For Female Horned Flour Beetles, Love Conquers All

In the end, love does conquer all. At least, that's certainly true for the female horned flour beetle.

According to researchers at the University of Exeter and the Universities of Okayama and Tsukuba in Japan who studied the insect's sexual mating conflicts, they found that female's carried a select preference for kind partners.

"The most attractive males, those most preferred by females, were not the highly competitive males with large mandibles," said study co-author Dave Hosken, an evolutionary biologist at the Centre for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus, in England, via Live Science. "Instead, females prefer to mate with males that court more."

In other words, male-to-male competitions often used to attract a female's eye may not always work in the bug's favor. As "fighter" male beetles with enlarged lower jaws or mandibles are better in warding off rivals, the latest findings show that females are more likely to pick mates based on courtship rather than jaw size.

"A major finding of this study was that the most attractive males, those most preferred by females, were not the highly competitive males with large mandibles. This is despite the fact these fighter males enjoy significant mating advantages when in direct competition for females. Instead, females prefer to mate with males that court more. This shows that choice and competition favor different traits," added researcher Prof. Dave Hosken, of the Center for Ecology and Conservation at the University of Exeter's Penryn Campus, via the news organization.

The study specifically analyzed whether females benefited from choosing their own mating partners and how it influenced the health of their offspring. Findings showed that while more attractive and competitive mates did not lead to direct benefits, it did lead to more attractive and competitive sons.

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More information regarding the findings can be seen via the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.