Wild Discovery: Insects With Female Penises
Tiny creatures have sex for 40 to 70 hours
By Matt Cantor, Newser Staff For the first time, scientists have discovered animals whose genitalia seem to be swapped: The female has a penis-like structure while the male has an organ akin to a vagina, LiveScience reports. The animals in question are four species of flea-sized insects from the genus Neotrogla, found in Brazilian caves. Mating between the creatures is far from rushed: It lasts between 40 and 70 hours, and sees the female inserting her gynosome (what the penis-like organ is being called) into the male’s vagina-like phallosome to retrieve a teardrop-shaped sperm capsule. The gynosome is a “completely novel structure in evolution,” says Kazunori Yoshizawa, lead author of the study, published in Current Biology. Read more http://www.newser.com/story/185530/wild-discovery-insects-with-female-penises.html