Close up image showing the parallel position of the termites, with the female touching the male on the left. (Image credit: Dr. Aleš Buček (OIST/The Czech Academy of Sciences))
LiveScience has a story about insect fossils in amber. Discovered in a Russian mine, two mating termites in amber preserves behavior that is rarely seen in the fossil record. The amber dates to the Eocene about 38 million years ago. The fossil was purchased by A Czech scientist in an online fossil shop. The specimen was described in the journal PNAS.
In this case, the fossil was Eocene Baltic amber from a mine in Yantarny, Kaliningrad, which is part of Russia. Bubbles in the amber obscured the posterior part of the termites' abdomens, so the team used a 3D imaging technique called X-ray microtomography to look inside the fossil and identify them as male and female.
The two termites were preserved side by side, with the female's mouth touching the tip of the male's abdomen. Close abdomen contact is part of a common mating behavior in living termites called tandem running. Mating pairs use tandem running to stay together while looking for nest sites. However, living termites run in a straight line, with one termite following directly behind the other, so the side-by-side position of the fossilized pair would be unusual for this behavior.
