Fossil insects found inside...other fossil insects

[Halichoeres]

Meet Xenomorphia resurrecta, one of four new parasitoid wasp species from the Paleogene of France. (The others are X. handschini, Coptera anka, and Palaeortona quercyensis.) Xenomorphia is named after the xenomorph aliens from the Alien franchise. These wasps were found inside of fossilized flies, pretty amazing stuff.



Paper is open access, at least in the US: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-05654-y

And it's not always that fossil insects get a write-up in the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/28/science/wasps-parasites-fossils.html

[Lizerd]

Gotta check this out, this is really interesting  thanks for sharing!

[Libraraptor]

One of the publishers is Dr. Schwermann who leads the Dinosaur dig in Balve, Sauerland I attended.  He told me about it in a break and I was really amazed at it!

[Ravonium]

I nearly posted this!    Anyways, nice discovery, and a fossilised parasitoid wasp larva is one of the more interesting non-amber insect discoveries so far 

[Lizerd]

Am I the only one who thinks this, but does the fly look like the alien queen's egg sac? It would make a lot of sense if that was the case 

[Faelrin]

About time they name a genus from these creepy things that surely served as inspiration for the creatures in that film franchise. Pretty neat discovery though.

[Lizerd]

About time they name a genus from these creepy things that surely served as inspiration for the creatures in that film franchise. Pretty neat discovery though.

A bit off topic but I actually don't think so, as they were modeled after... not child friendly stuff 
As for the discovery it's fascinating, showing early parasites existed.

[Halichoeres]

About time they name a genus from these creepy things that surely served as inspiration for the creatures in that film franchise. Pretty neat discovery though.

A bit off topic but I actually don't think so, as they were modeled after... not child friendly stuff 
As for the discovery it's fascinating, showing early parasites existed.

Geiger certainly used human anatomy for inspiration, but his designs also reek of arthropod inspiration. The biology alone, a queen with an exoskeleton that lays eggs whose progeny undergo metamorphosis--that's hymenopteran all over.

[Lizerd]

I'm not shaying that there was no inspiration on appearance, but a lot of it is again so twisted and disgusting talking about it here would get anyone a ban.

[Faelrin]

A bit late response, but yeah I was definitely getting at the life cycle of the creatures in the film's, etc. I know there's a lot of other things (like human anatomy, and possibly goblin sharks or really anything else with similar 'retractable' jaws) that served as inspiration for their designs.

[stargatedalek]

I always thought there was some jellyfish influence, the multi-generational life cycle is something unique to them if I'm not mistaken?

[Halichoeres]

The closest thing I can think of with a set of jaws like the xenomorphs is the moray eel. https://www.howitworksdaily.com/how-moray-eels-feed/

@stargatedalek What do you mean by multi-generational life cycle? Do you mean two different modes of reproduction? Aphids can alternate between sexual and asexual reproduction, if that's what you mean.

[stargatedalek]

The closest thing I can think of with a set of jaws like the xenomorphs is the moray eel. https://www.howitworksdaily.com/how-moray-eels-feed/

@stargatedalek What do you mean by multi-generational life cycle? Do you mean two different modes of reproduction? Aphids can alternate between sexual and asexual reproduction, if that's what you mean.

I meant only the second generation of jellyfish resemble the bell shaped ones we recognize, they produce eggs which become sedentary animals that produce eggs that become free swimming bell shaped jellies and so on.

Not completely unlike the face-hugger which lays an egg in a host then dies, then that egg becomes a traditional xenomorph and if it eventually becomes a queen it will lay eggs that become face-huggers. On that note, I guess they're also gamergates since any worker can become a queen if in the position to take that role.

[Halichoeres]

The closest thing I can think of with a set of jaws like the xenomorphs is the moray eel. https://www.howitworksdaily.com/how-moray-eels-feed/

@stargatedalek What do you mean by multi-generational life cycle? Do you mean two different modes of reproduction? Aphids can alternate between sexual and asexual reproduction, if that's what you mean.

I meant only the second generation of jellyfish resemble the bell shaped ones we recognize, they produce eggs which become sedentary animals that produce eggs that become free swimming bell shaped jellies and so on.

Not completely unlike the face-hugger which lays an egg in a host then dies, then that egg becomes a traditional xenomorph and if it eventually becomes a queen it will lay eggs that become face-huggers. On that note, I guess they're also gamergates since any worker can become a queen if in the position to take that role.

Oh, I see. To me that resembles the life cycle of lots of parasites, like trematodes, which have a parasitic phase and a free-living phase. I've always thought of the xenomorphs as a (conceptual) hybrid of those and social insects like ants.

[Lizerd]

They are fascinating creatures, almost a mockery of the life around it. But the wasp fossil is cooler