Bedbugs Shoot Up Too

In follow up to Monday's post on Giant Squids Shooting Up, the behaviour of ‘injecting’ sperm directly into the female is not limited to the giants of the seas. A male bedbug of the genus Cimex uses a spike on his penis to pierce a hole through the female's back. He then ejaculates into this hole and his sperm swim around the female's blood until they reach her ovaries. The fertilized eggs then develop into embryos which are born alive in the usual manner. How and why such a system developed is a mystery.