Love (or Fungus) is Forever

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Scientists Find Fossils in Sexual Union

 

November 03, 2005 11:03 AM EST

 

LUCKNOW, India - This was no one-night stand. Scientists in India

say they have discovered two fossils fused together in sexual union

for 65 million years.

 

The findings were published in the October edition of the Indian

journal "Current Science," which said it was the first time that

sexual copulation had been discovered in a fossil state, according

to the Press Trust of India news agency.

 

But voyeurs will need a microscope to view the eternal lovers.

 

The fossils are tiny swarm cells, a stage in the development of the

fungus myxomycetes, also known as slime molds.

 

The cells reproduce by "fusing," Ranjeet Kar of the Birbal Sahni

Institute of Palaeobotany in Lucknow reportedly told PTI. Once the

cells fuse, long, threadlike appendages known as flagella, are lost,

he said.

 

Finding the fossils in a fused position and with their flagella

shed, is evidence that the two cells were having sex, Kar said.

 

"The sexual organs being delicate and the time of conjugation short

lived, it is indeed rare to get this stage in the fossil state," the

study said.

 

The cells were discovered in a 30-foot deep dry well in the state of

Madhya Pradesh.