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Review
. 2006 Feb 28;361(1466):269-75.
doi: 10.1098/rstb.2005.1789.

Trauma, disease and collateral damage: conflict in cimicids

M T Siva-Jothy  1
Affiliations
Review

Trauma, disease and collateral damage: conflict in cimicids

M T Siva-Jothy. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. .

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 in Cimex lectularius, the common bed bug. In this paper, I examine key aspects of the reproductive anatomy and behaviour of C. lectularius that 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 of C. lectularius and the African bat bug, Afrocimex constrictus are examined.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Scanning electron micrograph (courtesy of Andrew Syred, MicroscoPix) of the male intromittent organ (paramere) of Cimex lectularius.
Figure 2
Figure 2
A schematic illustrating the range of spermalege morphologies in cimicid females. The figure shows a stylized abdomen from each of the six represented genera. In Primicimex there appears to be no distinct ectospermalege—the black mating scars occur over much of the surface of the left-hand side of the female's abdomen. Female Loxaspis have a slightly concave ectospermalege on the right-hand side of the abdomen underneath which lies a relatively poorly developed mesospermalege (represented by shading). Cimex females have a well developed mesospermalege underneath a well defined notch-like ectospermalege (see also figure 3). Paracimex females have a very prominent ectospermalege and a mesospermalege, which is beginning to extend towards the common oviduct. Crassicimex and Leprocimex have no visible ectospermalege, but have instead developed well defined invaginated conduits that males inseminate into, before sperm migrate along the ducts and into the mesospermalege.
Figure 3
Figure 3
A schematic of the ventral surface of the abdomen of an adult female C. lectularius with an enlarged photograph of the ectospermalege.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Two posterior views of the ‘refusal’ posture in unfed adult female C. lectularius. (a) The female pressing the side of her abdomen that bears the ectospermalege towards the substrate thereby making it inaccessible to males. (b) The same behaviour in the context of the female's refugia, where she can effectively prevent any access to the ectospermalege in her unfed state.
Figure 5
Figure 5
(a) Adult female C. lecularius immediately after feeding to satiation. (b) Adult male C. lecularius immediately after feeding to satiation.
Figure 6
Figure 6
(a) Virgin adult female Afrocimex constrictus. The box encloses the region of the paired ectospermalege, which bears no mating scars in this unmated individual. (b) An adult female A. constrictus collected from the field. The box encloses the ectospermalege, which shows considerable melanization resulting from conflated wounding scars. The scar tissue in this insect had formed a hardened sphere, which could not be dissected open. (c) An adult male A. constrictus collected from the field showing wounding scars in the ectospermalege. (d) An enlarged view of the same area of another male: the white arrow indicates the lower ectospermalege with clearly visible melanized mating scars.
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References

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