What's Eating You? A Short Guide To Bedbugs & Bedbug Impostors In NYC

Despite news that reported bedbug infestations have dropped significantly since 2010, this summer was still fraught with bedbug hysteria, spurred in part to the discovery of a few infested N train conductor cabs. That, naturally, sparked an onslaught of BEDBUGS ON THE SUBWAY-related hysteria, with trains getting pulled out of service left and right thanks to reported bug sightings.

We spoke with Lou Sorkin, the American Museum of Natural History's resident entomologist, about whether or not all this bedbug hysteria is unwarranted. He says that though officials believe we're winning this bedbug war, that may not be the case. "[Infestations] are just not being reported as much as they used to be," he told us. "And a lot of the reporters or writers who investigated this went off of the 311 calls that dropped off from a high point before, so they interpreted that as fewer bed bug calls meaning fewer bed bug infestations. But its just that people didnt call, thats all."

Then again, Sorkin cautions that these so-called subway bedbug sightings might not be what they seem. "I think people are overreacting, because theyre not really sure what bed bugs look like for the most part. They can misidentify anything they see as a bed bug," he said. "A lot of the infestations that were identified were where the conductors were sitting, it wasnt the public area." And it turns out there are a whole host of bugs that are often mistaken for bedbugs in homes and even on the subwayhere are some common ones, and if you spy one of these guys in your apartment or on the F train, try not to freak out.

GERMAN COCKROACH NYMPH

Most experienced city dwellers are regrettably familiar enough with the adult cockroach not to mistake it for a tiny bedbug. But Sorkin says it's actually fairly common for people to misidentify roach nymphs, which are wingless, smaller and less recognizable in color. "Cockroach nymphs [are] smallish and dark are sometimes mistaken for bed bugs," Sorkin told us. "Basically what it comes down to is that people dont really know what bed bugs look like, so anything that moves can be identified as a bed bug, especially if they find it in their bed." Unfortunately, a roach infestation can be pretty hard to eradicate, and if you've got one it might be a good idea to call in the pros.

DRUGSTORE BEETLE

I found one of these guys crawling on my pillow last summer, resulting in a sleepless night spent on Bedbugger trying to determine if this tiny brown thing was indeed a dreaded Bedbug. And I'm not the only one who's been tricked by the dreaded Drugstore/cigarette beetle, which earns its name thanks to its tendency to infest stored products and old timey pharmaceutical herbs. Sorkin says these guys are often mistaken for bedbugs, and their infestations are no trifling matter. "You have to find out what theyre infesting. It could be potpourri, which is common. They like spices, so paprika is a pretty commonly infested thing," he told us, adding that they also go after dried plants.

On the (maybe?) bright side, if you're finding suspicious bites on your body and notice your apartment's filled with drugstore beetles, don't panic over bedbugs just yetSorkin says drugstore/cigarette beetles can have wasp parasites in their population, and these tiny little creatures leave stings that can be misidentified as bedbug bites. "To complicate matters, the female wasps are wingless so many people misidentify those little wasps as ants, and dont think of them as something that can sting," Sorkin said. "They put baits out to get rid of ants, and even pest control companies will come in and misidentify them." Bugs are such tricksters!

CARPET BEETLE

A carpet beetle is another faux-bedbug culprit. Though these little guys don't necessarily look like bedbugs"Theyre differently colored, more compact, and they have brown, yellow, orange scales on their bodies," per Sorkincarpet beetle larvae have little hairs that can cause skin reactions similar to bedbug bites. Popular bedbug resource site Bedbugger has forums filled with stories about people who panicked over potential bug bites, only to discover they were merely suffering from an allergic reaction to these fuzzy things. "People also find shed skins of carpet beetle larvae and think those are the shed skins of [bedbug] nymphs," Sorkin told us.

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What's Eating You? A Short Guide To Bedbugs & Bedbug Impostors In NYC