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novapsycheFossilised crustacean boasts oldest penis
A newly discovered 425 million-year-old fossil boasts a lurid claim to fame - it has the oldest penis on record.
The five millimetre long crustacean, discovered by UK and US researchers, has been named Colymbosathon ecplecticos - derived from the Greek for "astounding swimmer with a large penis".
The well-endowed creature is surprisingly similar to modern relatives, despite being entombed nearly half a billion years ago, says the team.
David Siveter, a paleontologist at the University of Leicester, and colleagues unearthed the clamlike species in a rock formation in Herefordshire, UK. The creature possesses a hard shell, an organ for grabbing prey, six gills, as well as a "copulatory organ [that] is large and stout", says the team.
The newly discovered fossil belongs to a subclass of crustaceans known as ostracods. These are among the most abundant fossils on Earth as they are more easily preserved than softer animals because of their hard shells. They are also plentiful with 33,000 ostracod species found throughout history. The oldest fossilised ostracod shell is about 500 million years old.
However, this latest find is unprecedented in that the fossil has preserved not just the shell but the shape of the creature's soft tissue - a lucky result of environmental conditions 425 million years ago.
The virile crustacean was preserved by ash from a volcanic eruption swirling to the bottom of a sea that submerged western England 425 million years ago.
[...] "It's very exciting to get an animal that looks so modern but dates back 425 million years, and never at this age have you got the preservation of the soft parts as well," says David Briggs, a paleontologist at Yale University and member of the team.
A newly discovered 425 million-year-old fossil boasts a lurid claim to fame - it has the oldest penis on record.
The five millimetre long crustacean, discovered by UK and US researchers, has been named Colymbosathon ecplecticos - derived from the Greek for "astounding swimmer with a large penis".
The well-endowed creature is surprisingly similar to modern relatives, despite being entombed nearly half a billion years ago, says the team.
David Siveter, a paleontologist at the University of Leicester, and colleagues unearthed the clamlike species in a rock formation in Herefordshire, UK. The creature possesses a hard shell, an organ for grabbing prey, six gills, as well as a "copulatory organ [that] is large and stout", says the team.
The newly discovered fossil belongs to a subclass of crustaceans known as ostracods. These are among the most abundant fossils on Earth as they are more easily preserved than softer animals because of their hard shells. They are also plentiful with 33,000 ostracod species found throughout history. The oldest fossilised ostracod shell is about 500 million years old.
However, this latest find is unprecedented in that the fossil has preserved not just the shell but the shape of the creature's soft tissue - a lucky result of environmental conditions 425 million years ago.
The virile crustacean was preserved by ash from a volcanic eruption swirling to the bottom of a sea that submerged western England 425 million years ago.
[...] "It's very exciting to get an animal that looks so modern but dates back 425 million years, and never at this age have you got the preservation of the soft parts as well," says David Briggs, a paleontologist at Yale University and member of the team.