Gay bugs
Why Insects Have Gay Sex
Insect sex may seem fairly simple: fluttering dances, clasping abdomens, a quick mount on a forest floor. But a new review of homosexual insect encounters suggests the acts may not be that straightforward for the individuals involved.
Researchers have widely examined queer behavior in mammals and birds, but have addressed it less frequently in insects and spiders. To assess the range of evolutionary explanations for lgbtq+ intercourse in the invertebrate world, a team of biologists from Tel Aviv University in Israel and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Switzerland examined roughly 100 existing studies on the topic and compiled the first comprehensive review of homosexuality in invertebrates. The review was published earlier this month in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
The team focused on male-male interactions to simplify the analysis, and set up that most of these encounters occurred as accidents. Whereas larger animals contain developed more complicated lgbtq+ motivations — like maintaining alliances, which has been found in certain primate and seagull species — insects seem to mistakenly part
Sex is costly for insects. It uses up resources such as water, power and time. Some species, like bush crickets, can ejaculate as much as a quarter of their body weight. In others, fond one species of fruit fly, their sperm is actually longer than their body.
Just as for humans, insect sex also carries risks such as the transfer of infections (nearly 100 insect STIs are known), and injury from mating trauma (like from spiny or needle-like- penises), as well as increased vulnerability to charge from predators.
Yet despite this, homosexuality in insects – which carries all of the risks of sex without the evolutionary boon of passing on genes – has been seen in more than 100 species. In some studies, over half of matings were male on male.
No real consensus has been reached on why insect homosexuality is so frequent, with different studies supporting or refuting particular ideas even within the identical species. But my colleagues and I have produced unused evidence that supports the idea that male insects that mate with other males are simply making a mistake.
There are dozens of ideas used to explain homosexual behaviour in insects, which broadly fall into two categories. Eit
Of Maybugs and Men
Reviews
“Prejudice against those who identify as LGBT is ongoing in our culture. This makes the magnificently comprehensive and thoughtful Of Maybugs and Men: A History and Philosophy of the Sciences of Homosexuality a work of pressing contemporary relevance. Covering a wide range of topics, from the questions of homosexuality in animals and of evolutionary perspectives on homosexuality, to the philosophical and social implications of judging any kind of sexuality as healthy or otherwise, indeed of even asking such questions, it is essential reading: for researchers, for those making and enforcing social policy, and more widely for all who think we should strive to understand the nature of ourselves, human beings. A very crucial book.”
Michael Ruse, author of Atheism: What Everyone Needs to Know
"Against a long backdrop of simplistic discussions of the etiology of homosexuality, Of Maybugs and Men is a breath of fresh air. Pieter Adriaens and Andreas De Block explore not only the science of sexual orientation but also the indispensable value judgments that permeate empirical study. A must-read for anyone active on the
How gay is essence, really? In this exclusive excerpt of his book, A Little Gay Spontaneous History, Josh Davis shines a glow on the diversity of sex and sexual behaviour that’s always been noticeable in nature, for those who acquire been willing to look…
The planet on which we survive is filled with an extraordinary range of animals, plants and fungi. Collectively, they exhibit an astonishing diversity when it comes to what they glance like, where they live and how they behave. And nowhere is this truer than when it comes to their sex and sexual behaviours.
Just how common are queer behaviours in nature?
It’s often quoted that around 1,500 species of animals demonstrate some form of homosexual behaviour. This includes animals from right across the tree of life: Hawaiian orb weaver spiders and ordinary slipper shells, home flies, nematode worms and Humbolt squid, wood turtles, blackstripe topminnows, Guianan cock of-the-rocks and brown bears.
But this figure is likely a massive underestimate. Considering these behaviours are found in almost every branch of the evolutionary wood, it seems highly unlikely that they are limited to just a rare hundred species out of some 2.13 million named to date.