Before Flowers, Odd Bugs Pollinated Plants - Yahoo! News

Description

These results come from an examination of fossils from 11 extinct species of scorpionflies (from three different families) that lived during the Mesozoic, which lasted from 251 million to 65.5 million years ago. Such insects have elongated heads that resemble snouts and are tipped with mouthparts. The male's genitalia curve up over the back like a scorpion's tail - and hence the name.

The insect specimens included flattened fossils preserved beneath overlying sediment and one preserved in amber.

The researchers found such scorpionflies sported long, tubular mouthparts up to a half inch (1.3 cm) in length that were either hairy or adorned with angled ridges and many of which were tipped with sponge-like pads for fluid uptake. The features seemed to be specialized for sucking up nectar-like pollination drops from five extinct gymnosperms.

The only missing piece of evidence: preserved pollen grains. Labandeira said such evidence may have been destroyed over time due to oxidation.

Original URL

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20091105/sc_livescience/beforeflowersoddbugspollinatedplants

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20091105/sc_livescience/beforeflowersoddbugspollinatedplants