Can cockroaches live inside a penis

Maggie Koerth-Baker is a guest blogger on Boing Boing. A freelance science and health journalist, Maggie lives in Minneapolis, brain dumps on Twitter, and writes quite often for mental_floss magazine.

My friends' 3-year-old son, Will, asks, "Do cockroaches have a penis?" This turns out to be a surprisingly difficult question to answer.

First off, most basic sources will just try to give you some fluffy answer about how to tell a boy cockroach from a girl cockroach, which doesn't have anything to do with penises (or lack thereof) at all. In fact, apparently, the easiest way to sex your cockroach is to count the number of of segments on the underside of its abdomen, according to roach expert Joseph Kunkel, a biology professor at the University of Mass., Amherst. Girls have more segments. Boys have fewer

Second, there appears to have been a lot more research done on female cockroach reproductive anatomy. And for good reason: It is more noticeably freaky. Female cockroaches carry their fertilized eggs around in these pod-like sacks called ootheca. Some cockroaches will tote the ootheca around attached to their bodies until the babies hatch. Other species, however, simply drop the ootheca off in some hidden corner, where the babies can incubate safely while you beat their mothers to death with a shoe. Stumble upon enough ootheca in the basement, and its liable to be the first thing you take to the lab.

But, while useful, this information does not answer the young man's question. For that, I had to turn to Cockroaches, a 2007 book by William J. Bell, Louis Marcus Roth, Christine A. Nalepa, and (yes) Edward O. Wilson. Their description of the male cockroach junk helpfully explained why I'd been getting so much confusing (and conflicting) information from other sources. To wit:

A number of intromittent structures in the male cockroach have been called a penis … Although these structures may be associated with the ejaculatory duct … penis-like organs function in some capacity other than to convey sperm directly

So there you have it. Cockroaches: They have no penis. But they do have a lot of things that are frequently called a "penis". Many of these bits and pieces seem to actually be used for cockblocking, so to speak. Let me explain. Instead of the familiar-to-us method of copulation, male cockroaches produce a hard, little packet full of sperm, called a spermatophore, which they transfer into their favorite gal. But, unless it's her first time around the block, there's a decent chance that somebody else's spermatophore is already in there. A male cockroach has a better chance of passing on his genes if he can get rid of the competing sperm. Whether hooked, whip-like, barbed or spiny, those not!penis structures are likely used by male cockroaches to clear out rival spermatophores, according to the august authors of Cockroaches, the book.

Beach-bunny cockroaches provided by kthypryn.

• These salt flats look like a landscape from another planet

  
  These salt flats look like a landscape from another planet. They are part of The Salar De Uyuni, which is the world's largest salt flats, and can be seen from the moon. Watching a car drive across them is pretty mind-bending, as it looks like watching a car drive across a giant lake. This is… READ THE REST

• The Rainbow Eucalyptus is the world's most colorful tree

  
  The Rainbow Eucalyptus is the world's most colorful tree. It grows mostly in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Papua New Guinea. It would be easy to mistake this tree for having bark that's been painted with vibrant, rainbow brush strokes. This incredible tree becomes colorful when it begins to shed. Underneath its outer layer is a… READ THE REST

• Stamp licking machine powered by tears produced from cutting an onion

  
  This stamp licking machine is powered by tears produced from cutting an onion. Joseph, the mastermind behind this creation, chops an onion and cries into a funnel. His tears are then transferred to three stamps, and then to an envelope. He even built a component to the machine that moves the envelope along the table… READ THE REST

• Yep, there's finally an "invisible selfie stick" — and it's on sale for less than $60

  
  We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. If you love to take videos and photos, you've undoubtedly been in a situation where you've propped your phone against literally anything you could find — a wall, a bag, a… READ THE REST

• Want to earn $1 million? This money-winning puzzle is $25 during our version of Prime Day.

  
  We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. We've all dreamed of becoming millionaires, right? Of course, those dreams can seem impossible, but what if you can win life-changing money by assembling a puzzle? That's where The 2 Million… READ THE REST

• Our version of Prime Day has been extended! Get this virtual golf simulator by October 13.

  
  We thank our sponsor for making this content possible; it is not written by the editorial staff nor does it necessarily reflect its views. Not a lot going on around these parts during the winter months. Unless you live where Satan goes to get a little heat, chances are you'll be a bit chilly in the… READ THE REST