Weevils pick on someone their own size.Nature keeps male horned horned adj. Having a horn, horns, or a hornlike growth. Adj. 1. horned - having a horn or horns or hornlike parts or horns of a particular kind; "horned viper"; "great horned owl"; "the unicorn--a mythical horned beast"; weevils from stupid scraps. A horned weevil weevil, common name for certain beetles of the snout beetle family (Curculionidae), small, usually dull-colored, hard-bodied insects. The mouthparts of snout beetles are modified into down-curved snouts, or beaks, adapted for boring into plants; the jaws are at the can't pick a real fight with a male too big for him because the bigger one can't get a good grip, according to William G. Eberhard of the University of Costa Rica in University City and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) in Panama, the only bureau of the Smithsonian Institution based outside of the United States, is dedicated to understanding biological diversity. and his colleagues. The researchers describe a macho-proof body plan in the June 7 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY Proceedings of the Royal Society is a scientific journal published by the Royal Society of London. Today, the Royal Society publishes two proceeding series:
Most male weevils have a pit between the horns leading to a tube, or sheath. When an alluring female inspires a battle between males, combatants stick horns into each other's sheaths. To win the fight and the chance to mate, one male must lift the other high enough for the loser's front legs to scrabble futilely in the air. By measuring weevil bodies, the researchers found that a big male's horn won't fit in a little guy's sheath. The big male therefore can't get the right twisting angle to lift his puny pu·ny adj. pu·ni·er, pu·ni·est 1. Of inferior size, strength, or significance; weak: a puny physique; puny excuses. 2. Chiefly Southern U.S. Sickly; ill. rival. Evolution seems to have delivered a strong message against hopeless fights to at least one species. |
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