Found in the sediments of an ancient lake in Germany, an unknown fossil fly species harbored a surprise in its stomach: pollen from various plants. The extracted pollen was dominated by Decodon (water willow) and Parthenocissus (virgin ivy) grains.
The dating of the remains is 47 million years old, as detailed in the study described the published study in Current Biology.
Habits and ecology
He fossil stomach pollen of the fly was used to reconstruct the ancient environment inhabited by the fly, the biotic interactions between the plant and the fly and the behavior of the fly during feeding, allowing to obtain rare information on the feeding behavior, ecology and the role of the fly as a pollinator.
The hump on the abdomen is consistent with a congested crop, in this case containing pollen grains, the fly's last meal. Comparison with the anatomy of existing flies shows that the crop is located in the first three abdominal segments
As explained by the co-author of the study Fridgeir Grímsson, from the Department of Botany and Biodiversity Research at the University of Vienna:
The rich pollen content we discovered in the fly stomach suggests that flies were already feeding and transporting pollen 47 million years ago and shows that it played an important role in the dispersal of pollen from several plant taxa. Flies were important pollinators in equivalent ancient (sub)tropical ecosystems and may even have overshadowed bees.
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The news
This fossil pollen found in a fly's stomach is 47 million years old
was originally published in
Xataka Science
by
Sergio Parra
.