NewsWhore
08-31-2007, 02:30 PM
The discovery of an "exquisitely preserved orchid pollinarium attached to an extinct stingless bee preserved in a piece of amber, has led scientists to conclude that the flower is older than once believed. The discovery of the bee and the pollen indicates that orchids could have been around during the time of dinosaurs, 80 million years ago. The bee and pollen, found in the DR, represent the first known fossil remains of an orchid. While there are around 30,000 orchid species, up until now scientists have never had a fossil to determine their history. Dr. Santiago R. Ramirez of Harvard University says that the fossil flower is called Meliorchis Caribea, and comes from the Goodyerinae orchid family. The results of the findings were printed in Nature magazine. Previous to this discovery, scientists thought orchids were a relatively recent flower.
"This result is puzzling and fascinating at the same time because modern species of Vanilla orchids are locally distributed throughout the tropical regions of the world. But we know that tropical continents began to split apart about 100 million years ago, and thus our estimates of 60 to 70 million years for the age of Vanilla suggest that tropical continents were still experiencing significant biotic exchange much after their dramatic split," says Ramirez.
"Since the time of Darwin, evolutionary biologists have been fascinated with orchids' spectacular adaptations for insect pollination. But while orchids are the largest and most diverse plant family on Earth, they have been absent from the fossil record," Nature magazine quoted lead author Santiago R. Ramirez, a researcher in Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, as saying.
The fossilised bee, Proplebeia dominicana, was recovered by a private collector in the Dominican Republic in 2000, and came to the attention of the researchers in 2005.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#14)
"This result is puzzling and fascinating at the same time because modern species of Vanilla orchids are locally distributed throughout the tropical regions of the world. But we know that tropical continents began to split apart about 100 million years ago, and thus our estimates of 60 to 70 million years for the age of Vanilla suggest that tropical continents were still experiencing significant biotic exchange much after their dramatic split," says Ramirez.
"Since the time of Darwin, evolutionary biologists have been fascinated with orchids' spectacular adaptations for insect pollination. But while orchids are the largest and most diverse plant family on Earth, they have been absent from the fossil record," Nature magazine quoted lead author Santiago R. Ramirez, a researcher in Harvard's Museum of Comparative Zoology and Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, as saying.
The fossilised bee, Proplebeia dominicana, was recovered by a private collector in the Dominican Republic in 2000, and came to the attention of the researchers in 2005.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#14)