Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-g8jcs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T23:49:39.608Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Fertilization and egg production in the bed-bug, Cimex lectularius L.

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Kenneth Mellanby
Kenneth Mellanby
Affiliation:
The University of Sheffield
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Previous workers have described the curious method by which the female bed-bug is fertilized. They have suggested that the large quantity of sperm injected serves some function other than that of fertilizing the egg.

The rate of metabolism of the virgin bug is much less than that of the fertilized female.

Ovarian development never occurs until the female has been fertilized. After fertilization, egg development is apparently controlled by a hormone produced by the corpus allatum.

Living sperm will always be found in the spermathecae of females which are laying fertile eggs.

The so-called imperfect eggs produced when the sperm is exhausted are normal save for being unfertilized. They have been considered as malformed because of their tendency to shrivel quickly in dry air.

Sperm remains viable in the female for a definite period depending on the temperature. This period is longer at low than at high temperature. Provided a certain minimum amount of sperm is introduced (this minimum is less than the quantity introduced by a well-nourished male at one copulation), the period of viability of sperm is the same no matter how many eggs are produced. The number of eggs depends only on the amount of food taken.

There is no evidence that the sperm serves any nutritive function in the female.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 31 , Issue 2 , July 1939 , pp. 193 - 199
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1939

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abraham, R. (1934). Das Verhalten der Spermien in der weiblichen Bettwanze (Cimex lectularius L.) und der Verbleib der überschüssigen Spermamasse. Z. Parasitenk. 6, 559–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christophers, S. R. & Cragg, F. W. (1922). On the so-called “penis” of the bed-bug (Cimex lectularius L.) and on the homologies generally of the male and female genitalia of this insect. Indian J. med. Res. 9, 445–63.Google Scholar
Cragg, F. W. (1920). Further observations on the reproductive system of Cimex, with special reference to the behaviour of the spermatozoa. Indian J. med. Res. 8, 32–79.Google Scholar
Cragg, F. W. (1923). Observations on the bionomics of the bed-bug, Cimex lectularius L., with special reference to the relations of the sexes. Indian J. med. Res. 11, 449–73.Google Scholar
Mellanby, K. (1938). Activity and insect survival. Nature, Lond., 141, 554.Google Scholar
Mellanby, K. (1939). The physiology and activity of the bed-bug (Cimex lectularius L.) in a natural infestation. Parasitology.Google Scholar
Wigglesworth, V. B. (1936). The function of the corpus allatum in the growth and reproduction of Rhodnius prolixus (Hemiptera). Quart. J. micr. Sci. 79, 91–121.Google Scholar