The fossils "tell the story" of the symbristic relationship 100 million years ago

ecological reconstruction of jurassic and Cretaceous lynums (Yang Dinghua drawings)Liu Qing
from the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontological Research of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, under the guidance of researcher Wang Bo, and scholars from the Agricultural University of China and Linyi University reported on 27 Liyuan specimens, and carried out a detailed study of the pollination behavior, chemical communication behavior and camouflage behavior of liquees. The findings offer new perspectives on reconstructing the ecological relationship between mesothe pollinators and plants, and were published online September 17 in
Journal.
pollination promotes the reproduction and differentiation of plants and is essential in modern terrestrial ecosystems. However, due to the lack of fossil materials, the academic community knew very little about pollinator insects and their ecological position before the era of the bee plant. Wang Bo said that lithology is only recorded in the Mesothean generation of a class of pulsed eye pollinator insects, with a long mouth, for the reconstruction of pollination ecological level provides key evidence.
the discovery comes from the Burmese amber in the middle of the Cretaceous period (more than 100 million years ago) and the early Cretaceous hot river biota in China and the Yanliao biota in the Jurassic period. Studies have shown that different types of insect mouths in Burmese amber have higher differences in length. The high diversity of the length of the mouth reflects the diversity of its feeding plants and flower tube lengths, indicating that the ecological differentiation of pollinator insects appeared before the rapid evolution of the bee plant. Along with the diversity of pollination forms, lily has evolved unique chemical communication and defense mechanisms.
addition, the pollinator eco-zone between the rita and the feeding plant further promotes the diversity of the lily. However, Wang Bo said, perhaps it is the close symblotic relationship between the lily and its feeding plants that led to its extinction with the decline of the feeding plants, possibly mainly naked plants, in the late Cretaceous. (Source: Shen Chunlei, China Science Daily)