New Insect : Neotrogla (Females with Spiny Penis Able to Copulate for Days)

Well, I can't offer my first thoughts about this one, without risking a mods penalty over T&C. I hope this discovery NEVER gives the scientists ideas for a new technology.

Neotrogla, a type of insect found in caves in Brazil, has a bizarre mating ritual. The act of reproduction lasts for days, and during the ritual, the female grows a penis-like structure called the gynosome.

This is the first insect ever witnessed to exhibit complete sexual reversal during copulation. The act of mating can last between 40 and 70 hours. After the female grows a penis-like organ, she inserts it into an opening in the male, resembling a tiny vagina.

Rodrigo Ferreira from the Federal University of Lavras in Brazil sent specimens of the creatures to Charles Lienhard, a Swiss insect specialist. During examination in Geneva, it became clear the insects were members of a new genus, and Lienhard noted the unusual appendages on some of the females.

Four species of insects make up the genus Neotrogla. The genus was first discovered in 1996, and adult specimens grow to be slightly longer than one-tenth of an inch in length.

The Neotrogla were examined by Yoshizawa and other team members, as they watched mating habits of the tiny insects.

After females grow gynosomes and insert them in to a male, the organ swells and hooks pop from the appendage, anchoring itself to the inside of the recipient. The spiny features fit into pouches in the opening, keeping the male in place during the act.

This part is fascinating (somehow) :

The study suggests that the spines of the 'ginosoma' can help the genital stimulation, but their role anchoring seems to predominate.

In fact, when the researchers tried to separate a couple of those insects during sexual intercourse, by pulling the two, were left with large part of the body of the insect but the area of the genital coupling has remained attached, which, according to experts, displays the control exercised by the female on the male.

"It is very likely that the entire process of pairing is actively controlled by females, while males are rather passive. The penis female, to have this anchorage function, it is an ideal device for controlling the intercourse actively", underlined Kazunori.

www.techtimes.com...enises-and-can-copulate-for-days-what.htm

www.europapress.es...

www.thedailybeast.com...enis.html

www.techly.com.au...enises-sex-lasts-70-hours/

They better not splice our species genes with this bug or there will be terrible consequences.

When is a penis not a penis? When it belongs to a female insect, say scientists investigating the animal kingdom's first documented instance of an evolutionary genital swap. The Brazilian cave-dwelling male, Neotrogla, has been found to possess a vagina and vice versa, making this an historic case of sex organ switcheroo.

Given that their mating sessions can last up to 70 hours, their bedroom—well, cave—performances seem pretty darn impressive.

We're are going to need chainmail underwear.

This reversal of intromittent organs (ordinarily part of a male organism designed to deliver sperm during intercourse) is the first of its kind to display what looks like reversed sexual selection, developed over time by females of the species competing with one another to receive “seminal gifts” from males.

Never mind.

Man...that's pretty damned kinky, but that bug has nothing on the Martian peen worm.
www.youtube.com...

originally posted by: PandorasBoxxx
Never mind.

"Mother Nature" is a revengeful woman. I salute all those male Neotrogla martyrs.

a reply to: Trueman

Sounds useful.

F&S& Interesting find.

a reply to: skunkape23

What the HELL did I just watch?!

She plunges her mandible into his epizutis???

What a strange day its been...

This is the first insect ever witnessed to exhibit complete sexual reversal during copulation.

Unless the male produces an egg and the female makes sperm then its not a gender reversal.

originally posted by: PhoenixOD

This is the first insect ever witnessed to exhibit complete sexual reversal during copulation.

Unless the male produces an egg and the female makes sperm then its not a gender reversal.

Yo wouldn't say that is you were a male Neotrogla.

a reply to: PhoenixOD

By definition, the organism that produces the egg is the female and the one that produces sperm is the the male, so this "gender reversal" you are talking about is not possible; we would simply change the categorizing to reflect the one producing the egg as being referred to as the female and vice versa.

Furthermore, reversal of sex roles is known from a few other species of animals, and females are known to penetrate males in others. However, Neotrogla appears to be unique in having both traits. This is what makes them unique.

a reply to: skunkape23

By 01:50 on that video I was left without words. What the hell man !

a reply to: Trueman

Quietly tiptoes back out of thread.....'

I know nothing, I saw nothing....tiptoes faster...

Des

When I was a young child, my younger brother came running into the house in a highly excited state. "There is a TWO-HEADED DOG in the cemetary!!!" My dad and I immediately jumped up and ran outside. Ummm...How do I say this tactfully. It was two dogs, and they were stuck together.

I'm so confused. Which one produces the egg? The won that grew the penis or the one who get's the penis inserted? The whole gender reversal would make no sense if the one that grew the penis never was capable of producing an egg in the first place, they are just straight up male.

Can someone clarify or clear my confusion?

a reply to: Kuroodo

Why you are confused? I provided many links.

Sperm and nutrients are transferred from the male to his partner during the reversed copulation.