There’s a new effort to understand the genesis of bed bugs, perhaps even going back to the time of the Bible’s Book of Genesis. The Wall Street Journal reported on how there is a new study “to map the genomes of cockroaches and bed bugs. They hope to figure out the insects’ evolutionary history.” Interestingly bed bugs and cockroaches had a long history with mankind, and the researchers are concerned that “bed bugs will become as ubiquitous and common as the cockroach.”
The researchers hope to find out where the bugs originally came from in Europe by comparing them to ancient bed bugs. He has asked the Metropolitan Museum of Art about combing through its Egyptian collection for fossilized bed bugs and comparing them with current specimens as well as a group of NJ-bed bugs kept isolated since the 1970s.
We’re interested in what they learn!