EVOLUTION OF BEES
It was believed that the bees first appear in the early cretaceous about 130 million years ago. They are associated with the rise of angiosperm and were evolved from predatory wasps which belong to the Sphecoidea.
The earliest fossil that was found to be the genus Bombus, which date from the Oligocene, around 38 to 26 million years ago. Based on evidence of molecular morphology, it was shown that the early divergence of bumblebee lineages was 40 to 25 million years ago.
The majority of the species that have been discovered are known as ‘true bumblebees’. These group of bumblebees consist of queen and worker bees, in which worker bees are sterile.
Figure 7.0 Fossil of a bee (Image courtesy of Cornell University)
The earliest fossil that was found to be the genus Bombus, which date from the Oligocene, around 38 to 26 million years ago. Based on evidence of molecular morphology, it was shown that the early divergence of bumblebee lineages was 40 to 25 million years ago.
The majority of the species that have been discovered are known as ‘true bumblebees’. These group of bumblebees consist of queen and worker bees, in which worker bees are sterile.
In December 2006, a 100 million year old bee was found to be embedded in amber from a mine in Burma, by Danforth and George Poinar of Oregon State University. It was discovered that this bee might be the oldest bee ever found. Long before, scientist had predicted that bees appeared about 120 million years ago but no concrete evidence was found. This discovery pushes back the fossil record to about 35 million years and also provides a strong evidence for a more remote ancestry. The 100 million year old fossil was found to resemble wasp. This suggested an evolutionary link between wasps and bees.