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Bed bugs are blood-feeders that rapidly proliferate into large indoor infestations. Their bites can cause allergies, secondary infections and psychological stress, among other problems. Although several tactics for their management have been used, bed bugs continue to spread worldwide wherever humans reside. This is mainly due to human-mediated transport and their high resistance to several classes of insecticides. New treatment options with novel modes of action are required for their control. In this study, we evaluated the use of nitisinone (NTBC), an FDA-approved drug, for bed bug control in an insecticide-susceptible (HH) and an insecticide-resistant (CIN) population. Although NTBC was lethal to both populations when administered orally or applied topically in very low doses, we observed a slight but significant resistance in the CIN population. Transcriptomic analysis in both populations indicated that NTBC treatment elicited a broad suppression of genes associated with RNA post-transcriptional modifications, translation, endomembrane system, protein post-translational modifications and protein folding. The CIN population exhibited higher ATP production and xenobiotic detoxification. Feeding studies on a mouse model highlight that NTBC could be used as a control method of bed bugs by host treatment. The results demonstrate that NTBC can be used as a new active ingredient for bed bug control by topical or oral treatment and shed light on the molecular mechanisms of suppressed tyrosine metabolism following NTBC treatment.

The myrmecophile larva of the dipteran taxon Nothomicrodon Wheeler is rediscovered, almost a century after its original description and unique report. The systematic position of this dipteran has remained enigmatic due to the absence of reared imagos to confirm indentity. We also failed to rear imagos, but we scrutinized entire nests of the Brazilian arboreal dolichoderine ant Azteca chartifex which, combined with morphological and molecular studies, enabled us to establish beyond doubt that Nothomicrodon belongs to the Phoridae (Insecta: Diptera), not the Syrphidae where it was first placed, and that the species we studied is an endoparasitoid of the larvae of A. chartifex, exclusively attacking sexual female (gyne) larvae. Northomicrodon parasitism can exert high fitness costs to a host colony. Our discovery adds one more case to the growing number of phorid taxa known to parasitize ant larvae and suggests that many others remain to be discovered. Our findings and literature review confirm that the Phoridae is the only taxon known that parasitizes both adults and the immature stages of different castes of ants, thus threatening ants on all fronts.

We report that Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Ixodida: Ixodidae) faeces and its main component, guanine, act as assembly pheromones in short-range Petri plate bioassays. Arrestment activity in response to guanine was lower than that in response to natural excreta, indicating the presence of other active ingredients in natural excreta. The selective removal of appendages was used to establish the important roles played by the palps and the front pair of legs in the detection of the pheromone. Reaction to chemically pure guanine at varying concentrations occurred without a dose response; thus only the presence of guanine, not a critical amount, is required to induce assembly. Higher speed and intensity of clustering occurred at 33% relative humidity (RH). We conclude that female adults of R. sanguineus are more prone to assemble under dry conditions that match the arid microhabitats preferred by this species and that this tendency allows this tick to reside in human dwellings and dog kennels that maintain standards of comfort at 30-50% RH. Cleaning or removing tick excreta-covered surfaces on which ticks aggregate from within and around human dwellings may prove useful as a means of interfering with the establishment of off-host clusters of R. sanguineus., (© 2012 The Authors. Medical and Veterinary Entomology © 2012 The Royal Entomological Society.)

This study of the bed bug, Cimex lectularius, examines tolerance of adult females to extremes in temperature and loss of body water. Although the supercooling point (SCP) of the bed bugs was approximately -20 degrees C, all were killed by a direct 1 h exposure to -16 degrees C. Thus, this species cannot tolerate freezing and is killed at temperatures well above its SCP. Neither cold acclimation at 4 degrees C for 2 weeks nor dehydration (15% loss of water content) enhanced cold tolerance. However, bed bugs have the capacity for rapid cold hardening, i.e. a 1-h exposure to 0 degrees C improved their subsequent tolerance of -14 and -16 degrees C. In response to heat stress, fewer than 20% of the bugs survived a 1-h exposure to 46 degrees C, and nearly all were killed at 48 degrees C. Dehydration, heat acclimation at 30 degrees C for 2 weeks and rapid heat hardening at 37 degrees C for 1 h all failed to improve heat tolerance. Expression of the mRNAs encoding two heat shock proteins (Hsps), Hsp70 and Hsp90, was elevated in response to heat stress, cold stress and during dehydration and rehydration. The response of Hsp90 was more pronounced than that of Hsp70 during dehydration and rehydration. Our results define the tolerance limits for bed bugs to these commonly encountered stresses of temperature and low humidity and indicate a role for Hsps in responding to these stresses.

We provide the first complete description of the water requirements for the hissing-cockroach mite, Gromphadorholaelaps schaeferi, focusing on characteristics that result from the restriction of all stages to the Madagascar hissing-cockroach (Gromphadorhina portentosa). Particularly, we determine how G. schaeferi spends its entire life on the same individual cockroach. This mite is not parasitic, rather they feed on cockroach saliva and other moist organic debris that accumulates between the cockroach's legs. Water balance characteristics of this mite show that it is extremely hydrophilic and that it must maintain a high percentage body water content to function properly despite being very porous (high net transpiration rate) and sensitive to water loss, tolerating only 20% loss of their water content before death. This hydrophilic trend starts with the larva and is retained into adulthood. Developmentally, a shift occurs during postlarval development from an emphasis on water gain (low critical equilibrium activity for water vapor absorption from drier air) in the protonymph to an emphasis on water retention (reduced net transpiration rate for water conservation) in the adult. The minute-sized larva is prevented from replenishing water stores by water vapor absorption or feeding because it lacks functional mouthparts, thus dries up rapidly. To avoid dehydration and survive, the larval stage utilizes a quick shoot-through molt to the protonymph that can feed and grow. Our conclusion is that the hissing-cockroach creates an ideal, stable moisture-rich microhabitat that satisfies the high water demand for G. schaeferi during all stages, fixing this mite to a single cockroach as an ecological niche.

The seabird tick Ixodes uriae is exposed to extreme environmental conditions during the off-host phase of its life cycle on the Antarctic Peninsula. To investigate how this tick resists desiccation, water requirements of each developmental stage were determined. Features of I. uriae water balance include a high percentage body water content, low dehydration tolerance limit, and a high water loss rate, which are characteristics that classify this tick as hydrophilic. Like other ticks, I. uriae relies on water vapor uptake as an unfed larva and enhanced water retention in the adult, while nymphs are intermediate and exploit both strategies. Stages that do not absorb water vapor, eggs, fed larvae and fed nymphs, rely on water conservation. Other noteworthy features include heat sensitivity that promotes water loss in eggs and unfed larvae, an inability to drink free water from droplets, and behavioral regulation of water loss by formation of clusters. We conclude that I. uriae is adapted for life in a moisture-rich environment, and this requirement is met by clustering in moist, hydrating, microhabitats under rocks and debris that contain moisture levels that are higher than the tick's critical equilibrium activity.

Recent reports indicate that the common brown dog tick, or kennel tick, Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille) (Acari: Ixodidae) is a competent vector of Rocky Mountain spotted fever in the U.S.A. This tick is of concern to public health because of its high frequency of contact, as it has a unique ability to thrive within human homes. To assess the moisture requirements necessary for survival, water balance characteristics were determined for each developmental stage, from egg to adult. This is the first time that water relations in ticks have been assessed throughout the complete lifecycle. Notably, R. sanguineus is differentially adapted for life in a dry environment, as characterized by a suppressed water loss rate distinctive for each stage that distinguishes it from other ticks. Analysis of its dehydration tolerance limit and percentage body water content provides no evidence to suggest that the various stages of this tick can function more effectively containing less water, indicating that this species is modified for water conservation, not desiccation hardiness. All stages, eggs excepted, absorb water vapour from the air and can drink free water to replenish water stores. Developmentally, a shift in water balance strategies occurs in the transition from the larva, where the emphasis is on water gain (water vapour absorption from drier air), to the adult, where the emphasis is on water retention (low water loss rate). These results on the xerophilic-nature of R. sanguineus identify overhydration as the primary water stress, indicating that this tick is less dependent upon a moisture-rich habitat for survival, which matches its preference for a dry environment. We suggest that the controlled, host-confined conditions of homes and kennels have played a key role in promoting the ubiquitous distribution of R. sanguineus by creating isolated arid environments that enable this tick to establish within regions that are unfavourable for maintaining water balance.