2023-11-17 11:25:17
Published17. November 2023, 12:25
Unusual: This insect has a penis shaped like a bottle opener
Danish researchers named this beetle Carlsbeg, after their beer.
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Michel Pralong
It’s this beetle whose penis is shaped like a bottle opener.
Danish Natural History Museum
When studying insects, scientists like to look at their genitals. Not by perversion, but this is often what characterizes a species, because they differ a lot, preventing reproduction between different species.
Researchers at the Natural History Museum of Denmark set out to study in depth six beetles discovered in South America and which had been stored for years in their museum and other collections. And so it was by observing the penis of one of the males that they found a resemblance to a… bottle opener.
The insect and, on the right, its sex seen from the front and in profile.
Danish Natural History Museum
As the researchers are Danes, they called it Loncovilius carlsbergi, named after the Danish beer Carlsberg. It is above all, they say, to pay tribute to the Carlsberg Foundation, financed by the brewer, which supports scientific research.
A bottle opener in his image
The researchers did better. They actually created a real bottle opener reproducing the shape of this strange penis. “It is important that we recognize, before it is too late, the immense richness of species around us that have not yet been researched,” said researcher Aslak Kappel Hansen, quoted by «The Drinks Business». We would like people around the world to talk about the crisis facing species on our planet. A light chat over a beer can be the starting point for awareness and serious learning.” All that remains is to mass produce this stainless steel bottle opener.
The bottle opener scrupulously respects the anatomy of the insect.
Danish Natural History Museum
THE Loncovilius are quite particular beetles, because they live mainly on flowers, while the others live on the ground or under the bark of trees. On the other hand, what the study, published in the «Zoological Journal» does not specify, this is why the sex of carlsbergi has this shape.
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