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Mating rituals of the bed bug.
Mating rituals of the bed bug.
If you think of mating rituals between animals you probably imagine it to be a pleasant experience for the animals, this is not the case for the poor female bedbug.
London,
London,
United Kingdom
(pr4links.com)
17/09/2010
If you think of mating rituals between animals you probably imagine it to be a pleasant experience for the animals, this is not the case for the poor female bedbug (Cimex Lectalarius}.
Male bedbugs have an evolved penis which is designed to inject and deliver sperm into a female bedbug. The reason for this is that it allows the sperm to be injected directly into the female's blood system and it will then swim to the ovaries.
Unfortunately for the female bedbug this is a very violent method of being impregnated. The male bedbug pins the female down and stabs her several times in the body to ensure insemination. It is then common for the female to develop a deadly infection from the stab wounds. This method of insemination evolved to allow the male bedbug to bypass the female's genitals and thereby restricting and taking away any control that the female would normally have regarding the timing of her being impregnated and as a way of getting passed any anti-sperm devices which she may have developed.
The female bedbug has however developed a defensive counter-action. From examining the scars on the female's body it appears that the position in which the male stabs the female often results in the male piercing an organ in the region of the female's fifth segment. If the male stabs the right hand side of the female his penis will direct into a pocket which is filled with spermicide cells which the female produces to kill unwanted sperm. Female's which can perform this live much longer than female's which cannot and they also produce more eggs.
The male bed bug can also detect if the female has previously mated allowing him to move on wait for an un mated female.
A female will produce up-to 5 eggs each day and around 200 during her lifetime. There are 5 nymphal stages prior to the adult stage at least one blood meal is required by the bed bug to successfully moult to the next stage. If a good environment food supply is available bed bugs can live for 12 months.
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