The earliest angiosperms appeared in the Cretaceous. This is after the appearance of Hymenoptera (Jurassic) and Diptera (Triassic). While a nice story, this needs additional substantiation. An alternative explanation is likelier imo.
Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)
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Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)
#12Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks, I never thought about bees like that. They certainly can use many types of flowers, as evidenced by various sorts of honey. Nitpick: some spiders are pretty darn intelligent and even seem to dream when they sleep, apparently.
Now I am musing about spider nightmares.
Thousands of tiny humans crawling all over you...
Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)
#13Pretty sure I see many bees on Magnolias.
Right, the whole point of bees as insect pollinators (reflecting that they are recent evolutionary line) is that they are by a healthy margin the most intelligent arthropod. They will inspect then successfully pollinate anything floral over a wide geographic range. Most insect pollinators are instinctually tied to certain species/families.
Jumping spiders are smarter
Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)
#14Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)
#15Earlier quoted context omitted.
Right, the whole point of bees as insect pollinators (reflecting that they are recent evolutionary line) is that they are by a healthy margin the most intelligent arthropod. They will inspect then successfully pollinate anything floral over a wide geographic range. Most insect pollinators are instinctually tied to certain species/families.
Jumping spiders are smarter
Spiders are not insects though
https://www.burkemuseum.org/collections-and-research/biology...
Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)
#16Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Now I am musing about spider nightmares.
Thousands of tiny humans crawling all over you...
Or perhaps all of your thousands of children being in peril, having found themselves on a murderous human, with no obvious path to escape as the gigantic scary human swaths hundreds at a time?
Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)
#18Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Thanks, I never thought about bees like that. They certainly can use many types of flowers, as evidenced by various sorts of honey. Nitpick: some spiders are pretty darn intelligent and even seem to dream when they sleep, apparently.
Now I am musing about spider nightmares.
There's a reason the average spider sleepwalks into 8 human mouths a year.
Re: Magnolias are so old that they're pollinated by beetles, not bees (2025)
#20Mountain mints are also pollinated by beetles—and a bazillion other critters. They are extraordinary pollinator magnets. Beetles, bees, flies, wasps, mosquitos (!), moths, butterflies, ...
A recent study of just a few mountain mint species (https://doi.org/10.1080/00222933.2024.2411072) found that they attracted a crazy variety of pollinators. Check the supplementary materials for the full list.