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The Buzz on an Old Bee

There was a big buzz among bee experts last week. Researchers announced in the journal Science that they have discovered a 100 million-year-old bee fossil. It is 35 to 45 million years older than any bee fossil ever found.

The male bee was found in a mine in Burma, Asia, encased in amber. Amber begins as resin that seeps from trees, and then hardens to stone. The insect is less than 1/5 of an inch long. It is about the size of a mosquito.

"It's unlike any modern group of bees," Cornell University insect expert Bryan Danforth told TFK. "It has a mix of wasp and bee traits, which no other fossil that has ever been found has shown," he says. The bee's hind legs are very similar to those of a wasp.

Researchers identified the insect as a bee because of branched hairs on its head. The hairs are believed to be used in pollination. This bee-autiful fossil gives scientists insight into how bees evolved them wasps.

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