Bed Bug Reproduction and Mating

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Bed Bug Hatching

All bed bugs mate by traumatic insemination, a process where

the male pierces the female's abdomen with his hypodermic genitalia.

Bed Bug Reproduction - Cimex Lectularius Reprodcution

A bed bug (Cimex lectularius) traumatically inseminates another

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences.

All bed bugs mate by traumatic insemination. [1] Female bed bugs possess a reproductive tract that functions during oviposition, but the male doesn't use this tract for sperm insemination. Instead, the male pierces the female's abdomen with his hypodermic genitalia and ejaculates into the body cavity.

In all bed bug species, except Primicimex cavernis, sperm are injected into the mesospermalege, a secondary genital structure that reduces the wounding and immunological costs of traumatic insemination. [2][3][4] Injected sperm travel via the haemolymph (blood) to sperm storage structures called seminal conceptacles, with fertilization eventually taking place at the ovaries. [3]

Male bed bugs sometimes attempt to mate with other males and pierce the latter in the abdomen. [5] This behavior occurs because sexual attraction in bed bugs is based primarily on size, and males will mount any freshly fed partner regardless of sex. [6] The "bed bug alarm pheromone" consists of (E)-2-octenal and (E)-2-hexenal. It is released when a bed bug is disturbed, as during an attack by a predator. A 2009 study demonstrated that the alarm pheromone is also released by male bed bugs to repel other males who attempt to mate with them. [4] C. lectularius and C. hemipterus will mate with each other given the opportunity, but the eggs then produced are usually sterile. In a 1988 study, 1 egg out of 479 was fertile and resulted in a hybrid, C. hemipterus � lectularius.

^ Carayon, J. 1959 Ins�mination par �spermal�ge� et cordon conducteur de spermatozoids chez Stricticimex brevispinosus Usinger (Heteroptera, Cimicidae). Rev. Zool. Bot. Afr. 60, 81�104.
^ Morrow E. H., Arnqvist G. (2003). "Costly traumatic insemination and a female counter-adaptation in bed bugs". Proceedings of the Royal Society B 270 (1531): 2377�2381. doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2514. PMC 1691516. PMID 14667354.
^ Reinhardt K., Naylor R., Siva-Jothy M. T. (2003). "Reducing a cost of traumatic insemination: female bed bugs evolve a unique organ". Proceedings of the Royal Society B 270 (1531): 2371�2375. doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2515. PMC 1691512. PMID 14667353.
^ Ryne, C. In press. "Homosexual interactions in bed bugs: Alarm pheromones as male recognition signals." Animal Behaviour. doi: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2009.09.033 Cited in Cited in Science News, November 21st, 2009; Vol.176 #11 (p. 13) "Scent of alarm identifies male bed bugs" by Susan Milius.
^ "This Bedbug's Life", The New York Times, 7 August 2010.
^ Harari A., Brockman H. J., Landholt P. J. (2000). "Intrasexual mounting in the beetle Diaprepes abbreviatus (L.)". Proceedings of the Royal Society B 267 (1457): 2071�2079. doi:10.1098/rspb.2000.1251. PMC 1690776. PMID 11416911.

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