These Two Insects Have Been At It For 165 Million Years
Ancient Love Li et al. Warning: ancient insect porn. Scientists in northeastern China have discovered the oldest fossil record of insect sex (insex?), in the form of a pair of froghoppers in an eternal embrace. Froghoppers are little bugs, still around today, that hop from plant to plant like a frog. What does this stony insect sex bring to the table for science? Well, it seems that froghoppers' genitalia and mating habits probably haven't changed much since the Middle Jurassic, 165 million years ago. Froghopper Genetalia, Unchanged For 165 Million Years Li et al. Since not a lot of ancient insects were preserved in the act, scientists don't have a whole lot of evidence to go on for determining how mating behaviors might have changed over the millennia....