IF YOUR first instinct is to react with revulsion at the sight of these two insects, please hold on for a moment. Because this photo captures something that goes to the heart of what it means to be a motile life form – at least, for those that reproduce sexually.

These animals are wingless scorpionflies, Apterobittacus apterus. “Aptero” means wingless – this insect is so wingless they had to tell you twice. While it looks like the animals are sharing a meal in this photo, something more interesting is going on. The food in question is a dead insect, probably a planthopper. Not very appetising to us, but to female wingless scorpionflies it is what entomologists quaintly call a “nuptial gift“. In other words, it is what the male gives the female to secure copulation.

When Alex Wild took this photo, at the University of California’s Hastings Natural History Reservation in Carmel Valley, the insects were already copulating. We don’t know much about this species, but in related species male reproductive success is correlated to the size of the prey he offers. “Even though this pair did mate,” says Wild, “I can’t imagine the female was that impressed by the, um, small size of this male’s package.”

(Image: Alex Wild)

This article appeared in print under the headline “Lovers share a meal”