Posted on 04/12/2013 8:50:30 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Generations of Eastern European housewives doing battle against bedbugs spread bean leaves around the floor of an infested room at night. In the morning, the leaves would be covered with bedbugs that had somehow been trapped there. The leaves, and the pests, were collected and burned — by the pound, in extreme infestations.
Now a group of American scientists is studying this bedbug-leaf interaction, with an eye to replicating nature’s Roach Motel.
A study published Wednesday in The Journal of the Royal Society Interface details the scientists’ quest, including their discovery of how the bugs get hooked on the leaves, how the scientists have tried to recreate these hooks synthetically and how their artificial hooks have proved to be less successful than the biological ones.
At first glance, the whole notion seems far-fetched, said Catherine Loudon, a biologist at the University of California, Irvine, who specializes in bedbug locomotion.
“If someone had suggested to me that impaling insects with little tiny hooks would be a valid form of pest control, I wouldn’t have given it credence,” she said in an interview. “You can think of lots of reasons why it wouldn’t work. That’s why it’s so amazing.”
But even though there is no indication that the bean leaves and the bedbugs evolved to work together, the leaves are fiendishly clever in exploiting the insects’ anatomy. Like the armor covering knights in medieval times, the bedbug’s exoskeleton has thinner areas where its legs flex and its tiny claws protrude — like the spot where a greave, or piece of leg armor, ends.
“The areas where they appear to be pierceable,” Dr. Loudon said, “are not the legs themselves. It’s where they bend, where it’s thin. That’s where they get pierced.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I liked this from the same page: "Of course, there is one lure that’s absolutely guaranteed to attract bed bugs from across the room: you." Wonderful.
I'm still not clear on how to motivate a bedbug to walk on a kidney bean leaf.
“Catherine Loudon, a biologist at the University of California, Irvine, who specializes in bedbug locomotion.”....
Must REALLY be an exciting career. And to think, YOUR tax dollars more than likely paid for her degree in “Bedbugs”.
OUTSTANDING! (sarc)
Sounds as if these "scientists" want to go into business for themselves rather than opening a new market for kidney bean growers to sell their heretofor useless bean leaves.
They are using their findings to develop non-toxic synthetic materials that will mimic the effects of the bean leaves and help prevent bedbug infestations, according to the report, published online April 9 in the Journal of the Royal Society Interface.
stupid is as stupid does. Why not just use non-toxic kidney bean leaves without trying to improve on mother nature?
They can also use your ear canal as a nest. I think I'll be showing any centipede I see the door, or the newspaper.
Look up Diatomaceous Earth.
Check with your vet. If not, you can google it.
Boric acid cuts the little critters to pieces.
bfl
That statement is misleading. Pesticide-resistance be damned. Bedbugs did not re-emerge as a problem until they banned DDT. We did this to ourselves.
I was wondering the same thing. Also typically available for cheap at your local hardware store.
Jelly Bean leaves.
An excellent mange medicine is borax disolved in 3.0% hydrogen peroxide.
I've used it, it works.
Fava, with a nice chianti.
Do yourself a favor and study up on bedbugs. Infestations have nothing whatsoever to do with the cleanliness of your house, and everything to do with the fact that they prey on warm blooded mammals.
Do yourself a favor and study up on bedbugs.
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