World's oldest sperm discovered in Queensland cave

The oldest sperm, which is said to be about 17 million years old, was found in seed shrimp fossil at Riversleigh world heritage site.

17:16 15 May 2014

The oldest sperm in the world, which is said to be about 17 million years old, was found from a tiny fossilized shrimp in a Queensland cave in the Riversleigh world heritage site by a team from the University of New South Wales. Researchers say that that it dates back from the Miocene epoch. 

 

UNSW paleontologist Professor Mike Archer said: “The Riversleigh fossil deposits in remote northwestern Queensland have been the site of the discovery of many extraordinary prehistoric Australian animals, such as giant, toothed platypuses and flesh-eating kangaroos. So we have become used to delightfully unexpected surprises in what turns up there.

 

“But the discovery of fossil sperm, complete with sperm nuclei, was totally unexpected. It now makes us wonder what other types of extraordinary preservation await discovery in these deposits.”

 

Meanwhile, study researcher Renate Matzke-Karasz, a geobiologist at Ludwig-Maximilian-University, said that the findings “strongly suggests that the mode of reproduction in these tiny crustaceans has remained virtually unchanged to this day”.