[MAILONLINE] The 100-million-year-old love triangle: Three damselflies locked in a courtship battle are found trapped in ancient amber----Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology Chinese Academy of Sciences

20 March 2017, By DAISY DUNNE FOR MAILONLINE

Three male damselflies locked in a courtship battle have been found frozen in time in a piece of ancient amber.

Dating back to 100 million years ago, the clear amber shows males waving their enlarged legs in the hopes of attracting a female. The new find suggests complex damselfly courtship behaviour goes as far back as the dinosaur age.

Three male damselflies locked in a courtship battle have been found frozen in time in a piece of ancient amber (left). The insect had enlarged leg parts used to attract females (pictured right in an observational drawing)

THE DAMSELFLY

The ancient damselfly found suspended in the amber was named Yijenplatycnemis huangi by the researchers. The insect had enlarged leg parts known as tibia, which researchers believed were used to attract females. 'Y. huangi has spectacular extremely expanded, pod-like tibiae, helping to fend off other suitors as well as attract mating females, increasing the chances of successful mating,' they said. They added that the shape and colouring of the legs were similar to the wings of ancient insects. 'There is an eye-shaped spot in the middle of the hindleg, quite like some recent butterfly eye-spots,' the researchers said. These well-developed eye-spots may have been used to imitate the eyes of larger animals in an attempt to ward off predators. But researchers also suggested that the eyes may have been used to attract females, in a similar way to peacock eye-spots.

The mid-Cretaceous fossil, which was found in the Hukawng Valley, Burma, is the first to bring to light the courtship behaviour of ancient damselflies. That's because fossils of ancient dragonflies and damselflies are extremely rare as the soft bodies of insects are not easily preserved

Three male damselflies locked in a courtship battle have been found frozen in time in a piece of ancient amber.

'Y. huangi has spectacular extremely expanded, pod-like tibiae, helping to fend off other suitors as well as attract mating females, increasing the chances of successful mating,' they said. Modern damselflies have acquired similar but less well developed leg parts. 'The six extremely expanded tibiae of Y. huangi could also have a signalling function for courtship displays,' the researchers added.

The males had enlarged asymmetric leg parts, pictured, used to attract a mate. Pictured is an artist's impression of the ancient courtship behaviour

'The tibia of Y. huangi are asymmetric and pod-shaped, especially the hindleg tibia with a semi-circular outline.' 'This pod-like shape would make waving slower due to air resistance.' The specially evolved leg parts of the damselfly would have made males more easily noticed, the researchers said. They added that the shape and colouring of the legs were similar to the wings of ancient insects.

The damselflies had an eye-shaped spot in the middle of the hindleg, like some recent butterly eye-spots (pictured)

'There is an eye-shaped spot in the middle of the hindleg, quite like some recent butterfly eye-spots,' the researchers said. These well-developed eye-spots may have been used to imitate the eyes of larger animals in an attempt to ward off predators. But researchers also suggested that the eyes may have been used to attract females, in a similar way to peacock eye-spots.

From: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4330808/Damselflies-trapped-100-million-year-old-amber.html