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Thursday, 26th October 2006 (3220 views)

Scientists have made the remarkable discovery of a 100 million-year-old fossilised bee in a mine in the Hukawng Valley of Myanmar.

The fossil was preserved in amber and could prove to be a highly useful indicator in determining when bees and wasps made an evolutionary split according to George Poinar, a researcher from Oregon State University.

Gold mining takes place in the reserve in the Hukawng Valley after the clearing of a highway in the area sparked a gold-rush of tens of thousands of people in 1999.

"This is the oldest known bee we've ever been able to identify, and it shares some of the features of wasps" stated Mr Poinar.

He added: "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."

Such a specimen is significant due to the fact the previous oldest bee discovery was between 35 and 45 million years younger, giving rise to new family of insects called Melittosphecidae.

 

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