Meet the female insect who is able to use her own sperm to procreate — which is quickly causing a serious shortage of males:
The female scale insect (Icerya purchasi) is an independent woman. She carries her own sperm-harbored in tissue passed down through the generations-so she doesn't need a male to have her babies. Scientists have long believed that this unique procreation strategy-scale insects are the only hermaphroditic insects and the only animal in the world to employ such a sperm packet-is harmful to the female, as the "sperm packet" consumes resources in her body that she could otherwise devote to making more eggs.
DISCUSSION
It's not like the numbers are actually declining. It's just the rise in these self-sufficient females have given male icerya purchasi no choice but to join the Men Going Their Own Way movement. Scientists just need to head on over to the-spearhead.com to find swarms of them bitching about sperm packets and the evolutionary benefits of sexual reproduction.