ROBERT SCHNECK: Love Among the Seed Beetles

Let's get right to the point: that's a seed beetle's penis. Yes, it is. And those spikes are not decorative. They 'help the male's chances of fertilizing the eggs by providing an anchor, but can also pierce the female during sex, causing injury.' As a result, female seed beetles have developed 'tougher integument to resist collateral damage' as part of a process known as 'sexually antagonistic co-evolution.' I'm guessing that the females also developed a tendency to suffer migraines around bedtime, but maybe they like that kind of thing. Who are we to judge what two adult weevils do in the privacy of a bean? Hedgehog-like todgers are not unique to coleoptera, however, for:

'Seemingly harmful genitalia have evolved in many animals, helping males compete among themselves to father offspring. This sort of sexual conflict – known as sexually antagonistic co-evolution – is thought to result in rapid steps of evolutionary tit-for-tat between the sexes, but it is poorly understood. So far, little experimental evidence has supported the theory.'

Probably have a difficult time finding volunteers. Read the whole story (and it is quite a story) at: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/1380

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