[2] The genus can be distinguished from other genera of Speleketorinae by the presence of articulated spines on the anterior side of their legs, and by their unique genitalia.

[4] Female Neotrogla drain males of seminal fluid even when they are too young to reproduce, giving weight to this theory, according to entomologist Kazunori Yoshizawa who co-authored the first study of the insects' mating behavior.

[2] According to Yoshizawa, the animal offers a singular chance to study the conflict between the sexes and the role of sexual selection in evolution.

[5] In 2017, Kazunori Yoshizawa, Rodrigo Ferreira, Yoshitaka Kamimura and Charles Lienhard have been awarded an Ig Nobel Prize in biology "for their discovery of a female penis, and a male vagina, in a cave insect".

[6] Meanwhile, critics have argued that it does not fit the intromittent organ definition of "a structure that enters the female genital tract and deposits sperm".

[2] In 2010, entomologist Charles Lienhard assigned the insects to a new genus, designating Neotrogla brasiliensis as the type species.