Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t7fkt Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T09:55:52.148Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Cimex lectularius L., the common bed bug from Pharaonic Egypt

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Eva Panagiotakopulu  and
Paul C. Buckland
Eva Panagiotakopulu
Affiliation:
School of Geography & Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, England
Paul C. Buckland
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology & Prehistory, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, England
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Bed bugs have been troubling humans for at least 3550 years, as shown by examples from Tell el-Amarna. Here we report on the bug's habits and history, as revealed by archaeology.

Keywords

insectEgyptbed bugTell el-Amarna
Type
Notes
Information
Antiquity , Volume 73 , Issue 282 , December 1999 , pp. 908 - 911
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd. 1999

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aristophanes. [1924.] Clouds (transl. Rogers, B.B.). London: Heinemann. Loeb Text Vol. I.Google Scholar
Aristophanes. [1924.] Frogs (transl. Rogers, B.B.). London: Heinemann. Loeb Text Vol. II.Google Scholar
Aristophanes. [1972.] Plutus (transl. Rogers, B.B.). London: Heinemann. Loeb Text Vol. III.Google Scholar
Aristotle [1910.] Historia Animalium (transl. Smith, J. & Ross, W.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Boessneck, J. 1988. Die Tierwelt des alten Agypten. Munich: C.H. Beck.Google Scholar
Busvine, J.R.. 1976. Insects, hygiene and history. London: Athlone Press.Google Scholar
Busvine, J.R.. 1980. Insects and hygiene. The biology and control of insect pests of medical and domestic importance.. 3rd edition. London; Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Cloudsley-Thompson, J.L. 1976. Insects and history. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.Google Scholar
Dioscorides. [1968.] The Greek Herbal of Dioscorides. London: Hafner Publishing.Google Scholar
Ghauri, M.S.K. 1973. Hemiptera (bugs), in Smith, K.G.V. (ed.)., Insects and other arthropods of medical importance.: 373–94. London: British Museum (NH).Google Scholar
Girling, M.A. 1984. Eighteenth century records of human lice (Pthiraptera, Anoplura) and fleas (Siphonaptera, Pulicidae) in the City of London, Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine 120: 207–10.Google Scholar
Hall, A.R., Kenward, H.K. & Robertson, A.. 1993. Investigation of medieval and post-medieval plant and invertebrate remains from Area X of the excavations in the Bedern (south-west), York (YAT/Yorkshire Museum sitecode 1973–81.13 X). London: Ancient Monuments Laboratory. Report 56/93.Google Scholar
Hepper, F.N. 1990. Pharaoh’s flowers. The botanical treasures of Tutankhamun. London: HMSO.Google Scholar
Kemp, B.J. 1984. Amarna Reports. I. London: Egypt Exploration Society.Google Scholar
Kemp, B.J., Samuel, D. & Luff, R.. 1994. Food for an Egyptian City: Tell el-Amarna, in Luff, R. & Rowley-Conwy, P. (ed.), Whither Environmental Archaeology?: 133—70. Oxford: Oxbow. Monograph 38.Google Scholar
Kenward, H.K. & Allison, E.P.. 1994. Rural origins of the urban insect fauna, in Hall, A.R. & Kenward, H.K. (ed.), Urban-rural connexions: perpectives from environmental archaeology: 55–78. Oxford: Oxbow. Monograph 47.Google Scholar
Mathesqn, C. 1941. The distribution of Cimex lectularius in towns in England and Wales, Bulletin of Entomological Research 32: 165–71.Google Scholar
Moufet, T. 1634. Insectorum sive minimorum animalium theatrum. London: Thomas Cotes.Google Scholar
Noble, E.R. & Noble, G.A.. 1976. Parasitology. The biology of animal parasites. 4th edition. Philadelphia (PA): Lea & Febiger.Google Scholar
Omori, N. 1939. Experimental studies on the cohabitation of and crossing of two species of bedbug [Cimex lectularius L. and C. hemipterus F.) and on the effects of interchanging males of one species for the other, every alternate day, upon the fecundity and longevity of females of each species, Acta Japonica medicinae tropicae (Taihoku) 1: 127–54.Google Scholar
Osborne, P.J. 1971. An insect fauna from the Roman site at Alcester, Warwickshire. Britannia 2: 156–65.Google Scholar
Pliny, . [1956.] Natural History 7. (transl. Jones, W.H.S.). London: Heinemann. Loeb Text.Google Scholar
[1963.] Natural History 8. (transl. Jones, W.H.S.). London: Heinemann. Loeb Text.Google Scholar
Shrewsbury, J.F.D. 1964. The plague of the Philistines and other medico-historical essays. London: Victor Gollancz.Google Scholar
Silverman, A.L., Blow, J.A. Qu, L.H. Zitron, I.M. Walker, E.D. & Gordon, S.C.. 1998. Persistence of the hepatitis B viral genome in the common bed bug (Cimex lectularius L.) and evidence for viral shedding in excrement, Hepatology 28: 619.Google Scholar
Southwood, T.R.E. & Leston, D.. 1959. Land and water bugs of the British Isles. London: Warne & Sons.Google Scholar
Strouhal, E. 1995. Life in Ancient Egypt. Liverpool: Liverpool University Press.Google Scholar
Usinger, R.L. 1996. Monograph of Cimicidae (Hemiptera-Heteroptera). Baltimore (MD): Thomas Say Foundation. Baltimore Entomological Society.Google Scholar
Usinger, R.L. & Povolny, D.. 1966. The discovery of a possibly aboriginal population of the bedbug [Cimex lectularius Linnaeus, 1758), Acta Musei Moroviae 51: 237–42.Google Scholar
Venkatachalam, P.S. & Belavadi, B.. 1962. Loss of haemoglobin iron due to excessive biting by bed-bugs, Transactiona of the Royal Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 56: 218–21.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed