Entomologist George Poinar Jr. discovered something rare while observing a 30-million-year-old piece of Dominican amber: an extinct species of cockroach, complete with sperm cells. This is the “first fossilized cockroach sperm” ever found.
Cockroach preserved in amber.
Amber is renowned for preserving flora and fauna that unfortunately got stuck in its path. It provides remarkable insights into life long ago, from delicate flowers to bizarre insects.
The fossilized cockroach measures about 7mm in length, featuring long spines used for defense on its legs. Interestingly, the fossil contains dark-acrosome sperm cells, which are structures that cover the head of the sperm, making fossilized sperm exceptionally rare. The sperm cells were found in the cockroach’s abdomen.
This cockroach species has been named Supella dominicana. Its closest modern relatives are found in Asia and Africa, far from the Dominican Republic. This raises a mysterious question: what led to the extinction of this cockroach species when it is currently quite difficult to eliminate them?
It seems that experts will not break the amber to retrieve those sperm cells. The cockroach is part of history, and it will forever remain in the past.
