Trauma, disease and collateral damage: conflict in cimicids

Abstract

The bed bugs and bat bugs (Hemiptera: Cimicidae) are unusual in being a gonochorist (separate male and female genders) taxon with obligate traumatic insemination. Males of all the species in this family have a lanceolate paramere (intromittent organ) which they use to pierce the female's body wall and inseminate directly into her haemocoel, despite the presence of a functional female genital tract. Mating is tightly linked to the feeding cycle inCimex lectularius, the common bed bug. In this paper, I examine key aspects of the reproductive anatomy and behaviour ofC. lectulariusthat underpin the nature of the conflict over mating rate in this species. I then examine the consequences of traumatic insemination for female fitness and examine potential mechanisms that might underpin those costs. Finally, the collateral consequences of the male reproductive tactic on other males ofC. lectulariusand the African bat bug,Afrocimex constrictusare examined.