Fossil fly with an extremely long proboscis sheds light on the insect pollination origin

(AKSON Russian Science Communication Association) A long-nosed fly from the Jurassic of Central Asia, reported by Russian paleontologists, provides new evidence that insects have started serving as pollinators long before the emergence of flowering plants. Equipped with a proboscis twice the length of the body, this fly predates the first angiosperms by about 40-45 million years. This suggests that insect pollination began to evolve in association with ancient gymnosperms.The results of the study are published in Gondwana Research.
Source: EurekAlert! - Biology - Category: Biology Source Type: news