Thousands of years ago bees burrowed into bones of rodents left over by predators

Amazing stuff, but bizarre!

"Thousands of years ago on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, a family of giant prehistoric owls feasted on chunky rodents known as hutias, regurgitating the bones onto the floor of their cave. These grisly leftovers, scientists report in a new study, turned out to be prime real estate for bees.

When researchers excavated Cueva de Mono, a tarantula-infested cave in what is now the southern Dominican Republic, they often found thousands of fossilized skulls and other bones belonging to an extinct species of hutia. Some of the rodent jawbones had smooth, cup-shaped structures lodged in the tooth sockets. These strange deposits bore a striking resemblance to the nests of modern bees, and some even contained grains of ancient pollen. The finding, a paleontological first ..."

From the abstract:

"Bees (Anthophila) are well known for their species and remarkable behavioural diversity, ranging from solitary taxa that nest in burrows to eusocial species that construct highly compartmentalized nests. This nesting variation is partially documented in the fossil record through ichnofossils dating from the Cretaceous to the Holocene.

Here, we report a novel nesting behaviour based on ichnofossils recovered from a late Quaternary cave deposit in Hispaniola. Isolated brood cells, described here as Osnidum almontei ichnogen. et ichnosp. nov., were found inside cavities of vertebrate remains, including mandibular alveoli, pulp chamber and vertebral canal of mammals.
Cell size, morphology and smooth inner walls indicate that the tracemaker was a medium-sized burrowing bee likely from the family Halictidae. Micro-computed tomography scans of the host bones show multi-generational use of the same cavity, suggesting repeated use and some degree of nest fidelity.
Similarly, the high abundance of nests throughout the deposit indicated that this cave was used for a long period as a nesting aggregation area by this solitary bee. The use of vertebrate remains in cave soils represents a poorly documented behaviour in modern bees and may reflect the scarcity of suitable soil substrates in a karstic landscape dominated by denuded limestone."

ScienceAdviser

 

Ancient Bees Burrowed Inside Bones, Fossils Reveal "Bones of now extinct species became a haven for bee babies thousands of years ago, scientists report in a first-of-its-kind discovery"

Trace fossils within mammal remains reveal novel bee nesting behaviour (open access)

Fig. 1 (a) Map of cave locality in the Dominican Republic. Purple diamond represents Cueva de Mono.
(b) Photograph of heavily vegetated landscape outside Cueva de Mono.
(c) Photograph of active excavation of Cueva de Mono sediment.
(d) Photograph of entrance to Cueva de Mono.

Fig. 3 CT scan and photograph images of left dentary of Plagiodontia araeum ... and type specimen of the ichnofossil Osnidum almontei.
(a–b) Dentary in occlusal view.
(a) Photograph.
(b) CT scan.
(c) Cross-section view in anterior view from CT scan, highlighting ichnofossil cells with white arrows.
(d) Cross-section view in lateral view from CT scan.
(e) Cross-section view in occlusal view from CT scan.
(f–h) Dentary in lingual view.
(f) Photograph.
(g) Non-transparent view from CT scan.
(h) Transparent view from CT scan, highlighting ichnofossil cell in tan.
(i) Isolated infilling of ichnofossil cell, white lines = maximum cell height and width.
(j) Isolated aperture opening of ichnofossil cell, white line = maximum aperture width.