A new study reports the finding of hundreds of mummified bees encased in their cocoons from nearly three millennia ago. These preserved cocoons were unearthed at a newly discovered paleontological site along the Odemira coastline in Portugal. Around 2,975 years ago, various significant events wer
Nearly 3,000-year-old mummified bees have been discovered in Odemira, Portugal, providing rare insights into ancient bee species and their environment. Image taken under binocular lens, corresponding to specimen details of the dorsum. This specimen was extracted from the sediment filling a cocoon. Credit: Andrea Baucon
The cocoons, now discovered, resulted from an extremely rare fossilization method – normally the skeleton of these insects is rapidly decomposed due to its chitinous composition, which is an organic compound. The paleontologist says that the project that led to this discovery identified four paleontological sites with a high density of bee cocoon fossils, reaching thousands in a square measuring one meter on a side. These sites were found between Vila Nova de Milfontes and Odeceixe, on the coast of Odemira, a municipality that gave strong support to the execution of this scientific study, allowing its dating by carbon 14.
The cocoons now discovered, produced almost three thousand years ago, preserve as in a sarcophagus the young adults of the Eucera bee that never got to see the light of day. This is one of about 700of bees that still exist in mainland Portugal today. The newly discovered paleontological site shows the interior of the cocoons coated with an intricate thread produced by the mother and composed of an organic polymer.
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