All about dinosaurs, fossils and prehistoric animals by Everything Dinosaur team members.
31 08, 2007

Dinosaur Fact Finders

By | August 31st, 2007|Everything Dinosaur Products|0 Comments

Everything Dinosaur Provides Facts and Information about Dinosaurs

Team members at Everything Dinosaur are teachers, parents, and real enthusiasts when it comes to dinosaurs and prehistoric animals.  The company takes great pride in helping young people to learn all about dinosaurs, palaeontology and fossils.

Providing Dinosaur Information to Young Dinosaur Fans

Providing Facts and Information about Dinosaurs.

Picture credit: Everything Dinosaur

Dinosaur Fact Finders

Everything Dinosaur stocks a huge range of dinosaur and prehistoric animal themed toys, gifts and games available on-line from their own warehouse and their award-winning website.

To view the range of dinosaur toys, games and gifts available: Dinosaur Toys and Gifts.

31 08, 2007

To Bee or Not to Bee – Bee provides Clue to Orchid Origins

By | August 31st, 2007|Dinosaur and Prehistoric Animal News Stories, Main Page|0 Comments

Fossilised Bee Provides Clue to Orchid Evolution

Scientists working at Harvard University have published evidence suggesting that Dinosaurs could well have enjoyed the sight and smell of orchid flowers.  In a report printed in the journal – Nature, the university team led by Dr Santiago Ramirez have estimated that the orchid family may have first evolved in the Late Cretaceous.

DNA Extracted from Pollen

An analysis of DNA extracted from pollen found on the back of a fossilised bee (preserved in amber) indicates that orchids could have been well established at the time of the extinction of the dinosaurs 65 mya.  The amber that contains the beautifully preserved bee fossil was found in the Dominican Republic in 2000.  The fossil itself dates back 15-20 million years (Miocene Epoch) and captures a moment in time when a sting less worker bee, got stuck in some pine tree sap having just visited an orchid flower, picking up some of the orchid’s pollen on its back.

Fossilised Bee

Images released by the scientists clearly show the pollen grains preserved on the back of the worker bee.  The bee has been identified as a Proplebeia dominicara an extinct species but a close relative to modern bees.  The distinctive orchid pollen has been classified to belonging to Meliorchis caribea.  Using the DNA extract scientists have been able to calculate the age of the orchid family with greater accuracy, placing the origin of the orchid at between 84 million years ago to 76 million years ago (mya), the Campanian stage of the Late Cretaceous.

Previously, claims as to the age of the orchid family, a plant family that makes up about 8% of all flowering species on the planet, varied widely. Some scientists estimated that they first appeared 112 mya, whilst others claimed that they were much more recent appearing around 26 mya.

A Wonderfully Detailed Micro-fossil

Dr Ramirez stated that this wonderfully detailed micro-fossil has provided a fresh insight into the evolution of this diverse group of flowering plants.  Many scientists had suspected that orchids were a group of very ancient flowering plants, citing their complex relationships with social insects as evidence of their age.  Indeed, the fact that orchids are found all over the world suggest that they first evolved when the continents were joined together in larger land masses such as Laurasia.

Orchid pollen is too heavy to be spread by the wind and relies on insect transfer and pollination, therefore it makes sense to suggest that these flowers first appeared when continents like America and Europe were much closer together.

Fossils of orchids are extremely rare, soft plant material is rarely preserved as it is soon broken down and decomposed, the pollen however, is much more robust and much knowledge has been gained by teams of scientists as they assess pollen micro-fossils at palaeontological sites.

Orchids Diversified

It has been reported that orchids become very successful and diversified as a group during the Palaeocene epoch (65mya to 55 mya), the period immediately after the Cretaceous extinction.  Just after the K/T boundary (this marks the end of the Mesozoic and heralds the start of the Cenozoic era), 80% of all the pollen micro-fossils are of fern spores.

For models of prehistoric plants from the Mesozoic: CollectA Prehistoric Life Models and Figures.

Ferns are often the first plants to re-establish themselves after a natural disaster, this can be seen today as ferns are usually the first plants to re-colonise an area that had been subjected to a volcanic explosion.  The large proportion of fern spores in the micro-fossil record has been termed the “fern spike”, but as the world recovered from the mass extinction and the climate became hot and humid, orchid species quickly diversified taking advantage of the favourable climate and the lack of large herbivores.

To read more about the phenomenon known as the “fern spike”: Humble Ferns – Evidence to Support the “Fern Spike”.

Perhaps the diversity of orchid species today is a legacy of the mass extinction event 65 million years ago and it is intriguing to think that a dinosaur with its excellent colour vision may have marvelled at an orchid flower just as we do today.

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