Fossil reveals world's oldest genitals

New Scientist ^ | 09/22/03 | Rob Edwards

[bedolido]

The discovery of the world's oldest genitals proves that little has changed over the last 400 million years - at least for daddy-long-legs.

Fossils of harvestmen arachnids (Opiliones) have been found by palaeontologists in an ancient rock at Rhynie near Aberdeen in Scotland. Preserved within a male is a penis two-thirds the length of his body, and on a female there is a long egg-laying organ known as an ovipositor.

The organs are remarkably similar to those in modern-day species of harvestmen. Dubbed daddy-long-legs along with crane flies, harvestmen are not formally classified as spiders because they do not spin webs.

Between 400 million and 412 million years ago, Rhynie was 28° south of the equator on the ancient continent of Laurussia.

Hot springs like those in Yellowstone National Park in the US deposited silica, trapping animals and plants. Since their discovery in 1912, the silica formations have yielded a series of world firsts in well-preserved arthropods. This week a team led by Jason Dunlop from Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany, will tell a conference in Aberdeen about the harvestmen fossils.

As well as genitals, the fossils have the oldest known arachnid respiratory system, suggesting harvestmen's ancestors had long since crawled out of the sea and learned to breathe. Today's harvestmen also possess a very similar pair of large, branching trachea.

Rob Edwards, Edinburgh

[bedolido]

[N. Theknow]

A little girl was working in the garden with her father. She saw an arachnid and asked her father what it was. He said it was a Daddy-longlegs.

She watched as it moved over and mounted another arachnid. She asked her father what kind of bug it had just crawled on top of and he replied that it was another Daddy-longlegs.

The little girl raised her trowel and smashed both arachnids and said, "We're not going to have that crap going on in our garden,"

[11th Earl of Mar]

...found while cleaning out Strom Thurmond's office?

[Truth666]

"The organs are remarkably similar to those in modern-day species of harvestmen."
Would the new scientist show us photos with the differences ?

[TheCrusader]

"Preserved within a male is a penis two-thirds the length of his body,"

Wow. This takes Freud's penis envy to new lengths.

[bedolido]

"Preserved within a male is a penis two-thirds the length of his body,"
Wow. This takes Freud's penis envy to new lengths.

Musta had the female spiders running away in fear.

[theFIRMbss]

>little has changed over the last 400 million years - at least for daddy-long-legs

Don't let them kid you --
Everything's changed. Nowadays,
Madonna would star

with, say, Hugh Jackman,
and there'd be old genitals
all over the place...

[Clemenza]

And I thought that nude, backslapping geezer at my gym had the oldest set of genitals.

[Billthedrill]

That headline sure gave me a scare. For a minute I thought the neighbors had their telephoto lens out again...

[Sender]

Watch it, buster.

[11th Earl of Mar]

"Preserved within a male is a penis two-thirds the length of his body"

I think I found my long-lost great, great grandfather.

[Like grandfather, like grandson.]

[ClearCase_guy]

How come they stopped evolving 400 million years ago? Did they make it to perfection? Is being a daddy-long-legs the top of the world?

[StriperSniper]

Dubbed daddy-long-legs along with crane flies, harvestmen are not formally classified as spiders because they do not spin webs.

Crane flies are not clasified as spiders not because they dont spin webs, but because they are insects not arachnids.

[Cicero]

Has anyone told bill clinton? This is better than Egyptian mummies.

[bedolido]

Dubbed daddy-long-legs along with crane flies, harvestmen are not formally classified as spiders because they do not spin webs.

Trapper spiders spin webs, Hunter spider (in most cases) do not. They hunt and catch their prey.

[melsec]

That is one straight thinkin' little girl! ROTFL

God Bless

Mel

[StriperSniper]

Yeah, but there is no excuse for the author confusing an insect(crane fly) with an arachnid(spiders, harvestmen, scorpions, etc.).

[bedolido]

Yeah, but there is no excuse for the author confusing an insect(crane fly) with an arachnid(spiders, harvestmen, scorpions, etc.).

You are correct sir! They should've been more thorough. Afterall, the article is from "New Scientist"... lol

[StriperSniper]

Afterall, the article is from "New Scientist"... lol

Must be like "New Math". ;-)