How Beetles Mate

A male (top) and a female (bottom) mating.

All beetles reproduce sexually, where the offspring are created by the joining of sperm from the father and eggs from the mother. When a male locates a female, he will usually start to court the female in a very specific way. He quickly strokes his antennae and his front pair of legs on the female's back while crawling on top of her. If the female accepts the male, the male will insert his aedeagus into the female's genital opening and transfer a package of sperm. The sperm are stored in the female's reproductive tract and are used to fertilize eggs that develop. After mating, the male leaves the female and does not give any help in raising the offspring. The female will later lay the eggs that the male has fertilized, and the new individual begins its life.