Love at First Bite

If you're a male sagebrush cricket, a dozen red roses and a box of fine chocolates won't get you any loving on Valentine's Day. 

During copulation, the male cricket offers his fleshy hind wings as an edible gift to the female.  The female chews off the male's wings and drinks up the fluid that seeps from the wounds.

Giving up his wings is a huge sacrifice to the male cricket.  In a unique case of sexual exhaustion, the male lacks the energy to pursue other mates after giving up his wings.

So why do the males allow this to happen?

"The primary benefit to males appears to be that wing feeding keeps the female occupied during the time it takes the male to transfer the sperm," said Andrew Clark, psychologist at McMaster University in Ontario.   

This study was published in January issue of Behavioral Ecology.