A beetle that never wants to get pregnant has overturned one of Charles Darwin's theories by engaging in an arms race against the male of the species.
Research suggests that the only way that male Acilius diving beetles can become fathers is to abandon any attempt at courtship and rape any passing females.
The response of the female is to embark on an evolutionary battle of the sexes, in which it develops defences designed to shake off the unwanted attentions of the male.
Darwin believed that variations in the anatomy of the beetle were to assist reproduction. But scientists have discovered that, far from trying to make it easier for males to grab hold of them, the females are developing defences against them.
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