Pest Briefs: Bed Bugs 101
By: Robert (Bob) Batman

NATURAL ENTOMOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION

Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Hexapoda/Insecta
Order: Hemiptera
Family: Cimicidae
Genus/species; Cimex lectularius (Linn.)

Morphosis: Gradual (egg, nymph, adult)

Bed bugs are insects. As a member of the Entomological Society of America (ESA), I believe I'm correct in saying the ESA classifies only one species of human bed bug: see above species classification. In other parts of the world there are other species which attack both man and other animals (bats, swallows and poultry).

ON THE ROAD AGAIN: Bed bugs are easily transported from an infested environment to one that is not. If you visit somewhere that has bed bugs, you can unknowingly take them home with you. Jumping into a strange bed is not required. Bed bugs lurk about in various places, places you probably wouldn't think about, and they'll hitch a ride whether you want them to or not.

BED BUGS ARE NOT PICKY! Bed bugs infest squeaky-clean places as well as dirty places. I've seen bed bugs in a variety of places including but not limited to the following: beds and bedding materials, various furniture items (houses, hotels and motels, restaurants, military housing, and etc.), behind wallboard moldings and trim, under the edges of window trim, behind picture frames, in and on airplane seats, inside moving vans and moving company crates, inside boxes, in automobiles, in sleeping birth compartments of rail road cars, in cabins on ships, on and in traveler's baggage, in and on antique items which are for sale in retail outlets, in and on various items at garage sales, in laundries, in retail clothing stores (dressing rooms and etc.), within walls of buildings during remodeling, under carpeting, behind loose wallpaper, behind loose paneling, in chicken coops, and in books which were on a bookshelf near a bed.

SOMETHING BITING YOU? Do you wake up in the morning with bites on you? Think about where you've been lately. Although bed bugs are not the problem they once were, they are still common in large metropolitan areas. People from all over frequent (visit) the same places you do.

If you live in the Greater Kansas City (Missouri and Kansas) Metropolitan Area, call Best at (816) 765-8844 weekdays between 8:00 AM and 4:30 PM. Best Exterminators, Inc. Main Office Number: (816) 765-8844.