Kai Dang

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Hospital Scientist at Westmead Hospital

Simple Summary Over the past 20 years, there has been a worldwide resurgence in the nuisance biting insects known as bed bugs. The resurgence is due to the development of insecticide resistance, such that modern bed bugs are very hard to kill. This also means that control is expensive, and not everyone has the financial resources to pay for eradica...

The DDT, deltamethrin, and malathion susceptibilities of five tropical bed bug (Cimex hemipterus) strains, and their resistance mechanisms were investigated using synergism studies and detection of kdr mutations. All C. hemipterus strains showed high resistance to DDT and deltamethrin and moderate to high resistance to malathion. Synergism studies...

The residual performance of two pyrethroid-neonicotinoid mixture formulations: Temprid SC (10.5% beta- cyfluthrin and 21% imidacloprid) and Tandem (3.5% lambda-cyhalothrin and 11.6% thiamethoxam) on two substrates (glass and filter paper) against eight pyrethroid-resistant strains (BM-MY, BP-MY, CH-MY, GL-MY, KL-MY, SAJ-MY,TT-MY, and QLD-AU) of the...

Currently the world is experiencing a major resurgence in bed bug infestations, largely due to insecticide resistance. Bed bugs are now resistant to most of the current commercially available insecticides and there is an urgent need for new products to be registered to combat this important public health pest. Desiccant dusts, such as Silicon Dioxi...

The modern resurgence of the common (Cimex lectularius L.) and tropical bed bugs (C. hemipterus [F.]) is thought to be primarily due to insecticide resistance. While there are many reports on insecticide resistance mechanisms in C. lectularius, such information in C. hemipterus is limited. We examined dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT), malath...

This study examined the presence of insecticide resistance in different developmental stages (adults, first instars, and eggs) of the tropical bed bug, Cimex hemipterus (F.) using several insecticide formulations. Adults and first instars of five strains (Queensland, Kuala Lumpur, Bukit Mertajam, Saujana, and Krystal Point) were evaluated using the...

Background: Mitochondrial genome (mt-genome) data can potentially return artefactual relationships in the higher-level phylogenetic inference of insects due to the biases of accelerated substitution rates and compositional heterogeneity. Previous studies based on mt-genome data alone showed a paraphyly of Cimicomorpha (Insecta, Hemiptera) due to t...

The phylogeny of true bugs (Hemiptera: Heteroptera), one of the most diverse insect groups in terms of morphology and ecology, has been the focus of attention for decades with respect to several deep nodes between the suborders of Hemiptera and the infraorders of Heteroptera. Here, we assembled a phylogenomic data set of 53 taxa and 3102 orthologou...

The worldwide resurgence of bed bugs [both Cimex lectularius L. and Cimex hemipterus (F.)] over the past two decades is believed in large part to be due to the development of insecticide resistance. The transcriptomic and genomic studies since 2010, as well as morphological, biochemical and behavioral studies, have helped insecticide resistance res...

Resistance profiling on Cimex lectularius and Cimex hemipterus in Australia has previously revealed the existence of resistance to pyrethroid insecticides and that multiple resistant mechanisms exist in field populations. To further investigate insecticide resistance in modern field populations of bed bugs, a program to collect and screen field spe...

The performance of five insecticides (bendiocarb, deltamethrin, DDT, malathion, and imidacloprid) using three application methods (oil-based insecticide films on filter paper, and acetone-based insecticide deposits on two substrates: filter paper and glass) was assessed against a susceptible strain of Cimex lectularius (L.) and two resistant strain...

Resistance to insecticides, especially the pyrethroids, in the common bed bug,Cimex lectulariusL., has been well-documented. However, the presence and relative contribution of metabolic detoxifying microsomal oxidases and hydrolytic esterases to the observed resistance has yet to be fully elucidated. This is due, in part, to the absence of a simple...

Heteroptera are among the most diverse hemimetabolous insects. Seven infraorders have been recognized within this suborder of Hemiptera. Apart from the well-established sister-group relationship between Cimicomorpha and Pentatomomorpha (= Terheteroptera), the two terminal lineages, the relationships among the other five infraorders are still contro...

Bed bugs (Cimex spp.) have undergone a global resurgence over the last 15–20 years. They readily bite humans, producing a range of cutaneous reactions. This article documents systemic reactions in two patients following repeated bites from the common bed bug, Cimex lectularius. Both patients had previously fed bed bugs on themselves without any ser...

The lace-bug genus Pseudophatnoma was described for P. corniculata from the Riau Archipelago in Indonesia, and because of its morphological characteristics the genus was placed in the subfamily Cantacaderinae of the family Tingidae (Blöte 1945). Drake and Ruhoff (1965), when cataloguing the World Tingidae, placed this genus within the tribe Phatnom...

Xynotingis hoytana Drake, 1948 and Zeiratingis hainanensis sp. nov. are recorded from China (Hainan Island). Species of both genera are very rarely collected. This represents the first record of both genera in this country. The new species is described. Illustrations of the involved species are provided as well as a key to the species of the genus...

The genus Ulonemia Drake and Poor, 1937 from China is treated. Three species are described as new to science, namely Ulonemia jingae sp. nov., U. angusta sp. nov., and U. magna sp. nov., as well as a redescription of the known species U. assamensis (Distant, 1903a). Illustrations of habitus and diagnostic characters of these species are provided, t...

Background Bed bugs (both Cimex hemipterus [F.] and Cimex lectularius L.) worldwide are highly resistant to the pyrethroids. An important resistance mechanism known as ‘knockdown resistance’ (kdr) is caused by genetic point mutations on the voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) gene. Previous studies have identified two point mutations (V419L and L92...

A ready to use d-allethrin impregnated mat (‘Mortein Odourless Mozzie Zapper’, Reckitt Benckiser) was used to detect pyrethroid resistance in bed bugs, Cimex spp. Bed bugs of different species, stages and strains were confined on the mat and knockdown measured over 24 h. The insecticide-susceptible ‘Monheim’ strain of Cimex lectularius was signific...

BACKGROUND Pyrethroid resistance in the common bed bug, Cimex lectularius L., has been reported worldwide. An important resistance mechanism is via knockdown resistance (kdr) mutations, notably V419L and L925I. Information regarding this kdr-type resistance mechanism is unknown in Australia. This study aims to examine the status of kdr mutations in...

Worldwide, there are many reports of pyrethroid resistance in bed bugs (Cimex spp.). Previous studies on the Common bed bug, Cimex lectularius L., have identified two mutations (V419L and L925I) in the voltage-gated sodium channel (VGSC) gene responsible for knockdown resistance (kdr). However, nothing is known on possible kdr mutations in Australi...

The position of the Zoraptera remains one of the most challenging and uncertain concerns in ordinal-level phylogenies of the insects. Zoraptera have been viewed as having a close relationship with five different groups of Polyneoptera, or as being allied to the Paraneoptera or even Holometabola. Although rDNAs have been widely used in phylogenetic...

This paper deals with the genus Trachypeplus from China. Nine species of Trachypeplus are treated in this paper, of which three species, namely Trachypeplus depressus sp. nov., Trachypeplus jingae sp. nov., and Trachypeplus parafulgoris sp. nov., are described as new. These nine species are photographed and keyed.

Bayesian tree inferred from analysis of the complete 18S and 28S rDNA sequences with conserved lengths. The sequences of Strepsiptera were included in this phylogenetic analysis. The number of generations was 10,000,000, the sampling frequency was 100, and the first 7,060,000 generations was discarded as “burnin”. This is a majority rule consensus...

Secondary structure model of the 28S rRNA 5′-half of Insecta. This sequence is from Drosophila melanogaster [GenBank:M21017]. The length-variable regions are indicated in red. And the unique indels are marked with green color. The D3-4 box was highlighted with thick red lines. Base pairing is indicated as follows: standard canonical pairs by lines...

Tree obtained by Bayesian analysis of the complete 18S+28S rDNAs. The rDNA sequences were aligned by Cluxtal X, not adjusted by manual according to the secondary structures of the rDNAs. The number of generations was 5,000,000, the sampling frequency was 100, and the first 364,000 generations was discarded as “burnin”. This is a majority rule conse...

Secondary structure model of the 28S rRNA 3′-half of Insecta. This sequence is from Drosophila melanogaster [GenBank:M21017]. The length-variable regions are indicated in red. And the unique indels are marked with green color. Base pairing is indicated as follows: standard canonical pairs by lines (C-G, G-C, A-U, U-A); wobble G·U pairs by dots (G·U...

The data matrix of the conservative parts of the 18S and 28S rDNA. This matrix only included the conservative region of the combined 18S and 28S rDNA. The variable regions were excluded in advance referred to the secondary structure of the 18S and 28S rRNA respectively. (FAS)

The detailed information of the variable regions of the 18S rDNA for each taxon. (XLS)

ML tree based on the automated alignment result of complete 18S+28S rDNAs. Numerals above the nodes are bootstrap values. (JPG)

The data matrix of the combined 18S and 28S rDNA. This matrix was generated through alignment programs, which included the complete 18S and 28S rDNAs. (FAS)

The detailed information of the variable regions of the 28S rDNA for each taxon. (XLS)

Hemiptera is the largest order in Paraneoptera and the fifth largest in Insecta. Disputes about hemipteran phylogeny have concerned the monophyly of Auchenorrhyncha and relationships between the suborders Fulgoromorpha, Cicadomorpha, Coleorrhyncha and Heteroptera. In a phylogenomic study of Hemiptera, we add two new mitochondrial genomes of Pelorid...

Six species of Penottus Distant, 1903 (Heteroptera: Tingidae) from China are treated in this paper, in which Penottus tibetanus Drake and Maa, 1954 (described from Tibet) is newly recorded from Hubei Province, and four species are described as new: Penottus bisinuatus sp. n., Penottus cassideus sp. n., Penottus fujianensis sp. n., and Penottus tube...