The Compression Mating Fossil of Sciarid Fly (Diptera: Sciaridae) from Shiobara, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan

Yui Takahashi; Mitsuaki Sutou; Shûhei Yamamoto

doi:10.2517/2016PR031

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1 July 2017 The Compression Mating Fossil of Sciarid Fly (Diptera: Sciaridae) from Shiobara, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan

Yui Takahashi, Mitsuaki Sutou, Shûhei Yamamoto

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Paleontological Research, 21(3):288-292 (2017). https://doi.org/10.2517/2016PR031

Abstract

Preservations illustrating insect reproductive behaviors are much rarer in compression fossils than in amber. We discovered a copulating compression fossil of the sciarid flies from the Pleistocene Shiobara Group, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan, which is briefly described herein. The specimen represents one of the rare examples of a compression fossil showing mating dipteran insects. This finding implies that the small bodies of sciarid flies which readily fall onto the water surface may have contributed to the preservation of our copulating fossil. Moreover, the depositional environment of the paleo-Shiobara Lake was the main factor that served to preserve this specimen.

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Yui Takahashi, Mitsuaki Sutou, and Shûhei Yamamoto "The Compression Mating Fossil of Sciarid Fly (Diptera: Sciaridae) from Shiobara, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan," Paleontological Research 21(3), 288-292, (1 July 2017). https://doi.org/10.2517/2016PR031

Received: 23 October 2015; Accepted: 1 November 2016; Published: 1 July 2017

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