''Afrocimex constrictus'', also called the African bat bug, is an insect parasite of
Egyptian fruit bats in bat
caves
A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...
in
East Africa
East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa:
Due to the histori ...
. Population sizes can comprise millions of individuals and in a cave there can be one to 15 bugs per bat. It was estimated that adult African bat bugs feed approximately once per week thus withdrawing 1-28 microlitre blood per day per bat.
As in many other cimicids, ''Afrocimex constrictus'' reproduce through
traumatic insemination. During mating, the male pierces the female's
abdomen
The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the tors ...
with his genitals, and ejaculates into her body cavity, into a special organ called the
spermalege. While females do have external genitalia, they are used for egg laying but not for mating.
[R. L. Usinger, Monograph of the Cimicidae (Hemiptera-Heteroptera). The Thomas Say Foundation Vol 7, Entomological Society of America, 1966] ''Afrocimex constrictus'' males also pierce and inseminate other males. Male-male stabbings were originally probably harmful to males and so it was speculated that male-male stabbings were the reason that ''Afrocimex constrictus'' males have - like females - evolved a spermalege. The male spermalege looks similar but not identical to the typical female spermalege and males receive fewer stabbings than females.
[K. Reinhardt, E. Harney, R. Naylor, M. Siva-Jothy, Female-limited polymorphism in the copulatory organ of a traumatically inseminating insect. American Naturalist, Vol 170, pp. 931-935, December 2007] In one cave around 80% of the females were found to mimic the male version of the spermalege and such females receive fewer stabbings from males than females that have the original spermalege type.
The species also had a brief appearance in fiction. In French writer Bernard Werber's novel ''
Le Jour des fourmis'' (1997), the mating habits of '' A. constrictus'' are employed in the torture chambers of the ants.
References
Cimicidae
Hemiptera of Africa
{{Cimicomorpha-stub