Aetiology

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.

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.