Here’s a report of a study arguing for the greater use of females, and female characteristics, in taxonomy – using praying mantids as exemplars.
Importantly, paying more attention to female genitalia allowed the researchers – Sydney Brannoch and Gavin Svenson – to correct previous errors.
“As a feminist biologist, I often questioned why female specimens weren’t used to diagnose most species,” said Brannoch, a Ph.D. student. Her research with Svenson examined 30 praying mantis specimens and demonstrated that it was possible to accurately classify them by species using the female-specific characteristics.
Thanks to Becky for passing this along.