Female Cockroaches Select Only Fittest Males to Mate With, Researchers Find

A new study led by Dr Sophie Mowles of Anglia Ruskin University shows how energetic courtship displays of male Cuban burrowing cockroaches attract female partners, Sci-News.com reports.

 

Male Cuban burrowing cockroaches (Byrsotria fumigata) perform a ‘wing-raising’ ritual to attract a female, which involves the repeated vertical flaring and lowering of their wings.

 

Dr Mowles and her colleague, Dr Natalie Jepson of the University of Nottingham, found the ones that produced the most energetic displays were more likely to attract a female.

 

In fact males that did attract a mate performed the wing-raising on average four times more vigorously as the ones that didn’t.

 

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Source: Sci-News.com