This photograph depicts a dorsal view of two bedbugs, Cimex lectularius. A male C. lectularius on the left, and a female on the right. Note the male’s slightly-pointed distal abdomen, where in females, it is rounded. Females are slightly larger than males in their lengthwise measurement.
The common bedbug C. lectularius is a wingless, red-brown, blood-sucking insect that grows up to 7 mm in length and has a lifespan from 4 months up to 1 year. Bedbugs hide in cracks and crevices in beds, wooden furniture, floors, and walls during the daytime and emerge at night to feed on their preferred host, humans.
Bedbug bites can result in clinical manifestations; the most common are small clusters of extremely pruritic, erythematous papules or wheals that represent repeated feedings by a single bedbug. Less common but more severe manifestations include grouped vesicles, giant urticaria, and hemorrhagic bullous eruptions. Bites should be managed symptomatically with topical emollients, topical corticosteroids, oral antihistamines, or some combination of these treatments.
Photo courtesy of CDC
