Hobbies And Interests
Insects
Bees and mosquitoes mate only once in their lives. The males die soon after mating. The female receives and stores enough sperm in her seminal receptacles from that one mating to fertilize all the eggs she will ever produce. Female mosquitoes lay about 100 eggs every third night of their lifespan, which maxes out at about 100 days. Queen bees can live as long as five years and lay 2,000 eggs a day.
Crustaceans
A mature female lobster mates every time she molts to a new and larger shell (exoskeleton). She holds the sperm in her spermatheca until she is ready to spawn (produce eggs), and the sperm has about a nine-month expiration date.
Mollusks
Snails are hermaphrodites -- each snail has both male and female organs, but cannot fertilize itself. Instead, two snails of the same species fertilize each other by depositing sperm in the spermatheca. Two snails courting and exchanging sperm can last up to 20 hours and look more like wrestling than mating.
Worms
Earthworms are also hermaphrodites. They join together while facing in opposite directions and swap sperm, each into the other's seminal receptacle.