Social Bees Have Kept Symbiotic Gut Bacteria for 80M Years, New Study Says

About 80 million years ago (Cretaceous period), a group of bees began exhibiting social behavior. Today, their descendants — honey bees, stingless bees, and bumble bees — carry ‘stowaways’ from their ancient ancestors.
The stingless bee Trigonisca ameliae in Colombian copal. Image credit: Dr David Penney / University of Manchester.
At least five host-specific species of bacteria, living symbiotically in the guts of social bees, have been passed from generation to generation for 80 million years, according to a study published in the March 29, 2017 issue of the journal Science Advances .
This is the first study to chart the evolution of the gut community of bacteria in a group of animal hosts so far back in time.
“The fact that these bacteria have been with the bees for so long says that they are a key part o… Read more