Scorpionflies Push Back Earliest Pollination (1 of 6) (IMAGE)

American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

Scorpionflies Push Back Earliest Pollination (1 of 6)

Caption

Eurasian mid Mesozoic long-proboscid scorpionflies feeding on gymnosperm ovulate organs, each with tubular access to deeper-seated rewards such as nectarial sections or pollination drops. At right is an Early Cretaceous cheirolepidiaceous conifer host, the ovulate cone of Alvinia bohemica, nectared by Vitimopsyche kozlovi, a mesopsychid with a approximately 9 mm long proboscis. At left is the smaller, Middle Jurassic Pseudopolycentropus janeannae, a pseudopolycentropodid with a 2-3 mm long proboscis, feeding on a fructification of the caytoniaceous seed-fern, Caytonia sewardi. This image relates to an article that appeared in the Nov. 6, 2009, issue of Science, published by AAAS. The study, by Dr. Dong Ren of the Capital Normal University in Beijing, China and colleagues, was titled, "A Probable Pollination Mode Before Angiosperms: Eurasian, Long-Proboscid Scorpionflies."

Credit

Drawing by Mary Parrish, Department of Paleobiology of the National Museum of Natural History

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