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Why would this BAFFLE scientists??? - Printable Version

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Why would this BAFFLE scientists??? - Jimmypoo - 09-30-2007

Don't we have enough of it among our own to pretty much explain it? The photo caption says it all.


http://www.livescience.com/php/multimedia/imagedisplay/img_display.php?pic=070920_bat_bug_02.jpg&cap=The+African+bat+bug+is+a+rare+species+where+males+sometimes+pretend+be+female.+Credit%3A+Richard+Naylor&title=Bizarre+Gender-Bender+Bugs+Baffle+Scientists&title=Bizarre%20Gender-Bender%20Bugs%20Baffle%20Scientists


Re: Why would this BAFFLE scientists??? - Craig - 09-30-2007

Baffles Iranian scientists no doubt.


Craig


Re: Why would this BAFFLE scientists??? - what4 - 09-30-2007

To attract and eat other males?

To get free admission on Ladies Night?

To wear Prada?


Re: Why would this BAFFLE scientists??? - Janit - 09-30-2007

Nah, they're not baffled at all -- just rolling their eyes at the reporters who hype their headlines because they think science is SO boring.


Re: Why would this BAFFLE scientists??? - laarree - 09-30-2007

"Sex among bat bugs (as with bed bugs) is violent. During copulation, males of these species pierce the abdomens of their mates with their genitals and ejaculate directly into their blood."

Ew!


Re: Why would this BAFFLE scientists??? - Blankity Blank - 09-30-2007

[quote Janit]Nah, they're not baffled at all -- just rolling their eyes at the reporters who hype their headlines because they think science is SO boring. We have a winner. :-)


Re: Why would this BAFFLE scientists??? - MacMagus - 09-30-2007

Not all scientists are baffled.

Only the ones who haven't visited Pasadena around Thanksgiving, San Francisco in June or Chelsea any day of the week.


Re: Why would this BAFFLE scientists??? - mrlynn - 10-01-2007

I sent this article to my entomologist daughter, who responds:

I think it's a very interesting article. It's a very cool system, and it makes a great "wow" story. But I think they make more of the story's uniqueness than they should have. There are many other cases with similar points, although this one may be more extreme in some ways. Here's a smattering of phenomena that bear some similarities to this case. There are many species (especially in insects, but also in other groups I think) that have have two types of males, one of which mimics a female in some respect. This often happens when males are very territorial because one that looks like a female will be left alone. In a case where two males are distracted by each others' presence, a "sneaker" male that looks like a female can walk over and mate with the female while the other males are duking it out. In some species (many birds come to mind) the juvenile males resemble females in plumage, and are safe from other males who don't see them as a threat until they grow up and start looking like males. Hyena females have a "false phallus" that I won't discuss in more detail here. Many, many insects severely damage each other during mating. Dragonfly males, for example, grab onto the female and fly around with her for extended periods of time, preventing her from mating with any other male. In the process he often pokes large holes in her head. I think some species of dragonflies have females that look like males (or have some other color pattern that makes them less attractive) because again, there is selection pressure to avoid unnecessary copulations. Many male insects have intromittent organs that actually destroy a female's genitals after copulation, so she can't mate with anyone else. Even female fruit flies, which don't suffer any obvious damage from mating, have been shown to live shorter life spans the more times they mate (something in the seminal fluid, probably).


So I don't think many biologists would find this system very surprising overall. Perhaps in their own article the scientists will explain which aspects are indeed unique, and which have parallels in other species. After all, the job of scientists is to identify patterns, and then try to understand the processes underlying them. Nature is an inexplicable tangle of oddities until you begin to sort and classify all your weird examples, and then you discover that what appeared bizarre is really perfectly "natural."

/Mr Lynn


Re: Why would this BAFFLE scientists??? - cbelt3 - 10-01-2007

your daughter is very eloquent. Impressive !


Re: Why would this BAFFLE scientists??? - threeprong - 10-01-2007

I like the daughter article better....