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Reproduction barrier between two lineages of bed bug (Cimex lectularius) (Heteroptera: Cimicidae)

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Abstract

Populations of bed bugs, Cimex lectularius, have increased in recent years spreading into numerous urban areas across the Western world and making them an increasingly important pest of the twenty-first century. Research into hybridization within and between different lineages of bed bugs can help us to understand processes of micro- and macro-evolution in these ectoparasites and may inform the control of this pest species. Hybridization experiments between two host lineages of bed bug (C. lectularius) from Central Europe (Czech Republic), those associated with humans and those with bats, were conducted under laboratory conditions. Number of eggs and early instars were compared between crosses of mixed host lineages (interspecific mating) with pairs from the same host lineage, those from the same locality and same lineage from different localities (intraspecific mating). While crosses within host lineages resulted in egg production and later instars, crosses between different host lineages were unsuccessful, although of the mated females possessed sperm in their mesospermaleges and/or seminal conceptacles. These crosses did not even result in egg production. Moreover, in the mixed lineage crosses, mortality rates in adults were higher (51 and 50 % higher in bat and human lineage, respectively) than in those animals from the same lineage. Survival of adults was in pairs from the same locality slightly higher than in pairs from different localities and differed statistically. These results support the existence of post-mating barriers and show reproductive isolation between two lineages of C. lectularius. Bat and human host adaptations can promote evolving of such barriers and can be product of alloxenic speciation.

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Acknowledgments

We are very grateful to John Haddow and Henry Schofield for their valuable comments on the manuscript and Martin Toman and Zdeněk Buřič for their help with fieldwork and sampling bed bugs.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany and Zoology, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37, Brno, Czech Republic

    Kamila Wawrocka & Tomáš Bartonička

  2. Department of Ecology, Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Kamýcká 129, 165 21, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Ondřej Balvín

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  1. Kamila Wawrocka
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  2. Ondřej Balvín
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  3. Tomáš Bartonička
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Correspondence to Tomáš Bartonička.

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Wawrocka, K., Balvín, O. & Bartonička, T. Reproduction barrier between two lineages of bed bug (Cimex lectularius) (Heteroptera: Cimicidae). Parasitol Res 114, 3019–3025 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4504-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-015-4504-1

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