Cain, and/or Sean and bring it to their attention. Maybe can get some feed back. Did you send the sample out to an entomologist yet?

I'm having had the chance to locate an entomologist yet, but I did take it into a PCO this afternoon. She glanced at Sample #2 (the one impaled by the dog hair) and stated, "I have no idea what that is." Then she looked at Sample #1 and said, "That looks like a bedbug."

My heart sank.

She pulled out her little magnifier thing (actually, it was a rather large magnifier) and after looking at it for a few minutes determined that it was NOT a bed bug (and my heart filled with joy and relief), but darned if she knew what is was. "Some outside bug." She thought maybe a mite or something that the dog had carried in. And then she looked at the second one again and thought it might be the same type of bug. I'm glad I'm not the only one who missed that the first time around.

I'm pretty sure it only has six legs, although I'll take another look and see if I can determine the number for certain. I never knew that mite and tick nymphs only had six legs; I always assumed that nymphs were just little replicas of the eight-legged adults. Although, now that I think about it, I seem to remember there being some difference between nymph and adult grasshoppers...or crickets...or...something? Anyways, thank you for that valuable piece of information. I'm going to store it in my brain forever now. Information like this is invaluable when it comes to IDing potential parasites! :)

The PCO also had many, many samples of bedbugs, and I recognized them at once. They honestly (to me) looked identical to the batbugs we found in our cabin. And even dead in a jar, they make my skin crawl.

I'm debating getting a second opinion from another PCO this weekend, and I'll keep trying to track down an entomologist. I'll call the local U tomorrow and see if they can help in that regard.

Effeci >>I'm looking and looking again at the pics... I believe it's not a BB, because antenna's shape looks different and the body it's too hairy.
This time is really hard to identify from pics, sorry...

Oh, please don't apologize! Thank you so much for trying to help! Just to clarify, though: this bug seems to be more hairy than the typical bedbug?

I'm breathing a little easier just now, although I'll keep checking the sheets/beds daily for a couple of weeks, I imagine. Fortunately, we have no mosquitoes flying around just now, so as long as we react to bites, we should know it if any biting were to start.

If I manage to take some clearer pictures, I'll post them; and if I get an ID from a local entomologist, I'll be sure to post that information as well. I always like knowing about what bugs *look* like bedbugs but are *not* bedbugs nonetheless.

Thanks again to everyone for your help and interest.

Louise
paulaw0919

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Posted 2 months ago
Tue Sep 22 2009 18:36:30
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Dr. Pollack at Harvard University can ID it for you at a small fee. May take about a week but it can be confirmed what it is. You'll know what to treat for, if you need to treat or if you can relax.

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/bedbugs/specimen.pdf
spideyjg

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Posted 2 months ago
Tue Sep 22 2009 20:18:39
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EffeCi - 3 hours ago »
I'm looking and looking again at the pics... I believe it's not a BB, because antenna's shape looks different and the body it's too hairy.
This time is really hard to identify from pics, sorry...

You think it is any Cimicidae member?

Jim
loubugs

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Posted 1 month ago
Wed Sep 23 2009 7:10:58
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If you can send me the specimen, I can offer an ID. Hard to say from the pictures.
Louise

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Posted 1 month ago
Wed Sep 23 2009 9:30:53
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loubugs - 2 hours ago »
If you can send me the specimen, I can offer an ID. Hard to say from the pictures.

Thank you so much!

Can you please pm me the address I should send it to?

Louise