Lightweight And Long-legged Males Go The Distance For Sex
Friday, September 5, 2008 - 15:28
in Biology & Nature
Giant weta females are twice the size of males. Radiotracking the insects showed that males travel more than 90 meters each night in search of a mate, favoring small, long-legged males who walked further and acquired more mates. It suggests that sexual selection for smaller, more mobile males could be responsible for some of the impressive sexual difference in body size in this species and may explain other species where males are smaller than females.