A water boatman. (Flickr/Myrioram)
A water bug that produces a very loud noise by rubbing its penis and abdomen together has just been discovered during a study by French and Scottish scientists. Thats correct, this bug has a penis song and not only is it fascinating how this bug produces this song, but this bug has been deemed as the loudest animal on earth based on its size. The water insect goes by the name Micronecta Scholtzi.
M. Scholtzi was said to have reached a volume of about 99.2 decibels, which is about the volume of sitting in the front row at an orchestra. The team of French and Scottish experts found that the songs of M. scholtzi reached 78.9 decibels on average, which is similar to the volume of a passing freight train. They say the reason that they haven’t already deafened the human race is because of where the Scholtzi spends most of its time… in the water. Water causes sound to lose about 99% of the volume when it transfers to the air, but that doesn’t mean that it cant be heard with the human ear. Dr. James Windmill, from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, was quoted by the BBC as saying that, “The song is so loud that a person walking along the bank can actually hear these tiny creatures singing from the bottom of the river.” The Micronecta Scholtzi has definitely proved that size doesn’t matter… only noise volume does.