The dawn of the deed : the prehistoric origins of sex / John A. Long.

Chicago : the University of Chicago Press, 2012.

278 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Originally published under the title: Hung like an Argentine Duck: a journey back in time to the origins of sexual intimacy.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 251-265) and index.

Preface: Sex, death and evolution -- The machismo of the Argentine Duck -- The mother of all fossils -- The ptyctodontid kind of congress -- Announcing fossil sex to the queen -- Paleozoic paternity problems -- Finding the daddy fish -- Down and dirty in the Devonian -- At the dawn of archaic sex -- Sex and the single ostracod -- Sex on the beach -- Dinosaur sex and other earthshaking discoveries -- We ain't nothing but mammals -- Sperm wars: what fossils can't tell us -- From clasper to penis: We've come a long way, baby -- Epilogue: The greatest mystery of biology.