The spermalege (also known as the organ of Berlese[1]) is a special-purpose organ found in female bed bugs that appears to have evolved to mitigate the effects of traumatic insemination.[2] The spermalege has two embryologically distinct parts, known as the ectospermalege and mesospermalege.[3] The evolution of the spermalege as a female counter-adaptation for traumatic insemination was proposed by the French entomologist Jacques Carayon in 1966.[2][4]
^Siva-Jothy, M. T. (2006) "Trauma, disease and collateral damage: conflict in cimicids," Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 361, 269–275.
^ abEdward H. Morrow & Goran Arnqvist (2003). "Costly traumatic insemination and a female counter-adaptation in bed bugs" (PDF). Proceedings of the Royal Society B. 270 (1531): 2377–2381. doi:10.1098/rspb.2003.2514. PMC 1691516. PMID 14667354. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-06-10.
^Reinhardt, K., Naylor, R. & Siva-Jothy, M. T. (2003) "Reducing a cost of traumatic insemination: female bedbugs evolve a unique organ," Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 270, 2371–2375.
^Carayon, J. (1966) Traumatic insemination and the paragenital system. In Monograph of Cimicidae (Hemiptera—Heteroptera) (ed. R. L. Usinger), pp. 81–166. College Park, MD: Entomological Society of America.
The spermalege (also known as the organ of Berlese) is a special-purpose organ found in female bed bugs that appears to have evolved to mitigate the effects...
evolved a pair of sperm-receptacles, known as the spermalege. It has been suggested that the spermalege reduces the direct damage to the female bed bug...
- like females - evolved a spermalege. The male spermalege looks similar but not identical to the typical female spermalege and males receive fewer stabbings...
abdominal wall with his intromittent organ and injecting sperm into the spermalege, a storage structure; the sperm then migrate through the female's paragenital...
cavernis, sperm are injected into the mesospermalege, a component of the spermalege, a secondary genital structure that reduces the wounding and immunological...
abdomen and injects his sperm into a secondary genital structure, the spermalege. The sperm travel in the female's blood (haemolymph) to sperm storage...
injection site females do not possess a special female organ called the spermalege. "Primicimex Report". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved...
traumatic insemination, and, in 1966, he was the first to suggest the spermalege structure in bedbugs as a female counter-adaptation. Traumatic insemination...
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