Homosexuality in flour beetles
March 12th 2009 08:44
The existence of homosexual behaviour is a much discussed issue in evolutionary biology. Recently, scientists uncovered the likely reason for it in flour beetles. It appears that males can actually gan a reproductive advantage by mounting other males. They dribble sperm onto the other male, who in turn goes off and mates with females. However, while doing so, he may be passing on the sperm of the male that mounted him.
This article in National Geographic talks about this discovery.
An excerpt from the article: "That a male could inseminate a female without directly breeding with her came as a big surprise."
"It reveals that the flour beetles' homosexual behavior yields a direct reproductive benefit, allowing males to inseminate females without expending time or energy having sex with them."
Male flour beetles in a homosexual encounter. Sara Lewis, Tufts University. Image from National Geographic
This article in National Geographic talks about this discovery.
An excerpt from the article: "That a male could inseminate a female without directly breeding with her came as a big surprise."
"It reveals that the flour beetles' homosexual behavior yields a direct reproductive benefit, allowing males to inseminate females without expending time or energy having sex with them."
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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sometimes these stories of homosexuality in the animal kingdom can help understand behavioural traits from our own species and how they evolved . . . maybe not in this case, or maybe its one tiny piece of a great big puzzle!