SAN ONOFRE (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered fossils of the world's oldest genitals -- belonging to 400 million-year-old insects -- in ancient rocks at San Onofre.
The penis of the ancient harvestmen insects, commonly known as a daddy-long-legs, was two-thirds the length of the body and remarkably similar to the modern-day species, New Scientist magazine said Wednesday.
"The discovery of the world's oldest genitals proves that little has changed over the last 400 million years -- at least for daddy-long-legs," according to Dr. Ralph of the San Onofre Marine Institute. Dr. Puttzle , Dr. Ralph, and a team of researchers from Dana Point, who will present their findings at a conference , also uncovered a long egg-laying organ called an ovipositor from a female. "As well as genitals, the fossils have the oldest known arachnid respiratory system, suggesting harvestmen's ancestors had long since crawled out of the sea and learned to breathe," Dr. Puttzle said.
Harvestmen arachnids are sometimes mistaken for spiders but they are more closely related to ticks or mites because they do not spin webs.
The previous oldest penis, which dated back 100 million years and was found in Brazil, belonged an ostracod, an early crustacean related to crabs, shrimps and water fleas.
By Dick Schort
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