Bed bugs and cockroaches: The insects that bug us

Our August Science Café (description below) will be held on Tuesday 8/17 at Tir Na Nog on S. Blount Street.

Just in time to lead up to BugFest the museum’s annual event highlighting the world of arthropods, our café this month will be a discussion about insects (in particular, some species that we are not too fond of… bed bugs and cockroaches!)

I first learned about bed bugs from a television documentary probably a year or more ago. Since that show, and most likely because I work in a natural history museum, I have heard more and more about these pests and how difficult they are to deal with. Because travelers can bring them home in suitcases after staying in infested hotel rooms, it is important for all of us to understand their life history. An interesting website http://bedbugregistry.com/, is a site where the public report bed bugs that they have encountered in hotels and apartments. You can see from the listings that these pests are found throughout our country.

Another pest that people are more familiar with, the cockroach, (found in all 50 states) is also very difficult to deal with — So, we’ve added them to the line up for our evening’s café discussion. Learn how to distinguish one species of roach from another and how to be on the lookout for these unwanted house (or office) guests.

Bed bugs and cockroaches: The insects that bug us

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

6:30-8:30 p.m. with discussion beginning at 7:00 followed by Q&A

Tir Na Nog, 218 South Blount Street, Raleigh, 833-7795

After disappearing from many countries for almost 50 years, bed bugs have made a comeback and are once again sucking our blood while we sleep and stowing away in our luggage when we travel. Cockroaches, on the other hand, have always been a fact of life for people living in the South, but all roaches are not the same — some are part of our outdoor environment and only end up in our homes by accident, while others are only found in buildings and produce allergens that can pose health risks.

In this Science Café, we will explore some of the urban legends related to bed bugs, observe some insects to get an idea of what to watch out for, and discuss how you can keep these tiny vampires out of your home. We will also discuss do-it-yourself options for cockroach control as well as give you some cockroach identification tips.

About Our Speaker: Richard Santangelo is a research specialist in the Entomology Department at North Carolina State University. His work focuses on urban pest control aspects of entomology, including pesticide resistance monitoring of cockroaches and bed bugs, product testing of commercial insecticides for pest control, and allergen intervention in low income housing and hog farms. Santangelo has also worked on a Colorado Spider Survey with the Denver Museum of Nature and Science and biological control of cotton pests in Arizona.