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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Environment
Sofia Quaglia

Climate crisis has impact on insects’ colours and sex lives, study finds

Jagged ambush bug
Darker male ambush bugs warm up more easily on cold mornings. Photograph: Creative Touch Imaging Ltd/NurPhoto/Rex/Shutterstock

An ambush bug with a darker-coloured body is better at snagging a sexual partner than its brighter counterpart when it is chilly. Darker males can warm up more easily in the early mornings, and therefore get busy while everybody else is still warming up.

This is one of the many examples of how temperature affects colouring in insects, and in turn can affect their ability to mate, according to a new review article published in the journal Ecology and Evolution.

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