A 99 million year old arachnid fossil known as the harvestman which is a spider ancestor of daddy longlegs, was found in Myanmar. Apart from this, this prehistoric arachnid also showcases its distinct penis, that includes a heart shaped tip in a twisted shape, which is also erect at the time it became fossilized.

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According to curator for arachnid collections Jason Dunlop, at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin, it was really surprising to see the spider's genitals where they are usually tucked away inside the body.

Apparently, arachnid genitals come in different forms. Some have grasperlike pedipalps where they are used to send a sperm bundle to females. Some spiders even use clever tactics, such as the male orb spiders, where they deploy their pedipalps and leave them inside a mate in order to escape from cannibal females.

On the other hand, the harvestmen spiders have penises that can extend outside their bodies like mammals do. However when not tin use, these are tucked inside the body. This harvestman specimen is also scientifically known as the Halitherses grimaldii which is a very ancient species. Dunlop and his team received this from a private collector where there are only 38 harvestman fossils ever found in the world today.

However, harvestman genitals are even more elusive as this is the first ever amber specimen that visibly displays the well preserved structure of the penis, says Dunlop.

Dunlop describes the details of this penis such as its shape, form of the tip and other attributes of this amber specimen as perfectly fitting of the harvestman family tree. There are no exact match for any penis shape in any living species today.

Researchers now believe that this ancient species comes from ancient and extinct family of harvestmen, that is previously unknown. The team also investigated other new spider species that are trapped inside Burmese amber, however, none of them are preserved showing their genitals. 

This ancient arachnid penis extends more than half a millimeter from its lower abdomen. The round shaped body of the harvestman is measured about two millimeters long with gangly legs. The glans of the harvestman's penis is heart shaped with an additional structure known as the stylus which is curvy in shape, twisting to the right.

There is no female harvestman trapped inside the amber, where the team believes that this erect arachnid was in mating form when the amber succumbed on him but the female was able to escape or was probably located nearby. 

Dunlop also says that harvestmen's penises can be pushed out with increasing blood pressure where it is also possible that the animal struggled so hard when it got caught on the tree resin where its blood pressure spiked as the penis was pushed out during this struggle.

This new study is published in the journal The Science of Nature.