Bedbugs survived a mass extinction event that wiped out dinosaurs but were in decline until the rise of cities, researchers say. Genetic analysis of bedbugs found their history is tied to human migration and spread as people crowded together in large settlements.
The study’s lead author, Dr Warren Booth, an urban entomologist at Virginia Tech, says the intimate relationship between humans and parasites fueled a surge in bedbug populations around the time of the first cities. “When we started living in cities, we brought all these people together, and they all had their own bedbugs with them,” he said.
Researchers compared DNA from 19 bedbugs found in the Czech Republic, discovering nine were closely linked to humans while the others came from bat roosts. The analysis suggests both types of bedbugs went through a decline around 45,000 years ago but human-associated bedbugs rose dramatically about 8,000 years ago.
The rise of cities coincided with the shift from nomadic to agricultural lifestyles, leading to settlements like Çatalhöyük in Turkey and Uruk in ancient Mesopotamia. Bedbugs evolved over 100 million years ago, feeding on unknown hosts before adapting to bats and humans.
While some experts question the study’s findings due to its limited scope, Dr Michael Siva-Jothy of the University of Sheffield notes that bedbugs may not be the first urban insect pest. Head lice, for example, have been around for over 1 million years.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/may/28/humans-moving-to-ancient-cities-sent-bedbug-numbers-soaring-say-scientists