Plants have evolved a variety of mechanisms to disperse pollen. Among them, orchids have evolved a mechanism using pollination structures called pollinaria. Pollinaria include parts called pollinia that hold pollen sacs with the male gametes, and adhesive pads that adhere to insects and other pollinators. Some present-day beetles use orchids for nectar, and these beetles also disperse orchid pollinaria. But no fossil evidence has ever been found showing beetles in the evolutionary past pollinating orchids — until now.
A new study identified the first fossil beetles dispersing pollinaria from orchids that were discovered in fossilized tree sap called amber. One was a hidden-snout beetle (subfamily Cryptorhynchinae) found in amber from the Dominican Republic. This Dominican specimen had pollinaria from an orchid described as Cylindrocites browni attached to its thorax. The other specimen was a toe-winged beetle (family Ptilodactylidae) that was found in amber from Mexico. This toe-winged beetle had pollinaria from an orchid described as Annulites mexicana attached to its mouthparts.
The beetle in Dominican amber was in strata estimated to be from 20 to 45 million years old, and the beetle in Mexican amber was in strata estimated to be from 22 to 26 million years old.
This new evidence shows that beetles may play a more important role in pollinating orchids than originally thought, and that they have been doing so for some 20 million years.
https://entomologytoday.org/2016/08...les-pollinated-orchids-millions-of-years-ago/
Paper: http://ae.oxfordjournals.org/content/62/3/172
A new study identified the first fossil beetles dispersing pollinaria from orchids that were discovered in fossilized tree sap called amber. One was a hidden-snout beetle (subfamily Cryptorhynchinae) found in amber from the Dominican Republic. This Dominican specimen had pollinaria from an orchid described as Cylindrocites browni attached to its thorax. The other specimen was a toe-winged beetle (family Ptilodactylidae) that was found in amber from Mexico. This toe-winged beetle had pollinaria from an orchid described as Annulites mexicana attached to its mouthparts.
The beetle in Dominican amber was in strata estimated to be from 20 to 45 million years old, and the beetle in Mexican amber was in strata estimated to be from 22 to 26 million years old.
This new evidence shows that beetles may play a more important role in pollinating orchids than originally thought, and that they have been doing so for some 20 million years.
https://entomologytoday.org/2016/08...les-pollinated-orchids-millions-of-years-ago/
Paper: http://ae.oxfordjournals.org/content/62/3/172