...oh, Skittles....''Torture'' Phalluses Give Beetles Breeding Boost

[Adsos Letter]

Source: National Geographic News




February 25, 2009--A female C. maculatus seed beetle (above right) mating with a male (left) tries to free herself by kicking him with her hind legs.

It's not easy: Male beetles have long and spiny genitalia that may act as anchors.

"Males can position their genitalia in an optimal way inside the female as the male releases sperm," said study co-author Göran Arnqvist, an evolutionary biologist at Sweden's Uppsala University.

In a study to be published in March, Arnqvist and colleagues found that individuals with the longest spines are more successful in reproducing than their less endowed rivals. (Read more about the beetle-phalluses study.)

The new research offers the first proof that having huge spines that injure females affords males a reproductive advantage.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/02/photogalleries/spiky-beetle-genitals/index.html

several more pictures at the link

[Jeep789]

1. Oh chit, if the repukes see that they are bound to start

funding scientific studies to spine-itize their penises. Wasn't viagra enough?

[SoCalDem]

4. Can't you just imagine the new email spam?

MEN-GROWSEX SPINES..Order OTC He-Man SPINEMAX..30-day supply $30.00

[Skittles]

2. I WILL KICK SOME SPINY MALE BEETLE ASS

YES INDEED

[Adsos Letter]

3. THAT's what I was waiting for!...

I can now go to bed and sleep soundly through what is left of the night... :rofl:

Although...I shall first apply my icy-cold feet to Kim's toasty warm legs...she who has been soundly asleep these last couple of hours...I will THEN drift off to sleep, should I survive the experience.

:hi:

[zagging]

5. Update: Promiscuous Beetle had nasty case of crabs

"Other male beetles in the study have 'much smoother genitalia', stated Dr. Sharp, who has studied beetle cocks since 1984. 'The other subjects in the study were less promiscuous', she added."

ed.

[Berry Cool]

6. Actually, male cats are like this.

They have spines on their penis that point backwards, so that when they withdraw it from a female, the spines scrape the vaginal walls, which may trigger ovulation. (Which is why female cats don't have periods. They ovulate as a result of sexual activity.)