1. 100 Ma sweat bee nests: Early and rapid co-diversification of crown bees and flowering plants.
- Author
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Genise JF, Bellosi ES, Sarzetti LC, Krause JM, Dinghi PA, Sánchez MV, Umazano AM, Puerta P, Cantil LF, and Jicha BR
- Subjects
- Animals, Bees anatomy & histology, Bees genetics, Biodiversity, Ecosystem, Fossils anatomy & histology, Magnoliopsida anatomy & histology, Magnoliopsida genetics, Nesting Behavior, Paleontology, Phylogeny, Pollination, Bees physiology, Biological Evolution, Magnoliopsida physiology
- Abstract
100 Ma sweat bee nests reported herein are the oldest evidence of crown bees. A new phylogeny for short-tongued bees, calibrated with these nests dated with 40Ar/39Ar, attests for the first time for a late Albian rapid diversification of bees along with angiosperms. Such hypothesis lacked paleontological support until this study. The new ichnospecies Cellicalichnus krausei, which was found along with wasp trace fossils and new beetle trace fossils in the Castillo Formation of Patagonia, represents typical Halictini nests composed of sessile cells that are attached to main tunnels. According to geological, paleosol, paleobotanical, and ichnological data, bees, and angiosperms cohabited in an inland and dry environment comparable to an open dry woodland or savanna, under warm-temperate and semiarid-subhumid climate, in the Southern Hemisphere by the Albian., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
- Published
- 2020
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