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Home Other Fossil Friday

#FossilFriday: The scent of a 54-million-year-old insect

An ancient pheromone spray.

Mihai Andrei by Mihai Andrei
October 14, 2016
in Fossil Friday
Reading Time: 1 min read
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Credit: PETER T. RÜHR / ZOOLOGISCHES FORSCHUNGSMUSEUM ALEXANDER KOENIG

After discovering a spectacularly preserved specimen in 54-million-year-old amber, researchers from Germany, Poland, and India created a 3D model of the insect. The model came out so good that they could study some “pockets” which the ancient female midges likely used to collect, store and spray pheromones to attract a mate.

Today’s midges, though, are much simpler. They release pheromones from their abdomen using “evaporator” structures and don’t have any more pockets.

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Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Andrei's background is in geophysics, and he's been fascinated by it ever since he was a child. Feeling that there is a gap between scientists and the general audience, he started ZME Science -- and the results are what you see today.

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