29 Million-Year-Old Grasshopper Eggs Discovered in Oregon

Researchers Unearth Ancient Insect Reproductive Insights from Fossilized Egg Clutch

National Park Service employees in Oregon discovered a clutch of grasshopper eggs that were laid 29 million years ago, which has remained almost intact over the ensuing millennia.
The eggs were inside a protective pod called an ootheca that had become mineralized over the millennia.
Researchers used micro-CT scans to study the eggs and discovered a protein layer that was holding everything together.
Such large, elliptically curved eggs in a large clutch size (~50 eggs in total) are unknown from any other living groups of insects other than grasshoppers and locusts.
The discovery has given scientists exciting new insights into the reproductive lives of ancient insects.