Bloodthirsty bedbugs have feasted on prey for 100 million years

New genetic analyses reveal the insects evolved from at least the Cretaceous

bat

PICKY EATERS Genetic analysis has revealed that ancestral bedbugs, like their modern relatives, probably preyed upon birds and small mammals, like this bat. In this image, a bedbug comes face-to-face with its prey.

Mark Chappell/UC Riverside

The first bedbug infestations may have occurred in the beds of Cretaceous critters.