Bed Bug

Found exclusively indoors, primarily in residential dwellings, hotels, and crowded spaces, hiding in mattress seams, bed frames, cracks, and furniture.

Obligate hematophages; they feed exclusively on animal blood, primarily from humans, using a piercing-sucking proboscis.

Nocturnal and elusive; they are attracted to host heat and carbon dioxide and typically bite while the host is sleeping. They undergo hemimetabolous metamorphosis, requiring a blood meal to progress through each of five nymphal stages.

Risks include physical reactions like itchy welts, skin infections from scratching, and psychological distress (insomnia, anxiety). They are not known to transmit pathogens to humans, but their presence is a significant nuisance and expensive to eradicate. They offer no known ecological benefits to indoor environments.