First records of bat-associated Cimex lectularius (Cimicidae, Heteroptera) for Armenia and Georgia

By

Ghazarayan, Astghik
Hayrpetyan, Tigran
Natradze, Ioseb
Roth, Steffen

Type

Article

Date of Publication

2023-7-25

Original Publication

Caucasiana : journal on the biodiversity of the Caucasus and the adjacent regions

Volume

2

Pages

137--142

Subjects

Bed bug , Biogeography , Ecology , ectoparasites , Faunistics , host-parasite relationship , South Caucasus

Contributed by

Pensoft Publishers

Language

English

Published by

[Sofia, Bulgaria] Pensoft 2022-

Identifiers

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3897/caucasiana.2.e104244

 

Abstract

Besides humans, the common bed bug Cimex lectularius uses bats as hosts, but no such records were available from the Southern Caucasus. Here, we record the greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum) and the lesser mouse-eared bat (Myotis blythii) as hosts of C. lectularius from two Georgian and one Armenian sites. A summary of all known published records of bat-associated populations of C. lectularius shows they are both scattered and restricted to the Palearctic only. Observations of C. lectularius from bat colonies in Georgia and Armenia were made in old buildings or ruins, like churches or monasteries, but not in caves, despite a specific search. This supports previous studies suggesting that 1) bat-associations of common bed bugs are very rare outside Central Europe and 2) almost never occur in caves. We discuss climatic conditions and host preferences as possible factors for these findings and the implications for the origin of the human bed bug interaction.