Bedbug (Cimex lectularius)

Bedbug (Cimex lectularius)

To some, the nightly warning from caring parents of "Don't let the bedbugs bite" means more than sleep tight. Bedbugs, comprising 30 known species worldwide, are small, blood-sucking insects from the family Cimicidae in the order Hemiptera, or true bugs. As with other hemipterans, sucking mouthparts enable the feeding bedbugs to pierce the host's tissues and siphon out, in this case, a blood meal.