A new species of beetle has been discovered with a huge WILLY.
The well-endowed Aegidinus Elbae bug was found in a tropical rainforest.
Boffins unveiled the beetle after three years of research.
Scientist Jhon César Neita said its genitalia do not resemble any similar species and dubbed them “very large and developed.”
He works at the Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute in the Colombian capital, Bogotá.
The insect was discovered in the Chiribiquete National Park, the world’s largest tropical rainforest national park.
Mr Neita said the new beetle “is characterised by its unique genitalia.”
The beetle was first collected in 2000 when members of the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Group gathered samples of different biological groups distributed throughout the national park.
Various insect specimens were taken to the Humboldt Institute’s Entomology Centre in the town of Villa de Leyva.
The samples were stored for two decades until a new team of researchers arrived at the end of the Covid-19 pandemic.
They then carried out a phylogenetic study of the collected specimens.
The new species was confirmed in June this year following three years of research.
Researcher Mr Neita found that the beetle’s facial structure was smooth, while other species in the genus have rough faces.
He said: “The details of the genitalia was the key to this discovery as there is a lock-and-key theory in insect biology that explains that for each male genital organ, there is a female genital organ that fits it perfectly.”
But a matching female has not yet been discovered.
Mr Neita said: “This particularity suggests reproductive isolation is evident, that it is to say, they do not reproduce among the same species.”
However, due to the “combination of different features”, Neita said the well-endowed beetle originates from “a new lineage”.
