01. Fireflies
The firefly is among the flashiest bugs around. Each species of firefly has a unique flicker code to attract mates of the same species. But male fireflies beware: not all female fireflies deserve glowing reviews. The female of one species of firefly has learned to imitate the moves of another. When a gullible male approaches, the firefly femme fatale captures and devours him. Some entomologists believe it’s the sperm of the male firefly that triggers the urge in the female to eat the males of another species. A de-light-ful snack for an already sexually satisfied female.
02. Mayflies
Aristotle described a “peculiar bloodless animal” that emerged from near the Black Sea and perished just a day later. He named the creature the ephemeron, meaning “one-day living.” These days we have one more name for this insect: the mayfly. The great philosopher wasn’t very correct in saying it has a 24-hour existence, but he was close. Though mayfly youths can live from a number of months to a number of years in streams or decaying matter, their adult lives are indeed short, lasting as little as three several hours for some species. As mature adults, they have only one objective — to reproduce — and with only a few several hours, there’s no time for romance. Mayfly sex is really a forced act, with multiple males chasing a single female, and mayfly males waiting on top of young females, prepared to take advantage from the moment they’re mature enough to mate. These insect orgies can be so large, they could be detected by Doppler radar and can even stop visitors.
03. Honeybees
In honeybee populations, males are a dime a dozen. Thousands vie for a shot to be having a virgin queen, but only a lucky couple of succeed. For every mating flight a queen bee embarks upon, she has sex with an average of 12 drones. Males take turns mounting the queen throughout her flight, and each one can mate seven to 10 times. The queen stores the semen from every midair tryst for the rest of her life, using only a few sperm at a time to fertilize her eggs. When the drone finally pulls away, his barbed penis and abdominal tissues are ripped from his body. He dies shortly thereafter — what a buzz kill.
04. Hissing Cockroaches
Despite their rather striking burnt-orange shells and their increasing popularity as pets, Madagascar giant hissing cockroaches are a vulgar, brutish kind. Named for the low growling sound they emit when disturbed, males have been known to push female cockroaches (who resist by kicking with their hind legs) into corners and take them by force. These bug-eyed bad boys like to play the odds, pursuing every thing that moves — such as other males — to up their chances, the theory goes, of successfully copulating with a lady. A different theory is that the he-cockroach occasionally poses as a frisky female to avoid aggression from larger, brawnier guys, diverting their competitors. Either way, these crawlers have got lousy standards.
05. Fig Wasps
Really the Sad Keanu from the insect world, the male fig wasp in no way gets to venture beyond his tiny home. Born from eggs laid inside flowers within the fleshy, hollow receptacle of a fig, the male wasps have but one purpose in their short lives: to procreate. Although the winged black female wasp matures inside a female flower, the wingless amber-bodied male crawls feebly toward her. He bites a small hole through the flower’s ovarian barrier that separates him from his chosen lady, and through the opening, he modestly inseminates the unsuspecting female. He does this with every female he can possibly lay his tiny eyes upon. Postcopulation, the sexes separate to perform their individual tasks. While the female scrapes pollen from anthers, our male fig wasp works side by side with his buddies for hours to dig escape tunnels. The female then flies away, leaving her liberators to die, wingless and alone.
06. Soapberry Bugs
A single soapberry female is really a rare discover, and the male goes to extremes to lock down his special lady friend. When mating, soapberry bugs resemble twins connected at the rear — and they can stay that way for as much as 11 days. Though the physical connection may seem romantic, like an insect equivalent of holding hands, this really is actually a form of mate guarding. By prolonging copulation, the guarder’s genitalia act as a plug that prevents other males from inseminating that female. In some cases, mated soapberry bugs are stuck together until it’s time for the female to lay her eggs. The jealous male will temporarily withdraw his genitalia from hers, but he is never far from her side. Recopulation can begin as soon as she begins to cover the eggs with soil. Some guys are just the clingy type.
07. Scorpion Flies
In the case of brawn vs. brains, female scorpion flies don’t care much for either. The ladies select their mates depending on saliva-secretion ability, wooed by spit and spit alone. In an effort to please, the male scorpion fly will hack up a dripping, nutritious nuptial gift for his sweetheart, using the help of enlarged salivary glands. The dribble draws her in and distracts her — both from flying off in a fit of cold feet and from eating the male postintercourse. Both sexes are promiscuous; the female copulates with as much as nine various fellows in her lifetime. A pair of claspers in the tip from the male’s long, curled tail — like that of a scorpion, but without the sting — helps him do the deed. In typical female fashion, once the female scorpion fly stops receiving soggy presents, she puts an end to sexual relations. In typical male fashion, the dude will gather up the leftovers and, like pawning off a half-eaten box of candy, reuse them to romance new conquests. Some behaviors succeed across species.
08. Bedbugs
Bedbugs are terrifying, feeding on sleeping humans within the privacy of our own beds. These little bloodsuckers have been the bane of thousands with their resurgence within the U.S., and their violent mating habits definitely aren’t going to win them any more fans. A male bedbug stabs the female in the abdomen with his sharpened genitalia and inseminates her directly in her body cavity. The male bedbug — not precisely known for his brains — will often attempt to mate with one more male, punching a hole in his abdomen inside a case of mistaken identity. While female bedbugs have evolved to grow a mass of cells linked with defense against it, male bedbugs do not have that protection and often die after being speared by a male’s needlelike member. There is one upside to bedbug sex, nevertheless: bedbug seminal fluid is antimicrobial, reducing the pathogens introduced throughout the dirty deed.
09. Praying Mantises
In spite of her pious demeanor, the female praying mantis has earned the reputation of a sinfully cannibalistic femme fatale. She lures males with her pheromones, and when one approaches, the prospective mate engages inside a courtship dance. If the daring he-mantis is deemed worthy, he is allowed to hitch a ride on the much larger female’s back and commence fertilization. The she-mantis has been known to voraciously chew off her partner’s head during or after this stage. Though a decapitated he-Mantis might not seem very useful, some theories suggest otherwise. Laboratory observations claim that the male appears to thrust more vigorously without his noggin attached; other studies cite sexual cannibalism as a method to improve the success and duration of copulation — which in some species can be a prolonged affair, lasting a number of hours. In postcoital chomping instances, the male is merely a victim of his proximity towards the peckish damsel. Perhaps her next date will take her out to dinner first.
10. Water Striders
It seems that humans are not the only hot capable of playing dirty for a little Nookie. A new study says that the male water strider creates tiny ripples in the water that actually attract predatory fish. The male kept banging his legs against the water surface until the female is in agreement with your partner. In strider mating, the male mounts the female from floating up, so that women are more at risk from predators and that on the surface of the water. This tactic threatening pickup, says the study, which probably began to follow the females developed a shield “genital.” This insect chastity belt indicates that mating occurs only with the consent of women, but the high stakes game of chicken male does not give much choice women. The more rapidly she gives in, the less likely she’ll be fish food.