14.6-Million-Year-Old Fossil of a Female Bee Well Preserved in Organic Mudstone Discovered, Oldest Bee Specimen
Bees are mostly seen buzzing around and working hard to turn nectar from flowers into liquid gold. They have been around for millions of years proved a study published in the journal Publications Scientifiques. A group of paleontologists from New Zealand had discovered a 14.6 million-year-old fossil of a bee, making it the oldest specimen of a bee ever recovered and the first of its kind.
The species of bees called Leioproctus barrydonovani was found in the largely submerged continent of Zealandia. The fossil promises to give experts insights into the ancient ecosystem that led insects to evolve in the Hindon Maar Complex of the country's southern region, near the town of Outram, according to Sci News. The fossil of the bee measures only 6.4 millimeters in length and was found in a well-preserved condition, wrapped in volcanic mudstone. The specimen detained the bee's wing veins and pattern on it that closely resembled those found in the modern Leioproctus subgenera that is found in New Zealand.
"In fact, there are currently no data to indicate that the three groups of Leioproctus in New Zealand form a monophyletic group, and they could represent multiple, younger invasions of the islands," the study noted. "This suggests that today's species may not be direct descendants of the fossilized bee found in Hindon Maar." Only 18 endemic species of the genus Leioproctus have been found in recent dates which is a surprisingly low number.
"The biota of New Zealand is a mosaic of ancient lineages interspersed among arrays of relative newcomers that have diversified since the Oligocene-Miocene," Dr. Michael Engel from the American Museum of Natural History and Dr. Uwe Kaulfuss from the Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, stated. "Indeed, in many respects, the fauna is typical of an island biota, reflective of lineages dispersing to the landmass at various times since its breakup from Gondwana c. 80 million years ago and then speciating." Engel and Kaulfuss elaborated that some insects have thrived and evolved, developing unique features within New Zealand.
"Many are conspicuously and enigmatically depauperate given the complexity and scale of the landscape, seemingly reflecting their late arrival to the islands,” they added. "Indeed, some prominent and complex biological interactions are poorly represented within the modern New Zealand fauna such as specialized insect pollinators, which are few in New Zealand and generalist flies are the dominant pollinators. Although bees are the preeminent pollinators worldwide, their diversity in New Zealand is meager, with only 42 species of which a mere 28 are endemic." This has led to a perception that bees are comparatively new to New Zealand and in the absence of any fossil record it has been challenging to determine the antiquity of the meiofauna.
A species of bee called Leioproctus Pango is known to collect pollen from the flowers of Pseudopanax, a genus of small trees and shrubs common throughout New Zealand. Fossilized remains of those flowers were collected at the Hindon Maar Complex. "Given the fine detail of preservation, the potential to recover in situ pollen is great should additional and more complete bees be uncovered in future excavations," the study elaborated. "Direct evidence of such floral associations has been recorded from other important Lagerstätten, and the Hindon Maar Complex and nearby Foulden Maar have considerable potential for glimpses into insect-plant interactions during the Miocene of Zealandia."