warning: contains bedbug pictures.

it's hard to imagine anyone interested in the topic of bedbugs, except how to kill them. But there is at least one thing worthy of our attention to these annoying little things. Cimicidae has the most violent aesthetic sexual behavior of insects.

the external genitalia of male bedbugs carry a sharp "sword" called paramere. During mating, instead of aiming at the female's reproductive tract, he inserts the masculine process directly into the female's abdomen, injecting sperm and secretions from the accessory glands (accessory gland) into the body cavity.

getting a hole in the stomach is no fun. Bedbugs can shorten their lifespan after mating many times. Of course, females will find ways to avoid this kind of violent play. Male bedbugs emit external hormones that attract people of the same sex to cluster. Female bedbugs also cluster, but do not produce external hormones. Obviously, they do not want men to break into the "girls' club".

mating bedbugs

Photo: wikipedia, photographer: Rickard Ignell

female bedbugs also curl up in their abdomen, making it impossible for males to "get a needle." however, this defense strategy has a fatal drawback: when full of blood, the belly of bedbugs will swell and become too bulky to curl up. She can't stop eating forever, so male bedbugs always take advantage of loopholes.

what's more, in order to resist the damage of spear, some female bedbugs have evolved corresponding shields. For example, the most common temperate bedbug (Cimex lectularius), on the right side of the female's abdomen, has a particularly thick epidermis and a notch leading to a pouch in the body from which the male sperm is injected, flowed into the bag and stored. This series of structures are called fertilization semen accumulators (spermalege).

A close-up of the bedbug's abdomen shows the notch of sperm injection

Photo Source: M. T. Siva-Jothy

sperm injection into the "pocket" can greatly reduce the damage of puncture to the female. On the one hand, it reduces the risk of injury and infection, on the other hand, the "pocket" can wrap around the male secretion, limiting its direct flow into the body. Foreign unfamiliar substances may trigger the female's immune response and make her sick. In addition, there is another risk of receiving chemicals in semen: drugging.

the secretions in the semen of some insects, such as fruit flies, have the ability to control females. For example, making females "celibate" is less willing to accept mating. For males, it is of course best for females to give him only one child, but females may want to get in touch with more males and choose the best sperm. We don't know much about the composition of bedbug semen, and if their semen has the same effect, female bedbugs stop males.

different species of bedbugs have different degrees of shield evolution. Some, such as Primicimex, lack a fertilization device at all, allowing the male to pierce her stomach. Some, like Stricticimex, have highly complex "containers" in the body that receive sperm and then send it directly to the fallopian tube without going through the body cavity.

organs of different kinds of bedbugs receiving sperm

Photo: reed.edu

but... What's the difference between this and the ordinary reproductive tract?

although the male bedbug is ruthless and cruel, he also knows how to slap a sweet jujube. After all, his aim is to reproduce, so it's too bad to kill the female bedbug. The secretions injected by males contain trace elements, antioxidants and antimicrobials, which can avoid infection and maintain the health of females.

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references:

Margie Pflester, Philip Koehler and Roberto Pereira, "Sexual Conflict to the Extreme: Traumatic Insemination in Bed Bugs," American Entomologist, Winter 2009, 244249.

Morrow, Edward H.; Arnqvist, G ö ran. Costly traumatic insemination and a female counter-adaptation in bed bugs. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 2003-11-22,270 (1531): 2377 ↓ 2381.

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