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Mating tiger beetles (Calomera crespignyi)

During mating, the male tiger beetle uses his mandibles to grasp the female at the rear of her thorax in a groove called the 'coupling sulcus'. The contours of this groove correspond only to the mandibles of a male of her own species, and prevents interspecific breeding by allowing the female to throw off a male of another species. Danum Valley, Sabah, Malaysia (Borneo).

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Uploaded on August 6, 2020
Taken on May 28, 2014