Gift Giving is Key to Bushcricket Sex
Male bush crickets choose either gifts or aggression when mating.
Male bushcrickets - also known as katydids - give prospective mates a large, sticky blob of gel, secreted from their genitals. The so-called 'nuptial gift' is provided in order to be eaten by the female. The 'gift' is accompanied by an external sperm package, which slowly drips into the female. But new research by Dr. James Gilbert, a Research Fellow in Evolutionary Insect Ecology at the University of Sussex in England, has found that some species of male bushcrickets have evolved to no longer provide the gift blob. The result is violent and often forced mating behaviour initiated by the male. The finding supports the idea that the purpose of the 'nuptial gift' is to distract the female and ensure the transfer of sperm, rather than simply provide nutrition to help the female make more, healthy babies.
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