Mitochondrial and morphological diversity in the bed bug Cimex lectularius (Heteroptera: Cimicidae) on different hosts
Abstract
The bed bug (Cimex lectularius) is a well known ectoparasite of man but its original host have been bats. Based on sequences of mitochondirial DNA and morphometry we demonstrated that the populations on its primary and secondary host are divergent and isolated for a long time.
We suggested that the morphological differences could have a adaptive significance.