JUST for once it’s not the big handsome guy who gets the girl. For the Anopheles gambiae mosquito it turns out that average-sized males get the most action.
The males gather in large swarms to attract females, and then dart out and grab onto as many as they can. Kija Ng’Habi from the Ifakara Health Research and Development Centre in Tanzania and colleagues duplicated these mating swarms in cages where 30 males of varying sizes competed for the attentions of 10 females.
Unexpectedly, average-sized males had sex a staggering six times as often as the biggest males, despite having lower…
