Hello lovers of bugs, as well as bugs who are in love! In today's episode, we take a journey through the world of nuptial gifts within the arthropods and find out why sometimes it is best to wrap a gift before trying to go on a date. Tune in to learn the basics of why nuptial gifts exist and how they can help facilitate the mating process and generation of the next generation. This one is a bit "spicy" so if you listen with kids, prepare for some biological talk! Crickets preparing to mate after the exchange of a nuptial gifts (Photo by Biz Turnell, via https://entomologytoday.org/2020/02/14/nuptial-gifts-romantic-gestures-bug-insect-arthropod-world-valentines-day/) Show notes Insect (Order, Family)Nuptial GiftPurposeDung beetles (O: Coleoptera, F: Scarabaeidae)Food in the form of a dung ballhttps://academic.oup.com/beheco/article/21/2/424/323090Part of courtship display, dung ball is used for food source to help her and the offspringFireflies (O: Coleoptera, F: Lampyridae) some speciesSpermatophore contains sperm and nutrientshttps://now.tufts.edu/2016/12/22/firefly-gift-giving-composition-nuptial-gifts-revealedVideo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2P8vKghAoh8 To obtain nutrients and fertilization occurs this wayGiant water bug (O: Hemiptera, M: Belostomatidae)Small aquatic animals as prey (fish)https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/eth.12416Part of the courtship ritual, males carry the eggsAphids (O: Hemiptera, F: Aphididae)“mating drop” droplet of nutrient-rich fluidTo obtain nutrients essential for reproductionCrickets (O: Orthopera, F:Laupala cerasinaSeveral nuptial gifts before transferring genetic materialhttps://www.mpg.de/9686444/nuptial-feeding-female-crickets https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00265-019-2705-9Nuptial gifts improve the amount of genetic material successfully transferred from the final spermatophore to the femaleLong-tailed dance flies (O: Diptera, F:Rhamphomyia longicaudaNutrientshttps://www.jstor.org/stable/23734479Females do not hunt so they relay on the nuptial gifts. They fill their abdomens with air to look like their eggs are more mature so males will seek them outImported cabbagworm butterflies (O: Lepidoptera, F:Nitrogenhttps://www.thegraphicleader.com/opinion/columnists/the-changing-rules-of-romance-for-the-cabbage-white-butterfly Scorpion flies (O: Mecoptera, F: Panorpidae)Dead prey itemhttps://www.jstor.org/stable/4536380https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg22830480-100-heres-my-nuptial-gift-a-dead-planthopper-now-can-we-mate/ To appease the female and increase chances of successful mating Questions? Comments?  Follow the show on Twitter @Arthro_PodshowFollow the hosts on Twitter @bugmanjon, @JodyBugsmeUNL, and @MSkvarla36 Get the show through Apple Podcast, Spotify, or your favorite podcatching app!If you can spare a moment, we appreciate when you subscribe to the show on those apps or when you take time to leave a review! Subscribe to our feed on Feedburner!