''Afrocimex constrictus'', also called the African bat bug, is an insect parasite of

Egyptian fruit bat The Egyptian fruit bat or Egyptian rousette (''Rousettus aegyptiacus'') is a species of megabat that is found in Africa, the Middle East, the Mediterranean, and the Indian subcontinent. It is one of three '' Rousettus'' species with an African-M ...

s 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 ...

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 historical ...

. 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 Traumatic insemination, also known as hypodermic insemination, is the mating practice in some species of invertebrates in which the male pierces the female's abdomen with his aedeagus and injects his sperm through the wound into her abdominal c ...

. 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 torso. ...

with his genitals, and ejaculates into her body cavity, into a special organ called the

spermalege The spermalege (also known as the organ of BerleseSiva-Jothy, M. T. (2006) "Trauma, disease and collateral damage: conflict in cimicids," ''Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B,'' 361, 269–275.) is a special-purpose organ found in fe ...

. 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