In today's post, Fenner naturalist MacKenzie delves into the steamy world of insect romance in honor of Valentine's Day!
Valentine’s
Day has finally arrived, so I figured it would be a great time to talk about what is on
everyone’s mind—S……............SCIENCE!
Particularly, I want to share some of the interesting way organisms find and attract mates. We know how some humans think they can attract mates—smelling nice, dressing nice, dancing, and complementing potential mates on how good they look. We can find all of these in the wild, too—except for maybe the last part.
The
first guy and gal I want to talk about are moths. Now, I know you’re thinking
moths aren’t that sexy, but let me tell you —they’ve got great adaptations
for finding the right mate! When they’re ready to mate females will stay in one
place and give off a special scent called pheromones that attracts
males from the same species. The males have great “noses” on their feathery
antennae that pick up that scent in the air. That doesn’t seem too impressive
until you hear this: a male polyphemus moth can find a female up to FIVE MILES
AWAY. This means that about “one molecule of scent” is present in a “cubic yard
of air.” Could you imagine trying to
find someone here at Fenner if you and your nose were all the way out in Okemos? I honestly don’t want to imagine the pick-up
lines that moth’s use: “I knew that I had to have you when I smelled you five miles
away, baby."
Anyway,
the better their receptor, the better chance males have to find a good, smelly
lady. So these sensory receptors turn
out to be pretty impressive.
(asknature.org)
Next
up, cockroaches! This time we’re dealing
with a nice treat the male roach provides for his lady. And no, we aren’t
talking about chocolate, but it does have some of the same qualities. Once a
cockroach has wooed his lady-roach, he releases an aphrodisiac from his abdomen
called seducin “on which the female
nibbles [on] during copulation.” (Note
the similarity to the word, “seduction”?)
And now we know why cockroaches are so prolific!
(entomology.unl.edu)
Come
and visit our Madagascar Hissing Cockroach colony next time you visit Fenner!
In
this next species, the males are the ones that do the flashing to attract
mates. Fireflies, or lightning bugs, use their lights to communicate with each
other. Although we won’t see fireflies
at this time of year, during the summer months when you see those flashing
lights, you are unintentionally listening in on either a steamy or deadly
conversation! Males will flash the
ladies twice to signal their availability. If the lady firefly accepts, she
flashes back once, inviting the male to seal the deal. (Blink one for yes, two for no.)
Most
fireflies will spend their entire adult lives (about two weeks) trying to get
it on. This all sounds great, until one
species of firefly learned how to use this communication scheme for evil. It all begins the same way: the male flashes
his lights twice to introduce himself: blink, blink. The photuris species of lightening bug will respond back to the male with
the one blink, but instead of inviting the male to “seal the deal” they instead
seal his fate with death. After luring the male over, they suck out his blood
for a delicious but unromantic dinner. So
much for the happily ever after…….
(firefly.org)
So,
that is a very, very brief introduction to some of the crazy stuff involved in
wooing or seducin’ (hah!) the ladies in the insect world. Who knew a two-week
lifespan could be so steamy?
Want
to learn more? Check out the book “Six-legged Sex: The Erotic Life of Bugs” by
James K. Wangberg. If you've got any other interesting, sexy ways bugs
try to attract one another, feel free to post them in the comments below!
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