Dribbling, fossilized, face to face - BBC

Ancient insects, dead at the time of copulation, told scientists about the evolution of sexual behavior. It turned out that the missionary position for at least 165 million years.

missionary position was not invented by people. Small insects, hopping from branch to branch tens of millions of years ago, even in those early days when mating posture preferred face-to-face.

This conclusion Chinese scientists led by Shu Li of Beijing Normal University (China). Exploring the fossilized remains of many insects in the region of Inner Mongolia in the north-east of the country, they found unprecedented for science rarity – a couple copulating insects.

spittlebugs They were slobbering, or slyunyavitsy Anthoscytina perpetua, which feed on plant sap and jump from one stem to another.

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first time in biology, scientists have described four new species of animals living in the same territory. They were legless lizards living near the … ?

The researchers found that the death of these insects caught in such an embarrassing moment 165 million years ago.

So spittlebugs became the oldest animals known to science, petrified at copulation. Up to this point only 33 times the scientists managed to find these fossilized insects, most of them have been found in amber. The oldest, until recently, were considered two flies, petrified during sex 135 million years ago in what is now Lebanon.

«It happens so rarely! I worked on the topic since 1999 and has seen more than half a million fossils “- says Chunkun Shi, co-author of the study.

authors with touching the title “Eternal Love: Ancient find copulating insects from the Middle Jurassic period”, published in the journal PloS ONE , said that while the samples had been in the collection of the university, while they were not interested researchers .

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examining museum collections of rocks, biologists, including Russian, came across a great variety of insects, small size, who lived about 300 … ?

value of such findings is that the fossilized animals help scientists figure out not only the features of their structure, but also behavioral characteristics, in particular the characteristics of sexual behavior. Entomologists know that now living insects mating use a variety of poses and techniques, but most often the male insect on top. “There is no limit diversity,” – says Marie Herbershtayn, a specialist in behavioral ecology of Macquarie University in Sydney.

Evolution of sexual behavior of insects argues that modern position on top of the male insects have preceded the position of the female from above, explains the researcher. However, the same theory is that such a transition is required for an intermediate position – the abdomen to the abdomen (missionary).

know that it is still the same resort spittlebugs, however, depending on the circumstances: being on a piece, they make love while sideways to each other, and on the stem – looking at each other.

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absence of fossil specimens made this speculative theory. “It requires the acknowledgment for just such samples”, – she said. “The fossils of insects in this place is so good that we can see the details of their structure, including hairs,” – says Shi.

After studying a couple of

spittlebugs under a microscope, the researchers found that the insects did mated at death: male copulatory organ of the male (aedeagus) was a seminal receptacle in the female, and the 8th and 9th abdominal segments of the male are bent toward the female.

«We can see the male and female organs. It’s really rare, “- says Shi.

What caused the death of these insects had not managed to produce offspring? Scientists believe that the case in the volcano, which erupted led to the release of toxic gas that killed all life around, including germs and bacteria, without which the deceased couple turned to stone, can not be resolved.

Does this finding on the evolution of sexual behavior not only insects, but other animals? “Think about it. On the planet insects than any other species. So, studying the sexual behavior of insects, we understand the behavior of most animals, “- said Herbershtayn.