Aug 3, 2011 – Going It Alone
QUESTION:
This may sound like a silly question, but bed bugs need a blood meal to molt and they have 5 instars. Is this also true of the males, and do male bed bugs also produce offspring?
ANSWER:
As far as I know the Common Bed Bug reproduces only by sexual reproduction, meaning a male and female must mate to fertilize the eggs that are carried by the female. However, ONLY the female is capable of producing eggs and offspring, as the males do not have the plumbing needed for this - the ovaries and other reproductive organs necessary. The role of the male is only to provide the sperm to fertilize the eggs. Males, however, DO feed on blood and only blood as their food resource. This is very unlike so many other blood feeding parasites like mosquitoes, deer flies, and other blood sucking flies where only the female feeds on blood and the males feed on plant and flower juices and nectar. Fleas and ticks, however, do all feed on blood whether male or female.
What you may be hinting at is parthenogenesis, whereby females of a species of arthropod may be capable of producing viable offspring without any sexual fertilization, and this is a common phenomenon in the world of bugs. Aphids routinely reproduce in this manner, as do some cockroaches and other insects. In many cases no males are even known to exist within a species while in other cases males are produced periodically so that sexual reproduction does take place for some generations, perhaps allowing a mixing of genetic material to keep the species stronger.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
This may sound like a silly question, but bed bugs need a blood meal to molt and they have 5 instars. Is this also true of the males, and do male bed bugs also produce offspring?
ANSWER:
As far as I know the Common Bed Bug reproduces only by sexual reproduction, meaning a male and female must mate to fertilize the eggs that are carried by the female. However, ONLY the female is capable of producing eggs and offspring, as the males do not have the plumbing needed for this - the ovaries and other reproductive organs necessary. The role of the male is only to provide the sperm to fertilize the eggs. Males, however, DO feed on blood and only blood as their food resource. This is very unlike so many other blood feeding parasites like mosquitoes, deer flies, and other blood sucking flies where only the female feeds on blood and the males feed on plant and flower juices and nectar. Fleas and ticks, however, do all feed on blood whether male or female.
What you may be hinting at is parthenogenesis, whereby females of a species of arthropod may be capable of producing viable offspring without any sexual fertilization, and this is a common phenomenon in the world of bugs. Aphids routinely reproduce in this manner, as do some cockroaches and other insects. In many cases no males are even known to exist within a species while in other cases males are produced periodically so that sexual reproduction does take place for some generations, perhaps allowing a mixing of genetic material to keep the species stronger.
View past Ask Mr. Pest Control questions.
