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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
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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

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References

REFERENCES

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