Size really does matter when it comes to sex – at least in seed bugs.
These creatures have a bizarre, coiled penis that is 70 per cent their body length - or 7mm long.
In a painful sounding experiment, scientists have found that cutting off the bug's penis to make it shorter affects their chances of having children.
It may sound obvious, but the scientists insist their results aren't as self-evident as they may seem because the bug is so well-endowed.
Continue after the cut....
In most species, cutting the penis would result in a catastrophic loss of function, but the seed bug's penis is different.
It is a pipe-like structure that has no nerves, muscles and blood vessels and appears to be far longer than the female organ can accommodate.
Researchers at St Andrews University shortened the creature's organ and then used X-ray scanning to create high-resolution 3D models of the bugs having sex.
They discovered that the shorter the penis was cut, the less successful the bugs were at reproduction.
Males who had their penis cut off by five per cent had significantly fewer offspring than other males.
A snip of 30 per cent meant the bugs cut their mating time down to half.
With part cut off, there was also less to coil when having sex, the scientists found.
Having such a long penis isn't that uncommon in the bug world, the researchers note.
'Such an extremely long male intromittent organ is common in the Heteroptera and is also found in several other insect groups,' they say.
According to the researchers, the size reduction was done using scissors and didn't harm the bugs involved.
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