Melittosphex burmensis
{{Short description|Extinct species of bee}}
{{Speciesbox
| image = Melittosphex burmensis.jpg
| fossil_range = Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian?) {{fossilrange|92}}
| display_parents = 3
| grandparent_authority = Poinar & Danforth, 2006
| parent_authority = Poinar & Danforth, 2006
| taxon = Melittosphex burmensis
| authority = Poinar & Danforth, 2006
}}
Melittosphex burmensis is an aculeate wasp that was formerly considered one of the two oldest-known species of bees. The species was described from an inclusion in Burmese amber in the year 2006 by George Poinar Jr., a zoologist at Oregon State University. The fossil was found in a mine in the Hukawng Valley of northern Myanmar and is believed to date from the Cretaceous Period, 100 million years ago.{{cite journal |author=G. O. Poinar, Jr. & B. N. Danforth |journal=Science |title=A fossil bee from Early Cretaceous Burmese amber |volume=314 |issue=5799 |pages=614 |doi=10.1126/science.1134103 |pmid=17068254 |year=2006 |citeseerx=10.1.1.627.551}}
Etymology
Melitta is a form of the Greek word μέλισσα (melissa), "honey bee",[https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.04.0058%3Aentry%3Dme%2Flissa μέλισσα], Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, An Intermediate Greek-English Lexicon, on Perseus. while Sphex is a transliteration of the Greek word σφήξ, wasp.{{cite web|title=Sphex|url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sphex|publisher=Merriam-Webster|accessdate=22 June 2015}}
Description
M. burmensis is approximately one-fifth the size of the extant honeybee, at about 3 millimetres long.{{Cite journal|last1=Danforth|first1=Bryan N.|last2=Poinar|first2=George O.|date=September 2011|title=Morphology, Classification, and Antiquity of Melittosphex burmensis (Apoidea: Melittosphecidae) and Implications for Early Bee Evolution|url=http://www.bioone.org/doi/abs/10.1666/10-130.1|journal=Journal of Paleontology|language=en|volume=85|issue=5|pages=882–891|doi=10.1666/10-130.1|issn=0022-3360}} M. burmensis has some anatomical features similar to those of flesh-eating wasps, including the shape of its hind legs, but also some features of pollen-collecting bees, such as branched hairs on the body.
The sample discovered is thought to be 100 million years old, 40 million years older than the oldest known bee species. Subsequent research has rejected the claim that Melittosphex is a bee, or even a member of the superfamily Apoidea to which bees belong, instead treating the lineage as incertae sedis within the Aculeata.{{Cite journal|last1=Rosa |first1=B. B. |last2=Melo |first2=G. A. R. |title=Apoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar |year=2021 |journal=Cretaceous Research |volume=122 |pages=Article 104770 |doi=10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104770 |bibcode=2021CrRes.12204770R }}
Poinar and bee researcher Bryan Danforth described M. burmensis in the journal Science.
References
{{Reflist}}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070310122256/http://oregonstate.edu/dept/ncs/newsarch/2006/Oct06/bee.html OSU media release on discovery]
- http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Ancient-Bee.html (New York Times registration required)
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20160304114554/http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2006/1025bees.shtml AAAS News release]. Images included
{{Taxonbar|from=Q1946486}}
Category:Cretaceous insects of Asia
Category:Fossil taxa described in 2006
Category:Taxa named by George Poinar Jr.
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