Japanese Fossil Bee Apis aibai Fills 2-Million-Year Evolutionary Gap
Updated
Updated · Sci.News · Jul 27
Japanese Fossil Bee Apis aibai Fills 2-Million-Year Evolutionary Gap
1 articles · Updated · Sci.News · Jul 27
Summary
A 2.8- to 2.2-million-year-old honeybee fossil from Japan has been identified as Apis aibai, giving researchers the youngest known extinct honeybee and the oldest confirmed fossil of the Apis subgenus.
The 10-mm worker bee was recovered from tuff-rich siltstone in Hyogo prefecture, with wings, hind legs and body segments preserved well enough for detailed comparison with living species.
Wing-vein and leg features closely resemble Apis nigrocincta, now found only in the Philippines and Indonesia, suggesting that related bees once ranged as far north as temperate Japan.
The find supports mitochondrial-DNA estimates that the Apis subgenus emerged in the Late Miocene and helps connect a fossil record previously split between much older Oligocene-Miocene specimens and younger fossils of living species.