A penis in amber
Wednesday, February 3, 2016 - 06:44
in Paleontology & Archaeology
A research team led by Jason Dunlop from the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin, Germany, published in the international journal The Science of Nature the unusual discovery of a 99 million year old harvestman with an extended penis. Male harvestmen transfer sperm directly into the female. In modern animals the fine structure of this penis is extremely important for identifying and placing the different species. The new fossil discovery shows that harvestmen in the Cretaceous mated in the same way as animals today. Based on the large eyes and spatula-like penis tip, the scientists were also able to describe the fossil in a new, extinct family.