The extent to which females differ in their mating preferences has important consequences for the evolution of male sexual traits; yet, the way in which female mating preferences vary remains largely unexplored in most animal taxa. Even less is known about the implications of this variation to...

Males of the bruchid beetle Callosobruchus maculatus have spines on their intromittent organs that puncture the female reproductive tract during mating. Females kick their mates during copulation. If females are prevented from kicking the males, copulations last longer and the injuries females...