Researchers try to determine the cause of female red flour beetle promiscuity
Wednesday, February 3, 2016 - 21:01
in Biology & Nature
New research focused on four possibilities that may explain why beetles are so promiscuous: that mating benefits the female beetles by providing them with moisture; with nutrients in the ejaculate; with proteins that support egg laying; or with additional sperm. The findings led scientists to conclude that it was the need for additional moisture that fed the beetles' drive to mate so frequently -- even to the point where they would sometimes coerce a reluctant male.