Male Buprestid Beetles mistake beer bottles for females and attempt to mate with them. 2011 Ig Nobel Prize.
Male Julodimorpha bakewelli beetles were regularly observed attempting to copulate with beer bottles in the Dongara area of Western Australia
The shiny brown color of the beer bottles is similar to the yellow-brown elytra of female beetles.
In addition, rows of regularly spaced, small tubercles around the base of the bottles reflect light in a similar way to punctuations on the elytra of the beetle.
These observations bear out predictions from sexual selection theory that males of species with low male parental investment are indiscriminate in mating.
For publishing this research, Darryl Gwynne and David Rentz received the 2011 Ig Nobel Prize for Biology.
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