EARWIGS鈥� penises often snap off during sex. So one earwig family has come up
with the obvious solution: keep another one in reserve to use in an
emergency.
Entomologists knew that males of the Anisolabididae family have two
penises, but assumed one of them doesn鈥檛 work because it points in the wrong
direction. Now Yoshitaka Kamimura of Tokyo Metropolitan University has proved
them wrong. He reports that males with their 鈥済ood鈥� penis cut off can inseminate
females using the other one (Naturwissenschaften, vol 88, p 486).
Kamimura has also collected males with broken penises, suggesting that the
second penis is called into action in the wild. Anisolabididae have very long
penises so are especially prone to losing one.