Cimex lectularius
Traumatic
insemination: the act of inseminating through the body wall, into the
body cavity (rather than into the female’s genital tract); invoslves
physical breaching of the epidermis (Siva-Jothy 2006).
...these guys are gross.
Bed
bugs have evolved a unique method of reproduction, along with some
other varieties of Cimicids. To
fertilize a female, the male punctures her body wall in order to inject
sperm into her abdomen, in direct contact with her circulatory system.
The female then lays approximately 200 eggs,
usually at the rate of three or four a day. Fortunately, the female has
evolved various mechanisms to deal with this method of insemination.
This process is likely the result of sexual conflict coevolution as
males evolved a method of injecting their sperm into sexually resistant
females that had already mated (Alcock 2005).
Although we are not sure why traumatic insemination evolved in the
first place, it has become less harmful to the females through their
evolution of a specialized organ, the mesospermalege. This area
includes a packet of cells that help fight off the pathogens
transmitted along with the seminal fluid. Although this may help
females deal with the costs of traumatic insemination, they still have
a lot to make up for in terms of cuticle damage. Some argue that this
is an incomplete stage for the female, and more adaptations will soon
arise.
|