Wednesday 10 November 2010 00.05 GMT
Guardian UK
Ian Sample, science correspondent
The animal kingdom has gained a new record holder after scientists declared a species of cricket to possess the largest known testes of any creature in relation to its body mass. "These really are quite phenomenal. They take up nearly the whole of the bush cricket's abdomen. It just shows how competitive reproduction is for some species." said Dr Karim Vahed, a behavioural ecologist at Derby, who led the study. Delicate measurements of the tuberous bush cricket, Tuberculos gigantis, showed that its testes accounted for 14% of the insect's body weight. If the same proportion were applied to a human, his testicles would weigh the equivalent of six bags of sugar each. The tuberous bush cricket wrests the record for largest testes in relation to body weight from a tiny species of fruit fly, Drosophila bifurca, whose testes account for 10.6% of its bodyweight. J.Galligan 75GRAND/SUR Santa Olaya, PR
