Science News Hubb
Advertisement
  • Home
  • Science News
  • Technology
  • Contact us
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Science News
  • Technology
  • Contact us
No Result
View All Result
Science News Hubb
No Result
View All Result
Home Science News

The oldest known pollen-carrying insects lived about 280 million years ago

admin by admin
March 1, 2023
in Science News


The oldest known fossils of pollen-laden insects are of earwig-like ground-dwellers that lived in what is now Russia about 280 million years ago, researchers report. Their finding pushes back the fossil record of insects transporting pollen from one plant to another, a key aspect of modern-day pollination, by about 120 million years.

The insects — from a pollen-eating genus named Tillyardembia first described in 1937 — were typically about 1.5 centimeters long, says Alexander Khramov, a paleoentomologist at the Borissiak Paleontological Institute in Moscow. Flimsy wings probably kept the creatures mostly on the forest floor, he says, leaving them to climb trees to find and consume their pollen.

Recently, Khramov and his colleagues scrutinized 425 fossils of Tillyardembia in the institute’s collection. Six had clumps of pollen grains trapped on their heads, legs, thoraxes or abdomens, the team reports February 28 in Biology Letters. A proportion that small isn’t surprising, Khramov says, because the fossils were preserved in what started out as fine-grained sediments. The early stages of fossilization in such material would tend to wash away pollen from the insects’ remains.

This fossil of Tillyardembia (left) is one of six found with clumps of pollen (right) attached to the insect’s body.Alexander Khramov

The pollen-laden insects had only a couple of types of pollen trapped on them, the team found, suggesting that the critters were very selective in the tree species they visited. “That sort of specialization is in line with potential pollinators,” says Michael Engel, a paleoentomologist at the University of Kansas in Lawrence who was not involved in the study. “There’s probably vast amounts of such specialization that occurred even before Tillyardembia, we just don’t have evidence of it yet.”

Further study of these fossils might reveal if Tillyardembia had evolved special pollen-trapping hairs or other such structures on their bodies or heads, says Conrad Labandeira, a paleoecologist at the National Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C., also not part of the study. It would also be interesting, he says, to see if something about the pollen helped it stick to the insects. If the pollen grains had structures that enabled them to clump more readily, for example, then those same features may have helped them grab Velcro-like onto any hairlike structures on the insects’ bodies.



Source link

Previous Post

Young snapping shrimp’s tiny claws beat underwater acceleration record

Next Post

The Heart Can Directly Influence Our Emotions

Next Post

The Heart Can Directly Influence Our Emotions

Recommended

Save a massive $760 Black Friday off this Autel EVO II V2 Pro drone bundle

November 25, 2022

In a First, U.N. Climate Summit Will Discuss Climate Reparations

November 7, 2022

Don't miss it

Science News

T. rex may have had lips like a modern lizard’s

March 31, 2023
Science News

Glymphatic system: The brain may flush out its waste products after a mental workout

March 31, 2023
Science News

Watch a clip from the next-to-last episode of ‘Hello Tomorrow!’ (video)

March 31, 2023
Technology

Northern Lights Dance across U.S. because of ‘Stealthy’ Sun Eruptions

March 31, 2023
Technology

Scientists Find Footprints Older Than the Dinosaurs

March 31, 2023
Technology

New Synthetic E. coli Is Immune to Bacteriophage Infection

March 31, 2023

© Science News Hubb All rights reserved.

Use of these names, logos, and brands does not imply endorsement unless specified. By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms & Conditions.

Navigate Site

  • Home
  • Science News
  • Technology
  • Contact us

Newsletter Sign Up

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Science News
  • Technology
  • Contact us

© 2022 Science News Hubb All rights reserved.