They discovered that when the insects have sex, the female’s gynosome is inserted into the male after it becomes erect. Once the female has penetrated the male, her gynosome inflates, releasing a set of spines that can be used to keep the male from escaping. The sex lasts forty to seventy hours.
The researchers found the spines when they tried to physically separate two insects while they were copulating. “Pulling apart coupled specimens,” they write, “led to separation of the male abdomen from the thorax without breaking the genital coupling.” In other words, they tore the male right in half. It showed that the female can hold tightly onto the male. That’s an important ability for insects that need to remain in coitus for as long as two or three days.
With the male firmly in place, the gynosome is ready to receive the sperm. But that’s not all they get: the males also deliver what are called “seminal gifts,” nourishing packets of nutrients that help the females survive in the food-deprived cave environment in which they live.
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Scientists discover a new kind of sex organ in cave dwelling Brazlian insects. (via kierongillen)
#Probably lucky this wasn’t discovered before I wrote Young Avengers
