Do Bed Bugs Have Sex?

   You know how mammals have a penis which they insert into a consensual vagina in order to procreate? That's not how bed bugs do it. Although females have a reproductive receptacle, it is only used for laying eggs. When an amorous male bed bug is ready to spread his seed, he'll try to locate a female bed bug who's recently had a meal of blood. Male bed begs aren't very smart however and they'll occasionally try to mount other males in an attempt to procreate.

   Once a male bed bug locates a suitable female specimen, he'll plunge his pin-like penis into her abdomen and release a dosage of sperm directly into the female bed bug's bloodstream. The sperm makes their way to the female's eggs and impregnates her. Due to the way that members of the Heteropteran infraorder Cimicomorpha (which includes bed bugs) procreate, bed bugs have developed a specialized organ called a spermalege which contains haemocytes that prevent bacterial infection and pathogens due to the obtuse way that males inseminate females. This form of mating is called "Traumatic insemination" which can also be applied to some human pregnancies.