Posted on 10/26/2006 3:17:58 PM PDT by Boxen
CORVALLIS, Ore. -- Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered the oldest bee ever known, a 100 million year old specimen preserved in almost lifelike form in amber, and an important link to help explain the rapid expansion of flowering plants during that distant period.
The findings and their evolutionary significance are outlined in an article to be published this week in the journal Science.
The specimen, at least 35-45 million years older than any other known bee fossil, has given rise to a newly-named family called Melittosphecidae – insects that share some of the features of both bees and wasps. It supports the theory that pollen-dependent bees evolved from their meat-eating predecessors, the wasps.
"This is the oldest known bee we've ever been able to identify, and it shares some of the features of wasps," said George Poinar, a professor of zoology at OSU and international expert in the study of life forms preserved in ancient amber. "But overall it's more bee than wasp, and gives us a pretty good idea of when these two types of insects were separating on their evolutionary paths."
Just as important, Poinar said, the discovery points to the mechanism that could have allowed for the rapid expansion and diversity of flowering plants around that time – the "angiosperms" that depend on some mechanism other than wind to spread their seeds. Prior to that, the world was dominated by "gymnosperms," largely conifer trees, which used wind for pollination and re-seeding.
These changes took place during the Cretaceous Period, which lasted from 65.5 million to 145.5 million years ago. The earliest angiosperms didn't really begin to spread rapidly until a little over 100 millions years ago, a time that appears to correspond with the evolution of bees seen in the new fossil.
"Flowering plants are very important in the evolution of life," Poinar said. "They can reproduce more quickly, develop more genetic diversity, spread more easily and move into new habitats. But prior to the evolution of bees they didn't have any strong mechanism to spread their pollen, only a few flies and beetles that didn't go very far."
The amber specimen Poinar studied, which came from a mine in the Hukawng Valley of northern Myanmar, has certain features that resemble wasps, such as a double spine on the middle tibia and narrow hind legs. But it also has branched hairs all over its body and other key features characteristic of pollen-spreading bees. This species, named Melittosphex burmensis, is long extinct.
"In archaeology, a lot of people look at the species Archaeopteryx, which is believed to be the first bird and was sort of half-bird, half-reptile," Poinar said. "Species such as that can be critically important in helping us to understand when evolution went in different directions. In that sense, this fossil may help us understand when wasps, which were mostly just meat-eating carnivores, turned into bees that could pollinate plants and serve a completely different biological function."
Flowering plants, among other things, account for practically all of the food plants on Earth and much of the food supply for humans and many other animal species. There are now about 20,000 species of bees, which use pollen to feed their young, and over millions of years they have created numerous physical and behavioral adaptations to make them some of Earth's most effective pollinators.
Considering its age, the bee specimen itself is in remarkable condition, showing individual hairs on undamaged portions of its thorax, legs, abdomen and head. The legs and wings are clearly visible. It's a very small bee, consistent with evidence that some of the earliest Cretaceous flowers were also quite small.
Insects trapped in amber, researchers say, often provide some of the most vivid and lifelike glimpses into the distant past. Amber is a semi-precious stone that begins as tree sap, which can ooze down and trap insects or other small things, then ultimately fossilize. It's also a natural embalming agent that can protect and display specimens in nearly perfect, three-dimensional form millions of years later.
This phenomenon has been invaluable in scientific and ecological research, and among other things, formed the scientific premise in the movie Jurassic Park, for the "dinosaur DNA" found in mosquitoes. Poinar, one of the world's experts in the study of amber, also has used it to provide a vivid re-creation of an ancient forest in the book "The Amber Forest: A Reconstruction of a Vanished World." ###
By David Stauth, 541-737-0787
Editor's Note: A digital color image of the bee in the amber fossil that is the basis of this research can be obtained on the web at http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/photos.html#act
"Java Man" was actually a specimen of Homo Erectus. The initial find actually consisted of the skullcap, a femur and some teeth -- a bit more to build on than just a skullcap. Whereas the initial reports could be considered a bit premature it did pan out and later specimens of H. Erectus did confirm in was a form of primitive man. So, you might say Mssr. Dubois was right in his assessment.
Huh? I'm not sure what you are saying here.
I bet that thing had a mean sting.
Alligators, sharks, shellfish and flies haven't evolved much either. But moths, birds and hominids have.
Not every creature goes through giant evolutionary change. The fact that some don't doesn't mean that those that have, haven't.
Only if you limit the number of years to 4004 BC to present.
Mistakes happen in science. Fortunately, science is self-correcting. None of these errors was discovered by laymen or creationists; all were uncovered by scientists.
Now, again, which scientist reconstructed an entire skeleton from a pig's tooth. You made the claim. Put up or admit you made that whole thing up. Hell, don't admit it. Everyone will know it to be the truth regardless of what you say.
Truth be told you could avoid making a complete ass of yourself if you would just do a couple of minutes of research on the internet.
Really? And you have the facts and figures to back this up? Or is this just another claim you are making up from whole cloth?
BTW, it didn't take long for you to lose your cool. I was only offering advice on how to win arguments on evidence. You made a lot of claims and never made any effort to provide any evidence for them.
But hey, you don't want to continue this conversation and I can understand why. It's been fun. We'll have to do this again sometime.
Your ability to spot the mote in another's eye is unparalleled.
So geologist aren't scientist? What other groups, which serve to support the evolution farce, don't qualify? And you said nothing of the other hoaxes I pointed out. Typical. And crazy, as Science goes. There is no other field that tolerates the same kind of nonsense. There's evidence or there isn't. That's what gives Science its legitimacy.
That's plenty of time! Creationists have told us so!
At least John Woodmorappe (a pseudonym) thinks so. He wrote the following on the Answers In Genesis website:
As pointed out by other creationists [e.g., Lubenow], Homo ergaster, Homo erectus, Homo heidelbergensis, and Homo neanderthalensis can best be understood as racial variants of modern man—all descended from Adam and Eve, and most likely arising after the separation of people groups after Babel.
As noted over on the Darwin Central blog:
[This] change from modern man to Homo ergaster would require a rate of evolution on the order of several hundred times as rapid as scientists posit for the change from Homo ergaster to modern man! This is in spite of the fact that most creationists deny evolution occurs on this scale at all; now they have not only proposed such a change themselves, but see it several hundreds of times faster and in reverse! [emphasis added]
You are *quite* welcome.
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