Discoscapa apicula is an extinct species of crabronid wasp, formerly considered one of the two oldest-known species of bees. The species was described from an amber inclusion in Burmese Amber in 2020 by George Poinar Jr., a zoologist at Oregon State University.[1][2] The fossil was found in a mine in the Hukawng Valley of northern Myanmar and is believed to date from the Cretaceous Period, 100 million years ago, the same age as Melittosphex burmensis, likewise previously considered the oldest known bee species;[3] as it comes from the same amber deposit, these two specimens are considered to be the same approximate age. More recent research has concluded that D. apicula is a wasp belonging to the subfamily Crabroninae, placed in its own tribe, Discoscapini.[4]
| Discoscapa apicula Temporal range: Upper Cretaceous (Cenomanian?)
| |
|---|---|
Scientific classification 
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| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Hymenoptera |
| Family: | Crabronidae |
| Subfamily: | Crabroninae |
| Tribe: | †Discoscapini Poinar, 2020 |
| Genus: | †Discoscapa Poinar, 2020 |
| Species: | †D. apicula
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| Binomial name | |
| †Discoscapa apicula Poinar, 2020
| |
References
edit- ^ George Poinar Jr (2020). "Discoscapidae fam. nov. (Hymenoptera: Apoidea), a new family of stem lineage bees with associated beetle triungulins in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber". Palaeodiversity. 12 (1): 1–9. doi:10.18476/pale.v13.a1.
- ^ Gonzaga, Shireen (20 February 2020). "A bee from the age of dinosaurs - One hundred million years ago, a bee got trapped in tree resin. Over time, geological forces converted the resin to amber. Now a scientist arrives on the scene, to tell us this bee's story". Earth & Sky. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
- ^ G. O. Poinar, Jr. & B. N. Danforth (2006). "A fossil bee from Early Cretaceous Burmese amber". Science. 314 (5799): 614. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.627.551. doi:10.1126/science.1134103. PMID 17068254.
- ^ Rosa, B. B.; Melo, G. A. R. (2021). "Apoid wasps (Hymenoptera: Apoidea) from mid-Cretaceous amber of northern Myanmar". Cretaceous Research. 122: Article 104770. Bibcode:2021CrRes.12204770R. doi:10.1016/j.cretres.2021.104770.
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