Eternal Love: Fossilized Froghoppers Reveal Past Mating Positions

You might call it an undying love. And for a pair of fossilized mating froghoppers, it's written in stone. 

This group of Hemipteran insects who are typically known for their skilled ability to jump from plant to plant were caught in the act via the preservation of a 165-million-year-old stone fossil from the Jurassic period that was discovered in northeastern China.

"We found these two very rare copulating froghoppers, which provide a glimpse of interesting insect behavior and important data to understand their mating position and genitalia orientation during the Middle Jurassic," said co-author Dong Ren of Capital Normal University in China, via a press release.

National Geographic notes that fossils of mating insects are rare, creating an elusive challenge for scientists studying the evolution of the mating position and how genitalia originated in insects.

Let's take a look at the image seen through the fossil.

Researchers note that the pair is mating in a modern belly-to-belly position, not unlike the modern-day froghoppers do. Scientists can now speculate based on this fossil that froghoppers' mating position and genital symmetry remained relatively unchanged throughout time.

At this time, only 33 examples of copulating insects are known to have existed. The oldest fossil found before the froghoppers fossil discovery was that of a specimen in Lebanon that showed two tiny flies from a 135-million-year-old amber.

Researchers hope this and other fossils can give greater insight into the past mating rituals of insects and other animals.

More information regarding the study can be found via the journal PLoS One.