Sunday, December 22, 2019

Answer to Case 574

Answer to Parasite Case of the Week 574: Holiday bedbug, most likely Cimex lecturlaris. We seem to have some 'controversy' about the nomenclature here; Eagleville identified this as Cimex lectularius (subspecies Santaclausus), whereas Idzi identified it as Cimex santaclarius. I will rely on my taxonomy experts to tell us which is correct 😉.

For now, I'll leave you with this festive poem from Blaine:
 Dashing through the sheets
on six segmented feet
O'er the pillows they go
sucking blood all the way
lap lap lap

Pointed beak goes down
after you turn off the lights
oh what fun it is to suck
blood from a host tonight

Oh, bed bugs suck
bed bugs suck
bed bugs suck your blood
Just be glad
they don't spread disease
or any nasty crud!

4 comments:

Sheldon Campbell said...

One might quibble with the scansion of a few of the lines; I'd suggest changing 'sucking blood all the way' to ' feeding all the way'; and 'after you turn off the lights' to 'when you turn off the lights'. However, I simply can't wait to get home, pick up the guitar, and simply appall my family with this one.

Sheldon Campbell said...

And consider:

Just be glad they don't spread,
disease or nasty crud.

ParasiteGal said...

What a wonderfully festive holiday song!

Sir Galahad said...


Cimex santaclarius :-) :-) :-)