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Synchroton image of male H. papillosa including coloured representation of sexual organs.
Only the bivalved external shells of ostracods are usually preserved in the fossil record. However, Harbinia micropapillosa is best known because in the Cretaceous of Brazil the internal anatomy is preserved in phosphate.
This internal anatomy suggests that ostracods in the Cretaceous reproduced using giant sperm in the same way that their living relatives do.