Female water striders don’t like the bad boys and they don’t even have to reach the age of 30 before they wise up about choices in males.

Water striders are those insects commonly seen skittering hurriedly across the surface of streams but when it comes to romance, male water striders who played it cool mated with more females than did groups of aggressive males, according to a study led by Omar Tonsi Eldakar of the University of Arizona’s Arizona Research Laboratories.

Previous studies have found that more sexually aggressive males are the most successful at reproducing, said Eldakar, now a postdoctoral research associate in UA’s Center for Insect Science, but in the previous studies he says the females were not able to leave areas populated by sexually aggressive males.

By simulating a more natural situation, the current study showed that female water striders moved away from areas where they were being harassed by males. The females preferred to hang out in locations where the males did not pursue females relentlessly.

Date A Water Strider, Where Nice Guys Get The Girls.