MATING A male (top) and a female (bottom) mating Words to know before you read Antennae- the long, thin structures on the head Adeagous- the male organ for transfering sperm Genital opening- the body opening that leads to the reproductive tract Reproductive Tract- the organs inside a female involved with making offspring Fertilize- when a sperm and an egg join All beetles reproduce sexually, where the offspring are created by the joining of sperm from the father and eggs from the mother. When a male locates a female, he will usually start to court the female in a very specific way. He quickly strokes his antennae and his front pair of legs on the female's back while crawling on top of her. If the female accepts the male, the male will insert his adeagous into the female's genital opening and transfer a package of sperm. The sperm are stored in the female's reproductive tract and are used to fertilize eggs that develop. After mating, the male leaves the female and does not give any help in raising the offspring. The female will later lay the eggs that the male has fertilized, and the new individual begins its life. Back to the main page ABOUT THIS SITE | SUBMIT A QUESTION | FEEDBACK | FRONT PAGE EXPERIMENTS AND STUFF | ARTICLES AND PROFILES | WEB LINKS | GALLERY