Female insects with penises discovered in Brazil

Female insects with "penises" have been discovered in Brazil - the first example of an animal with sex-reversed genitalia, scientists have found.

Neotrogla females insert the erectile organs into males' vagina-like openings, BBC News reported, citing the study.

The elaborate structure, dubbed a "gynosome", is used to suck out sperm and nutritious seminal fluids.

Copulation lasts an impressive 40-70 hours, the researchers report in Current Biology.

"Although sex-role reversal has been identified in several different animals, Neotrogla is the only example in which the intromittent organ is also reversed," said lead author Kazunori Yoshizawa from Hokkaido University in Japan.

The gender-bending insects were found in a cave in eastern Brazil and represent four distinct species in the Neotrogla genus.

Once inside a male, the membranous part of the female gynosome inflates. It has numerous spines which anchor the two insects together.

When the researchers attempted to pull a male and female apart, the male's abdomen was ripped from the thorax without breaking the genital coupling.

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