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A Beetle’s Genitals Just Complicated a Classic Evolutionary Story Katherine J. Wu © Julian Baur The story of seed-beetle sex has often been told in a very particular way, with the male in the evolutionary driver’s seat, his hapless mate taken along for a grudging ride. A quick glance at the insect’s penis makes it easy to see why: The appendage is tipped with hundreds of sharp, hard spines that give it the appearance of an elaborate mace. This terrifying surfeit of spikes riddles the female’s reproductive tract with punctures and scrapes that can leave, as the biologist Göran Arnqvist puts it, some “quite massive scars.”

United statesMount holyoke collegeUppsala lanPatricia brennanAtlantic johannaBlake wyberYoko matsumuraJulian baurAinsley seagoUppsala universityCarnegie museum of natural historyProceedings of the royal societyUniversity of kielUniversity of western australiaRoyal societyCarnegie museum