The earliest large carpenter bee (Xylocopa) and its adhering pollen (Araliaceae, Theaceae)
- Author(s)
- Christian Geier, Michael S. Engel, Johannes M. Bouchal, Silvia Ulrich, Fridgeir Grimsson, Sonja Wedmann, Torsten Wappler
- Abstract
The association of pollinators with their host plants is a critical element of ecosystem functioning and one that is usually determined indirectly in the fossil record from specific morphological traits of flowers or putative pollinating animals. The exceptionally fine preservation at Messel, Germany, offers an excellent source of data on pollen from fossil flowers as well as preserved adhering to insects as direct evidence of their association with specific floral lineages. Here, we report on pollen recovered from the body and legs of a large carpenter bee (Apidae: Xylocopinae: Xylocopini) from the Eocene of Messel. The fossil is the earliest occurrence of the tribe Xylocopini and represents an extinct subgenus and species, described as Xylocopa (Apocolyx) primigenia subgen. et sp. nov. Two eudicot pollen types were recovered from the bee, one of the family Theaceae (Asterids: Ericales) and another of Araliaceae (Euasterids: Apiales). The pollen grains are compared with various extinct and extant pollen types, and data on floral visitors to modern theaceous and araliaceous flowers are explored in relation to understanding the association of the fossil carpenter with these floral types in the paratropical Eocene biota of Messel.
- Organisation(s)
- Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research
- External organisation(s)
- American Museum of Natural History, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM), Museum at Prairiefire, Österreichische Akademie der Wissenschaften (ÖAW), Senckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre, Senckenberg Forschungsstation Grube Messel, Hessisches Landesmuseum Darmstadt, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
- Journal
- Palaeobiodiversity and Palaeoenvironments
- ISSN
- 1867-1608
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1007/s12549-024-00604-7
- Publication date
- 2024
- Peer reviewed
- Yes
- Austrian Fields of Science 2012
- 106008 Botany, 105117 Palaeobotany
- Keywords
- ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Geology, Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics, Global and Planetary Change, Palaeontology, Ecology
- Portal url
- https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/en/publications/0536edc5-f43c-41e7-9632-ce98287f1b7f