Effect of caffeine on feeding and fecundity of bed bugs, Cimex lectularius L.

Caffeine is the one of the most widely consumed addictive substance in the world. Almost all comes from beverages and food, mostly from coffee. In the United Sates, caffeine consumption was estimated at 196 to 238 mg daily, for everyone worldwide this estimate drops to around 70 to 76 mg/person/day, but is higher in some countries. The average 16 oz. (473 ml) of coffee contained between 165 to 300 mg of caffeine depending on brewing method and coffee shop. This research focuses on determining the effect of caffeine in reconstituted human blood (RHB) on bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) feeding and fecundity. Six caffeine concentrations (50, 40, 30, 20, 10 and 5 ppm) were tested and control. The experimental design was a complete randomized design consisting of 20 adult bed bugs (10 males and 10 females) per treatment with 6 replications per treatment. The groups of 20 adult bed bugs were weighed, allowed to feed for 45 minutes and then weighed again to determine mass percent increase. They were then placed in a growth chamber undisturbed for 7 days to determine fecundity. An average mass percent increase of 163.90% (± 8.81%) was recorded for the control treatment. Bed bugs fed on 50 ppm caffeine showed an average mass percent increases of 104.62% (± 15.95%). A total of 264 (average 44.00 ± 2.45) eggs were produced by bed bugs in control and 81(average 13.5 ± 2.86) eggs produced by bed bugs fed on the highest caffeine concentration of adulterated blood.  There were negative correlations between the caffeine concentrations vs the numbers of eggs produced and the average mass % increase of the bed bugs. Nymph emergence was greater than 80% for all treatments.