Bedbugs are older than previously thought. Researchers recently used DNA from more than thirty species to create the first complete genealogy of these insects and the results are surprising. It turns out that these annoying insects were already present at the time of the dinosaurs.
A problem that does not date from yesterday
They invade homes and public debate. Bedbugs have made a comeback among the French after disappearing in the 1950s. According to a report from the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES), published in July , these insects would even have infested more than one in ten French homes between 2017 and 2022, and there are few natural solutions to get rid of them.
However, their presence is not new. We have known for a long time that bedbugs existed in ancient times. These insects and their nuisances are in fact mentioned in the writings of ancient Greece, ancient Egypt and ancient Rome. In reality, however, they would be much older than that.
Faced with this resurgence of bedbugs, natural solutions to get rid of them are particularly sought after. Among the options available, Polti offers an innovative and ecological solution, allowing these insects to be eliminated from the first use using dry steam, without the use of chemicals or detergents. This method, effective and environmentally friendly, becomes all the more valuable in a context where bedbug infestations are increasing across Europe, with few accessible natural solutions.
Bedbugs rubbed shoulders with dinosaurs
To achieve these findings, researchers at the Dresden University of Technology in Germany had to overcome considerable obstacles. Many species of bedbugs in fact live in very difficult to access places such as the depths of caves where bats reside. However, their perseverance paid off. As part of this work, the team was able to collect thousands of specimens and finally compare the DNA of 34 species.
By estimating mutation rates to calculate when bedbugs first appeared and when they diversified, the researchers then discovered that these insects existed long before any observations of bats. As a reminder, the oldest known bat fossil is only 64 million years old, while the first bedbugs date back to… 115 million years ago, during the Cretaceous period.
According to the study, it also seems that these first bedbugs evolved from an ancestral insect that was also already a bloodsucker. Some researchers previously thought that mammalian blood didn’t make it onto the menu until much later, after bedbugs had already separated from their ancestors.
What about humans?
This new family tree also shakes up our ideas about bedbugs and humans. Two species of insects, Cimex lectularius et C. hemipterus tropical, are known to feed on our blood. Until now, these two insects from a common ancestor were thought to have diverged around 1.6 million years ago when Homo sapiens split from an ancient human lineage, H. erectus. In reality, this new study shows that they separated 47 million years agomeaning they both had to independently switch to a human diet.
Since then, one or two other species of bedbugs have crossed over to human hosts. Together, the evidence suggests that a new species of bedbug conquers humans about every half-million years. However, with ever-increasing contact between humans, livestock and wildlife, it may not even take half a million years for another bed bug to start sucking human blood too. .
Details of the study are published in the journal Science.
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