Finding fossils of any species is an excitingdiscoveryfor science , but some are a little bit morespecialthan others . In New Zealand , a 14.6 - million - year - quondam fossilise bee has been reveal , marking the first fossil bee to be uncover from Zealandia .
Near the township of Outram in Otago on the South Island of New Zealand , is the Hindon Maar Complex , which is dated to the heart of the Miocene . This area includes four closely spaced volcanoes and has previously yielded relatively high-pitched amounts of fossil insect of different orders .
The fossilbeediscovered here was preserve in organic mudstone and has been namedLeioproctus ( Otagocolletes ) barrydonovani . The bee is a female and bar 6.4 millimetre ( 0.25 inches ) in full duration . The source think that the venous blood vessel on the wings are standardised to three subgenus of extantLeioproctusbees native to New Zealand .
However , the team think that if theLeioproctusgenus had been present in New Zealand before 14.6 million age ago , the group would have had time to diversify or develop specialization related to the flowers around at the same clip .
“ Some louse lineages have clear thrived and evolved unique features within New Zealand , but many are conspicuously and cryptically depauperate impart the complexness and scale of the landscape painting , seemingly reflecting their late comer to the island , ” wrote the writer .
Currently , there are only 18 mintage of endemicLeioproctusin New Zealand , suggesting something happened to cause this : “ interactions keep the lineage from more all-encompassing speciation , ” advise the authors . The researchers also call up that the modernLeioproctuscould stage times when the genus add up to New Zealand , unrelated to the bee species presently there .
“ In fact , there are presently no information to indicate that the three groups ofLeioproctusin New Zealand form a monophyletic chemical group , and they themselves could correspond multiple , younger invasions of the islands , ” write the generator .
The squad think that thebeewould have lived in mixed broadleaf forest that surrounded the Miocene maar lake . There is no known host flora for the Modern species and nopollenwas found seize to the fogy . Pseudopanaxflowers have been found at the same deposit and could suggest the bee visited those species along with other plants .
The paper is publish inZoosystema .
