The Entomological Society of America holds its annual meeting in December and these are some of the bed bug presentations I could find on their decidedly not very user-friendly online program. Sadly, it’ll take years before anyone tells us anything about some of these findings!
So, a not so random sample (there are many more; also, many still don’t have abstracts):
Effect of feeding and temperature on movement of the bed bug, Cimex lectularius L – Alvaro Romero et al. – University of Kentucky
Characterization and experimental manipulation of endosymbionts in the bed bug – Mark H. Goodman et al. – University of Kentucky
Comparative effectiveness of three bed bug (Cimex lectularius) monitoring devices – Wan-Tien Tsai and Changlu Wang – Rutgers University
Chemical ecology of bed bugs – Mark Feldlaufer – Invasive Insect Biocontrol & Behavior Lab, USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD
Feeding entrained immune anticipation of mating – Michael T. Siva-Jothy – University of Sheffield
Geographical variation in pyrethroid knockdown resistance allele frequencies in the bed bug, Cimex lectularius, across the United States – Warren Booth et al. – North Carolina State University
Post-feeding behavior of the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius) with regard to harborage choice – Matthew Douglas Reis and Dini M Miller, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
Sensitivity to bed bug (Cimex lectularius) bites in the human population – Michael Potter et al.
Behavioral response of bed bugs, Cimex lectularius, to potential chemical attractants using a Y-tube olfactometer – Eva A. Chin et al. – Dow AgroSciences
Survivorship and growth potential of modern bed bug (Cimex lectularius) populations in the United States – Andrea Polanco et al. – Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University:
Additional evaluations indicated that field strain bed bugs do not survive the long periods of starvation suggested by Johnson (1935-40). These studies suggest that the modern bed bug populations do not have the same population dynamics as those recorded in the 1930’s literature, and that referring to these older resources for information on modern populations may have limited use.
Bed Bug (Cimex lectularius) Awareness Initiatives In Ohio – Susan Jones et al.
Efficacy of selected insect growth regulators and other insecticides against bed bugs, Cimex lectularius (Heteroptera: Cimicidae) – Ronda L. Hamm et al. – Dow AgroSciences
Walking with grappling hooks: bed bug locomotion on different surfaces – Catherine Loudon and Jessica Boudaie – University of California, Irvine
Evaluation of an inexpensive instrument to detect insects using multiple sound, vibration, and LED sensors – Richard W Mankin, USDA-ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, Gainesville, FL and Ryan Hodges, Electrical and Computer Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC:
Tests were performed in a small arena in which Cimex lectularius, Blattella germanica, Tribolium castaneum, and Sitophilus oryzae were placed individually and allowed to roam freely. The insects could be distinguished readily on the basis of distinctive signal features.
Can we possibly wait to hear about the new bite sensitivity data!?
By the way… I like Johnson, very much actually. He wrote very clearly for one thing, something of a lost art with scientists. He also did not overreach. (There are some articles from this period that are a bit strange.)
These pages may be of related interest:
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what, you couldn’t summarize these articles for us
Thanks for the links, they look interesting
wow, the makers of cdc3000 and nightwatch have got to be a bit peeved with their products underperforming a bowl of dry ice.
haha, that may well be true, johnycakes, but perhaps there’s a place for everything.
Also, in general, I’ve learned that it’s good to be cautious about brief abstracts and, as hard as they are to understand sometimes, it pays to read the articles (if they are ever published, which sometimes they are not) to see how things were actually done. In at least one case, we all thought we understood something from one of these presentations, without of course having ever been there or seen the data, just form word of mouth and chatter about the results, but things are sometimes misunderstood. So, we’ll see, but plenty to look forward to here!