Insects from 38 million years ago caught mating in preserved in amber

By Jim Leffman via SWNS

A pair of amorous insects from 38 million years ago have been caught at it and preserved in amber.

The randy pair of termites became trapped in the fossilized tree resin and were discovered at the Yantarny mine in Kaliningrad, Russia.

Researchers at the Czech Academy of Sciences have now managed to recreate the circumstances of their entrapment which sheds a light on ancient insect behavior.

Though now extinct, the species Electrotermes affinis were compared to modern termites to show how their unusual mating position came about.

Dr. Aleš Buček explained: "The male and female termites in amber appeared to be a mating pair belonging to the extinct species Electrotermes affinis.

"Fossils preserving evidence of animal behavior have rarely been described.

"Here, we used the postures of two termites preserved in amber to reconstruct their behavior prior to entrapment.

"However, the insects were preserved side-by-side rather than in the expected front-to-back orientation."

So the team used modern termites, trapping one whilst mating and then seeing how the other one behaved.

Dr. Buček added: "To simulate the entrapment process,we conducted experiments with Formosan termites, a living termite species that has the same mating behavior as extinct E. affinis.

"We discovered the sticky trap alters the animals’ behavior, with the leader becoming trapped first and the follower walking around the immobilized insect before becoming trapped next to it."

Their study, published in the journal PNAS, illuminates ancient mating behavior and provides a framework for inferring social behavior from fossilized remains.

Dr. Buček said: "Our approach refines the interpretation of fossilized behavior by accounting for spatial signatures left by trapped organisms."