A newly published study documents evidence of an orchid fossil trapped in Baltic amber that dates back some 45 million years to 55 million years ago, shattering the previous record for an orchid fossil found in Dominican amber some 20-30 million years old. Orchids have their pollen in small sac-like structures called pollinia, which are attached by supports to viscidia, or adhesive pads, that can stick to the various body parts of pollinating insects, including bees, beetles, flies and gnats. How the orchid pollen in this study ended up attached to the fungus gnat and eventually entombed in amber from near the Baltic Sea in northern Europe is a matter of speculation. Orchids will emit a scent that suggests to hungry insects the promise of food, but after entering the flower they will learn that the promise of nourishment was false. Likewise, female gnats may pick up a mushroom-like odor from many orchids, which attracts them as a place to lay their eggs because the decaying fungal tissue is a source of future nutrition. Alas, again it is a ruse. In frustration, they may go ahead and lay their eggs, dooming their offspring to a likely death from a lack of food. Finally, male insects are attracted by the ersatz scent of female flies and they actually will attempt to copulate with a part of the orchid they think is a potential mate. All three of these processes are based on deception, Poinar said, and they all have the same end result. "Though the deception works in different ways, the bottom line is that the orchid is able to draw in pollinating insects, which unwittingly gather pollen that becomes attached to their legs and other body parts, and then pass it on to the next orchid flowers that lure them in," he said.
Finding fossils are always cool to learn about, because they are what first started to live on this earth before us. Learning about fossils and their past is always neat because we get to know what kind of environment they used to live in. By discovering these fossils we can learn things that can maybe befit in our society and maybe can help us cure any kind of sickness.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170504093216.htm
Finding fossils are always cool to learn about, because they are what first started to live on this earth before us. Learning about fossils and their past is always neat because we get to know what kind of environment they used to live in. By discovering these fossils we can learn things that can maybe befit in our society and maybe can help us cure any kind of sickness.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/05/170504093216.htm