In what do bedbugs reproduce? - briefly
Female bedbugs lay eggs on protected sites such as mattress seams, furniture crevices, wall cracks, and other hidden fabric or wood surfaces. The eggs hatch into nymphs that progress through five molts before reaching adulthood.
In what do bedbugs reproduce? - in detail
Bedbugs reproduce through internal fertilization followed by egg deposition. Female Cimex species store sperm after a single mating, using it to fertilize successive clutches over several weeks. The reproductive cycle proceeds as follows:
- Mating – Occurs in the dark, usually at night. The male locates a female, inserts his paramere into her genital opening, and transfers a spermatophore. Copulation lasts from a few minutes to half an hour.
- Sperm storage – The female’s spermatheca retains viable sperm, allowing repeated oviposition without additional matings. Sperm viability can extend for up to three months.
- Egg development – After fertilization, the female produces a single egg per ootheca. Each egg is encased in a thin, transparent chorion and measures about 1 mm in length.
- Oviposition – The female deposits one egg at a time in concealed cracks, seams, or fabric folds near a host’s resting area. She typically lays 1–5 eggs per day, accumulating 200–500 eggs over her lifespan.
- Incubation – Eggs hatch within 6–10 days at 25 °C and 70 % relative humidity. Temperature and humidity fluctuations directly affect development time; higher temperatures accelerate hatching, while low humidity increases egg mortality.
- Nymphal emergence – Hatchlings emerge as first‑instar nymphs, requiring a blood meal before molting. Each nymph undergoes five molts before reaching adulthood, with each stage lasting 4–10 days under optimal conditions.
Environmental factors—temperature, humidity, and host availability—govern reproductive rate. In warm, humid settings with frequent blood meals, a single female can generate a population increase of several hundred individuals within a month. Conversely, cold or dry conditions suppress egg viability and extend developmental periods, limiting population growth.