If you walk by a European river on a summer’s day, you might get to hear the animal kingdom’s champion vocalist. His song sounds like a train of chirps, and from a metre away, it’s as loud as whirring ...

The water boatman, Micronecta scholtzi, a 2 mm European river bug which may be the loudest animal on earth for its size. By Jérôme Sueur, National Muse Scientists have discovered that the water ...

This time, they've got their eye on a tiny part of the tiny 'water boatman' insect. Namely, its penis. That's because by "rubbing" its penis against its tummy, males of the Micronecta scholtzi species ...

Males of the Micronecta scholtzi species serenade their sweethearts with a three-part song made by rubbing their genitalia against their abdomens, but it remains a mystery how or why the creatures ...

Scientists have shown for the first time that the loudest animal on earth, relative to its body size, is the tiny water boatman, Micronecta scholtzi. At 99.2 decibels, this represents the equivalent ...