Ancient sperm found fossilised in amber

[Eldorado 49,475]

Scientists have discovered what they believe to be the oldest fossilised animal sperm from around 100 million years ago.

The “spectacular find” was unearthed by an international team of palaeontologists preserved inside a female ostracod – a type of tiny crustacean that resembles a mussel.

Researchers believe the female mated shortly before becoming trapped in the resin.

Full story at ITV news UK: Link

[seanjo 5,647]

Am I the only one that had an image of some ape like creature rubbing up against a tree reading the headline?

[Eldorado 49,475]

24 minutes ago, seanjo said:

Am I the only one that had an image of some ape like creature rubbing up against a tree reading the headline?

A tree named Amber!

[mesuma 163]

6 hours ago, seanjo said:

Am I the only one that had an image of some ape like creature rubbing up against a tree reading the headline?

I was trying to work out how T Rexs did it.

[Susanc241 1,234]

At first I wondered how a marine creature could possibly be caught up in sap from a tree...but apparently there are some land based crustaceans now so maybe there were back then. What do I know?

[Big Jim 5,332]

I admit, I was wondering how the tree got involved.

[XenoFish 104,122]

6 minutes ago, Big Jim said:

I admit, I was wondering how the tree got involved.

[Carnoferox 5,989]

10 hours ago, Susanc241 said:

At first I wondered how a marine creature could possibly be caught up in sap from a tree...but apparently there are some land based crustaceans now so maybe there were back then. What do I know?

The inclusion of marine invertebrates like these ostracods in the Burmese amber suggests that the forests were close to the coastline and may have experienced periodic flooding. There was even an ammonite found in another piece of Burmese amber.

https://sci-hub.tw/https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2020.1661

https://www.pnas.org/content/116/23/11345