the remains of these insects are estimated to be 5100 to 11000 years old according to researchers from the university of oregon and paleoinsect research which analyzes ancient insect remains he is a radiology resident at the mayo clinic and a resident in the abc news medical unit the most famous living species of the genus is cimex lectularius or the common bedbug he said a new study from the journal of medical entomology found fossils of bedbug ancestors during an archaeological dig at a cave where humans also lived dating back thousands of years to the late pleistocene epoch were the cimicid populations too small to establish themselves outside the caves or were the host populations too small three species were identified all part of the cimex genus of insects they may have fed on humans if given the opportunity they authors added but humans probably never became a main part of their diet seasonal flu reaches epidemic levels in us canada approves prescription heroin to combat opioid crisis while other cimcid species made the leap from feeding on bats and other wildlife to incorporating humans into their diets thousands of years ago the authors said the species found in this study rarely did adams said he hopes the discovery could shed some light on the complex history of bedbugs especially since humans and bats are suspected of cohabiting in the cave for 11000 years they were also discovered in colonial jamestown in virginia scientists discovered 14 subfossils of cimicid insects said to be ancient relatives of bedbugs at a five mile point cave site in oregon an area where humans as well as bats were known to be living as far back as 13500 years ago 151 apparently humans have been facing off with bedbugs or at least their ancestors since the time of sabertooth tigers but the ancient insects species scientists identified from nine of the subfossils cimex pilosellus cimex latipennis and cimex antennatus were not the bedbug we all know and love from hotel rooms paleoinsect researchs martin e adams a coauthor of the paper said in a statement today dr chris gu contributed to this report given that paisley caves was only a seasonal occupation area for human huntergatherers did the humans move around too much or were the bugs not able to withstand the environment outside the caves for very long or were there other constraints involved instead the species of cimcids found in oregon were bat parasites meaning they probably caused problems for ancient humans only on rare occasion im working on these last few archaeological questions right now before this discovery the oldest known example of a cimex species was from 3550 years ago in egypt the authors said